As any major awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a clamor to include fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of followers with niche passions.
A fellow writer has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. This is the request: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies currently feature genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked for anything in 2014
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. One could readily select a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge game development, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait generations.
