As any major awards ceremony approaches, one notices a demand for introducing of new categories to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the hearts of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories successfully include many game types, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely during that awards season
- Another imaginative release was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent small games, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games competing to become most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
