Each time a major awards ceremony draws close, one notices a clamor for the addition of new categories to honor overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are board games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition completely that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored in 2021
- Just some brain-teasers scraped into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles globally and have been for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers function at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait 35 years.
