As any major awards ceremony nears, there’s always an outcry for the addition of new categories to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand is the most urgent and significant. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category in 2014
- A different innovative game received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, however the design of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience competes with well-known building titles claiming status as most purchased experience; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, while interacting across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.
