Whenever a prominent honors show draws close, one notices a clamor for introducing additional classifications to honor unsung work and satisfy the passions of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify 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, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked completely during that awards season
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
