As any major honors show draws close, you'll find a clamor to include fresh award types to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification backing this proposal stands as crucial and significant. This is the request: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise in the world of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, 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 outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- Another imaginative release was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, however the design of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as the most-played games globally continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary game development, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay decades.