Tetris Wouldn't Triumph at The Game Awards — Another Award Type May Address This Issue
As any significant awards ceremony draws close, there’s always a clamor for the addition of new categories to honor unsung work and delight the spirits of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would board games, representing someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations don’t do it. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types successfully include many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated in any category in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Comparable to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.