As any prominent honors show draws close, there’s always an outcry to include of new categories to honor overlooked contributions and fill the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are board games, this being someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise within the realm of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories successfully include numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. What category would fit them between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition completely during that awards season
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, however the design of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience competes with well-known building titles for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
