Each time a significant prize-giving event draws close, one notices a demand to include fresh award types to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize since similar to single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification supporting my request remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of gaming, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category during that awards season
- Another creative title missed out that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as the most-played games worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges well-known building titles competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay generations.
