Whenever a significant awards ceremony draws close, there’s always a clamor to include additional classifications to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and delight the spirits of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles of one title, intense tile-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category in 2014
- Another creative title missed out that year
- Popular arranging title got ignored in 2021
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles in the world and have been for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Comparable to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait 35 years.
