Each time a significant awards ceremony nears, there’s always a clamor for the addition of new categories to honor underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
Another commentator previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for board games, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category during that awards season
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences in the world and have been for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with well-known building titles for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay decades.
