As any significant honors show nears, one notices a demand for the addition of new categories to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition completely that year
- A different innovative game was excluded that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Only a few brain-teasers managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier game development, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay decades.
