As any prominent awards ceremony nears, there’s always a clamor for introducing fresh award types to acknowledge unsung work and satisfy the passions of fans dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize because like all dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing and significant. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked in any category during that awards season
- Another imaginative release was excluded during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among the most-played games in the world and have been for many years.
The famous puzzle experience competes with popular creative games claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
