Each time a significant awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a demand for introducing additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would board games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. But it is a necessary evil in the world of video games, showing incredible range they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, however the design in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as the most-played games in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these include experiences without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, developing some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait generations.
