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As any significant honors show nears, one notices a demand for the addition additional classifications to honor unsung work and fill the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.

A fellow writer has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. So would strategy board titles, which is someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize since similar to single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify as a single art form.

For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.

Current Gaming Award Categories

The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, making space possible accommodating various experiences.

Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

Acknowledgment Issues

Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly without proper recognition at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.

• One classic puzzle game received no recognition in any category that year
• A different innovative game missed out that year
• Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
• Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories

Value of Brain-Teasers

Frequently they represent modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as the most-played games in the world maintaining this status 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 additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.

To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.