As any significant prize-giving event draws close, one notices a demand to include of new categories to recognize unsung work and delight the spirits of followers with niche passions.
My colleague previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. So would tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent above others. The demand is this: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications effectively encompass many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Just some brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier interactive creation, producing among essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
