As any prominent honors show nears, one notices a clamor to include of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Just some puzzle games barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
