As any major honors show approaches, you'll find an outcry for the addition fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. So would tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and inevitably generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions don’t do it. But it is an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated completely that year
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators function at the demanding boundary game development, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
