As any major awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a clamor for the addition of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the spirits of fans dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. The same goes for board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Well-known matching games count as most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges popular creative games competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay generations.
