Each time a major awards ceremony approaches, there’s always a clamor to include additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and satisfy the hearts of followers with niche passions.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for board games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize since similar to single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies don’t do it. But it is an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications actually cover many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything during that awards season
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge game development, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
