Tetris Didn't Succeed at The Game Awards — A New Category Could Fix That

As any prominent awards ceremony nears, one notices a clamor to include of new categories to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.

My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession in the world of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify one unified medium.

To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.

Different situation exists for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.

Acknowledgment Issues

There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.

• An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category that year
• Another imaginative release missed out during that ceremony
• Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
• Only a few logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories

Value of Brain-Teasers

These are often compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among the most-played games globally and have been for many years.

The famous puzzle experience rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and engaging across multiple categories.

Proposal and Rationale

Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.

And to reiterate, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.