Each time a significant honors show nears, there’s always a clamor for the addition additional classifications to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the hearts of enthusiasts with niche passions.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are board games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward since similar to blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. This is the request: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category that year
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- Popular arranging title got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're modest productions, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most popular titles globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers function at the challenging frontier of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
