Tetris Wouldn't Win at The Game Awards — An Additional Classification Could Fix That

Whenever a prominent awards ceremony nears, there’s always a demand for introducing fresh award types to recognize unsung work and satisfy the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.

A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for strategy board titles, which is someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.

Current Gaming Award Categories

Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.

Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

Recognition Challenges

Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.

  • A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated for anything that year
  • A different innovative game received no nominations during that ceremony
  • Popular arranging title got ignored that year
  • Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games worldwide continuing this trend for many years.

The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.

Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.

Heather Montgomery
Heather Montgomery

Elena Voss is a freelance writer passionate about urbanism and cultural exploration, with a background in sociology.