Tetris Didn't Win at This Gaming Ceremony — An Additional Classification Might Solve This

As any significant awards ceremony draws close, you'll find an outcry to include additional classifications to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of fans with niche passions.

My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. So would board games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal is the most urgent above others. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute a single creative category.

To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.

Current Gaming Award Categories

Leading game ceremonies presently include genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room for numerous titles.

This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.

Acknowledgment Issues

Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.

• An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything in 2014
• A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
• A beloved organization game got ignored recently
• Just some puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories

Value of Brain-Teasers

Frequently they represent modest productions, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences globally and have been for over a decade.

The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.

Proposal and Rationale

Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.

Restating the point, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.