Whenever a prominent honors show nears, you'll find a demand to include fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the passions of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would strategy board titles, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these six categories successfully include many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- Another creative title missed out that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles stand as the most-played games globally and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges well-known building titles for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the challenging frontier game development, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait 35 years.
