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Whenever a prominent honors show approaches, one notices a clamor for the addition additional classifications to recognize unsung work and satisfy the passions of fans dedicated to specific genres.

Another commentator made the case for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing above others. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.

Categorizing Game Types

Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.

For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these classifications effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.

Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.

Recognition Challenges

Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.

• An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
• Another creative title received no nominations in 2019
• Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
• Just some logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories

Significance of Puzzle Games

Commonly they're compact experiences, yet the craft of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for an extended period.

The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.

The Solution and Justification

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.

And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.