As any significant awards ceremony approaches, you'll find a demand for the addition fresh award types to recognize unsung work and fill the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. Equally deserving are board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification supporting my request 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 defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- Popular arranging title got ignored that year
- Only a few puzzle games barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games globally and have been for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience competes with popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay generations.