As any prominent awards ceremony approaches, you'll find a demand for introducing of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of followers dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. This is the request: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and it will always generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category in 2014
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, but the art of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill 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 include experiences lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators operate at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
