As any major prize-giving event nears, there’s always a clamor to include additional classifications to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the passions of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand is the most urgent and significant. Here's the proposal: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of gaming, showing incredible range they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition completely that year
- A different innovative game missed out that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles stand as the most-played games globally and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
