As any major honors show approaches, you'll find a clamor to include additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and satisfy the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations don’t do it. But it is an essential concession within the realm of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, allowing placement for numerous titles.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, however the design behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience challenges well-known building titles claiming status as most purchased experience; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers function at the hard edge interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Comparable to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
