As any significant prize-giving event approaches, you'll find a clamor to include of new categories to acknowledge unsung work and fill the passions of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. This is the request: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications actually cover many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Only a few brain-teasers managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
