The Iconic Puzzle Game Wouldn't Triumph at The Game Awards — Another Award Type May Address This Issue

Whenever a major prize-giving event draws close, there’s always a demand to include additional classifications to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of fans who have specialized interests.

My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request is the most urgent above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.

For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.

Current Gaming Award Categories

The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories actually cover many game types, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.

Not so for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.

Acknowledgment Issues

Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.

  • A renowned logic title got overlooked completely during that awards season
  • Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
  • Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
  • Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories

Importance of Logic Titles

These are often compact experiences, however the design of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for many years.

The famous puzzle experience competes with well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.

Proposal and Rationale

Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.

To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Puzzle game makers function at the hard edge game development, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.

Katherine Russell
Katherine Russell

A financial strategist with over a decade of experience in wealth management and investment advisory, dedicated to empowering individuals.