🔗 Share this article

As any prominent awards ceremony approaches, you'll find an outcry for the addition of new categories to honor unsung work and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.

My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. It would be amazing. So would tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize just as with other 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.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.

For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.

Current Gaming Award Categories

Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible for numerous titles.

This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.

The Representation Problem

There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.

• An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything in 2014
• Another creative title was excluded that year
• Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment in 2021
• Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for niche award types

Significance of Puzzle Games

These are often compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles for the title of 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, and engaging with almost every other genre.

Proposal and Rationale

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.

To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.