The Iconic Puzzle Game Couldn't Win at This Gaming Ceremony — An Additional Classification May Address This Issue

As any significant awards ceremony nears, there’s always an outcry to include fresh award types to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of fans with niche passions.

Another commentator previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: There should be an award type for logic-based games.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.

Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

Recognition Challenges

There are dozens outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.

  • A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely that year
  • Another imaginative release missed out that year
  • Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
  • Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent small games, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games in the world and have been for over a decade.

The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it also contends for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and engaging with almost every other genre.

Recommendation and Reasoning

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, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.

And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier interactive creation, producing among most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.

Elizabeth Hanna
Elizabeth Hanna

A passionate web developer and designer with over a decade of experience, specializing in responsive design and user experience optimization.