Each time a major prize-giving event approaches, one notices an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. The demand is this: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories effectively encompass many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- Another imaginative release received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games competing to become most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.
