Each time a prominent awards ceremony nears, there’s always a demand for introducing additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. It would be amazing. So would tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and significant. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and typically spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, 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 classifications actually cover many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: building puzzles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, 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 hard edge game development, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
