Each time a major honors show approaches, you'll find an outcry to include fresh award types to recognize unsung work and delight the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for board games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely in 2014
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences in the world and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers are working at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
