Tetris Wouldn't Win at The Game Awards — A New Category May Address This Issue

Each time a major honors show draws close, you'll find a demand to include of new categories to recognize underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of fans with niche passions.

My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request is the most urgent above others. Here's the proposal: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.

Existing Game Classification System

Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, making space possible for numerous titles.

This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

Acknowledgment Issues

There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.

  • A renowned logic title got overlooked completely in 2014
  • Another imaginative release was excluded that year
  • Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
  • Just some logic titles scraped into independent or mobile categories

Significance of Puzzle Games

Commonly they're modest productions, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences worldwide maintaining this status for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — 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 within interactive entertainment. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.

Richard Hayes
Richard Hayes

A passionate writer and life coach dedicated to empowering others through actionable advice and personal stories.