Each time a significant prize-giving event approaches, one notices an outcry to include additional classifications to honor overlooked contributions and delight the passions of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification supporting my request stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. But it is an essential concession for the industry of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications effectively encompass many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers launched regularly without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles claiming status as most purchased experience; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
