Each time a prominent awards ceremony nears, there’s always a clamor for the addition of new categories to recognize overlooked contributions and fill the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for strategy board titles, which is someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely during that awards season
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games globally maintaining this status for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, creating some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Comparable to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
