As any major awards ceremony nears, one notices an outcry for the addition of new categories to recognize underappreciated efforts and delight the hearts of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, which is a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial 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; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations don’t do it. But it is an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked in any category in 2014
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games worldwide continuing this trend for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience challenges well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
