Tetris Couldn't Win at The Game Awards — An Additional Classification Could Fix That

Whenever a significant honors show nears, one notices a demand to include additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the passions of fans dedicated to specific genres.

A fellow writer previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for strategy board titles, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute as a single art form.

For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.

Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

The Representation Problem

Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually that have no home at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.

  • An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category that year
  • Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
  • Well-received sorting experience got ignored in 2021
  • Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for niche award types

Significance of Puzzle Games

Frequently they represent small games, yet the craft behind logic titles is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles globally continuing this trend for over a decade.

The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.

The Solution and Justification

Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.

And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.

Kimberly Gallagher
Kimberly Gallagher

Tech educator and writer passionate about integrating technology into modern learning environments.