Each time a prominent awards ceremony approaches, you'll find a clamor for the addition fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial above others. The demand is this: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of video games, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything in 2014
- Another imaginative release was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles for the title of best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait decades.
