Each time a major honors show draws close, one notices a clamor for the addition of new categories to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. The same goes for board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize since similar to single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent above others. The demand is this: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Only a few logic titles scraped into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most engaged experiences globally and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. You could fill multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
