🔗 Share this article

As any significant awards ceremony approaches, there’s always an outcry to include additional classifications to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the hearts of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.

My colleague has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. So would board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.

Categorizing Game Types

Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.

To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types actually cover a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.

Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.

The Representation Problem

Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.

• An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category that year
• Another creative title missed out during that ceremony
• A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
• Just some brain-teasers scraped into niche award types

Significance of Puzzle Games

Commonly they're modest productions, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most engaged experiences worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.

The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it also contends for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging with almost every other genre.

The Solution and Justification

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.

To emphasize again, these include experiences without proper classification in important events. Brain-teaser creators function at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.