Each time a prominent prize-giving event nears, there’s always an outcry to include fresh award types to acknowledge unsung work and delight the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release was excluded that year
- Popular arranging title was overlooked recently
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
