Whenever a prominent prize-giving event draws close, there’s always a demand for introducing fresh award types to honor unsung work and satisfy the hearts of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles of one title, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
