Each time a prominent honors show approaches, one notices an outcry for introducing fresh award types to acknowledge unsung work and delight the spirits of followers dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for strategy board titles, representing someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal is the most urgent and significant. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations in 2019
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges well-known building titles for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
