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Tetris Didn't Triumph at The Game Awards — Another Award Type Could Fix That

Each time a significant awards ceremony approaches, there’s always a demand to include of new categories to honor underappreciated efforts and satisfy the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.

A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist for pushing forward just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal is the most urgent above others. This is the request: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.

For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types successfully include many game types, and you can find room for numerous titles.

This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

Acknowledgment Issues

There are dozens excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.

  • A renowned logic title got overlooked for anything during that awards season
  • Another creative title was excluded that year
  • A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment that year
  • Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications

Value of Brain-Teasers

These are often modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among most popular titles in the world and have been for over a decade.

The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.

Proposal and Rationale

Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.

Restating the point, these include experiences without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge game development, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.

By

Kevin Hubbard

A molecular biologist with 15 years of experience in genomic research and a passion for science communication.

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