Each time a prominent honors show approaches, there’s always a clamor for the addition fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and satisfy the hearts of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. So would board games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition in any category in 2014
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored in 2021
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges well-known building titles for the title of most purchased experience; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. You could fill five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
