As any prominent prize-giving event draws close, one notices a clamor for the addition of new categories to acknowledge unsung work and delight the hearts of followers dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal is the most urgent and significant. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that movie academies don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories effectively encompass many game types, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated in any category in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it also contends for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers function at the challenging frontier game development, producing among most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
