As any major awards ceremony nears, one notices an outcry for the addition additional classifications to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the hearts of followers who have specialized interests.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why cinema institutions avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession for the industry of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications actually cover many game types, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
- Popular arranging title got ignored in 2021
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these represent titles that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.
