Whenever a major honors show draws close, there’s always a demand for introducing of new categories to acknowledge unsung work and fill the hearts of followers dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. So would board games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front since similar to blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal is the most urgent above others. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Just some puzzle games barely qualified for niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with well-known building titles claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier game development, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
