Skip to content
Echo Corner

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

Whenever a significant awards ceremony approaches, you'll find a clamor to include fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the passions of followers who have specialized interests.

My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. So would strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Classifying creative works isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of video games, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.

For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.

Present Award Structure

The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications actually cover many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.

Different situation exists for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.

The Representation Problem

Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.

  • An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything in 2014
  • A different innovative game missed out in 2019
  • Popular arranging title got ignored recently
  • Limited numbers of brain-teasers scraped into niche award types

Importance of Logic Titles

Commonly they're small games, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games worldwide maintaining this status for many years.

The iconic tile-matching title rivals well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.

Proposal and Rationale

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.

Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier game development, developing some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.

By

Justin Singleton

A passionate travel writer and cultural enthusiast with a deep love for Italian traditions and local festivals.

Echo Corner

Type to search articles.