Each time a prominent prize-giving event nears, there’s always a clamor for introducing of new categories to honor unsung work and delight the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories successfully include many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything in 2014
- A different innovative game missed out that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Just some logic titles scraped into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles globally maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges well-known building titles competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier game development, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Just like film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
