Each time a significant awards ceremony draws close, one notices a clamor to include additional classifications to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents a necessary evil in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies offer these genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications actually cover many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: the architectural riddles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out that year
- Popular arranging title was overlooked in 2021
- Just some puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as most popular titles globally and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators operate at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
