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Each time a major awards ceremony draws close, one notices a clamor to include additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.

My colleague has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.

To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.

Existing Game Classification System

Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.

This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

The Representation Problem

Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.

• One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely in 2014
• Another creative title received no nominations in 2019
• Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
• Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for niche award types

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent compact experiences, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games in the world maintaining this status for an extended period.

The famous puzzle experience competes with popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.

Restating the point, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.