Each time a prominent awards ceremony nears, you'll find an outcry to include fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and delight the spirits of fans with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. So would tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
