Each time a major awards ceremony draws close, you'll find an outcry to include additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing and significant. Here's the proposal: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Just some brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're small games, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
