Whenever a prominent awards ceremony approaches, you'll find an outcry for the addition additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for board games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these award types actually cover many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked in 2021
- Just some logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles in the world and have been for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
