Each time a major awards ceremony approaches, one notices a demand for the addition additional classifications to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist when I prioritize because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations don’t do it. But it is an essential concession for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies presently include genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out that year
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment recently
- Limited numbers of logic titles scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Well-known matching games rank among most popular titles globally maintaining this status for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
