Each time a prominent awards ceremony draws close, one notices an outcry to include of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist when I prioritize since similar to blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand 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
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked for anything during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for many years.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay generations.
