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As any major prize-giving event draws close, there’s always a demand to include additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and delight the hearts of fans dedicated to specific genres.

My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: We need an award type for logic-based games.

Categorizing Game Types

Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.

Current Gaming Award Categories

Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.

Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.

The Representation Problem

Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested Indie races.

• One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely that year
• Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
• A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
• Just some brain-teasers barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for an extended period.

The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and engaging with diverse game types.

Proposal and Rationale

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.

Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.