As any prominent honors show draws close, one notices a clamor for the addition of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
Another commentator made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an unavoidable compromise in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- Popular arranging title got ignored that year
- Just some brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, but the art of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Brain-teaser creators operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay generations.
