Whenever a prominent awards ceremony nears, one notices an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and delight the passions of fans dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification supporting my request remains most pressing above others. This is the request: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types effectively encompass many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category in 2014
- A different innovative game was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Only a few logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most engaged experiences worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
