Each time a major prize-giving event approaches, you'll find a demand for the addition additional classifications to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and fill the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. It would be amazing. So would board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that movie academies don’t do it. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences globally and have been for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience rivals famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
