Whenever a significant awards ceremony draws close, one notices a demand for the addition of new categories to honor overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. The same goes for strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, 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.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise in the world of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category in 2014
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers operate at the challenging frontier interactive creation, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
