As any prominent honors show nears, you'll find an outcry for introducing fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications successfully include many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles released every year lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely in 2014
- A different innovative game was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience rivals well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the demanding boundary game development, producing among most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
