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Tetris Couldn't Triumph at The Game Awards — An Additional Classification Could Fix That

Whenever a prominent awards ceremony nears, one notices a demand to include fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and delight the hearts of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.

A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. The demand is this: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. But it is an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute one unified medium.

To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.

Present Award Structure

The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.

Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.

The Representation Problem

There are dozens outstanding logic titles published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.

  • An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
  • A different innovative game missed out during that ceremony
  • Well-received sorting experience was overlooked in 2021
  • Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.

The famous puzzle experience competes with well-known building titles for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting with almost every other genre.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.

Restating the point, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.

JR
Written by

Jessica Richards

A tech journalist and industry analyst with over a decade of experience covering global markets and emerging technologies.

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