🔗 Share this article

As any major honors show approaches, there’s always an outcry to include additional classifications to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the spirits of fans dedicated to specific genres.

My colleague made the case for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.

Categorizing Game Types

Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise in the world of gaming, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.

For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.

Existing Game Classification System

The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these classifications effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.

Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.

Acknowledgment Issues

Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.

• An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything during that awards season
• Another creative title missed out that year
• A beloved organization game got ignored recently
• Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications

Value of Brain-Teasers

Frequently they represent compact experiences, however the design of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games globally continuing this trend for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.

The Solution and Justification

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.

And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.