Whenever a significant honors show approaches, there’s always a demand for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge unsung work and fill the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents a necessary evil within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Just some puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals well-known building titles claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators operate at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait 35 years.
