As any major prize-giving event approaches, one notices a clamor to include additional classifications to honor unsung work and delight the spirits of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator made the case for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types successfully include many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked in any category that year
- Another creative title received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games globally maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
Restating the point, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier game development, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
