Whenever a prominent awards ceremony nears, one notices a clamor to include of new categories to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition completely that year
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Just some logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay generations.
