Tetris Wouldn't Succeed at This Gaming Ceremony — An Additional Classification Might Solve This

As any prominent prize-giving event nears, you'll find an outcry to include of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the hearts of fans with niche passions.

My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. So would board games, representing someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize 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.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.

Existing Game Classification System

Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.

Different situation exists for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.

Acknowledgment Issues

There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.

  • An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything during that awards season
  • Another imaginative release missed out during that ceremony
  • A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
  • Only a few puzzle games barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications

Significance of Puzzle Games

Commonly they're small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles in the world continuing this trend for over a decade.

The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.

The Solution and Justification

Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.

Restating the point, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.

Jonathan Barber
Jonathan Barber

UK-based gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in online casino reviews and responsible gambling advocacy.