As any prominent honors show approaches, there’s always a clamor to include additional classifications to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and delight the spirits of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. This is the request: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything that year
- Another imaginative release was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Just like film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait 35 years.
