Each time a major honors show nears, one notices a clamor to include additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize since similar to blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal is the most urgent and significant. Here's the proposal: 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 concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked in any category in 2014
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked in 2021
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games globally maintaining this status for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators operate at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
