Each time a significant honors show draws close, you'll find a demand for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of followers with niche passions.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. It would be amazing. So would strategy board titles, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal is the most urgent and important of all. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles released every year lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment that year
- Just some logic titles scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as most popular titles globally and have been for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience rivals well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary game development, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
