Tetris Couldn't Triumph at The Game Awards — A New Category Could Fix That
As any significant honors show approaches, you'll find an outcry to include additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another creative title missed out during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most engaged experiences globally and have been for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.