Each time a prominent awards ceremony approaches, one notices an outcry for introducing fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. Here's the proposal: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions don’t do it. But it is an essential concession for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
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.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types effectively encompass many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles published annually that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely in 2014
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Just some puzzle games barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.
