As any prominent awards ceremony draws close, there’s always a demand to include additional classifications to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the spirits of followers with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent small games, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games globally continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience rivals famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
