As any major honors show nears, there’s always an outcry for introducing of new categories to recognize unsung work and satisfy the hearts of followers who have specialized interests.
Another commentator made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent above others. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories actually cover many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked completely during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored in 2021
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often small games, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Comparable to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
