As any major honors show nears, there’s always an outcry to include fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and delight the passions of fans who have specialized interests.
Another commentator made the case supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. The same goes for board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward because like all dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification backing this proposal is the most urgent above others. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason cinema institutions don’t do it. But it is an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these award types actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually that have no home at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded that year
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among the most-played games globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge game development, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
