As any major honors show approaches, you'll find a clamor for introducing fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the spirits of followers dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal is the most urgent and important of all. This is the request: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely that year
- A different innovative game was excluded that year
- Popular arranging title got ignored that year
- Just some brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
