As any major honors show approaches, you'll find an outcry to include of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the spirits of followers with niche passions.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. It would be amazing. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise within the realm of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, yet the craft of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience competes with popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these include experiences without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay generations.
