Each time a prominent awards ceremony nears, there’s always an outcry to include fresh award types to honor unsung work and delight the hearts of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case supporting my request is the most urgent and significant. This is the request: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession in the world of gaming, which are so diverse they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories successfully include many game types, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked in any category that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Just some puzzle games barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most engaged experiences globally and have been for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become most purchased experience; it also contends for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
