Whenever a prominent honors show nears, one notices a demand for introducing additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and satisfy the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications successfully include many game types, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles published annually that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games worldwide and have been for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators function at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay decades.
