As any major awards ceremony approaches, one notices a demand to include additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance 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: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and typically generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. What category would fit them within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category that year
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Just some puzzle games barely qualified for niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games globally continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as most purchased experience; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
