Each time a significant awards ceremony approaches, one notices a clamor for the addition fresh award types to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the hearts of fans dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist when I prioritize because like all dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
