Each time a significant prize-giving event approaches, you'll find an outcry to include fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the passions of fans dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. That would rule. So would board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize since similar to blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards presently include classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked in any category that year
- Another imaginative release was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few logic titles scraped into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with well-known building titles claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
