As any significant honors show nears, you'll find a demand for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the passions of followers with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal stands as crucial and significant. This is the request: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types actually cover many game types, and you can find room for numerous titles.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another creative title missed out during that ceremony
- Popular arranging title was overlooked in 2021
- Only a few brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most popular titles worldwide and have been for many years.
The famous puzzle experience rivals well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and engaging with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. One could readily select five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers function at the challenging frontier game development, producing among most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
