Moderator Guidelines and Contributor Rules

[SentaiBrad]

Moderator Guidelines and Contributor Rules

1. Do your best to check sources.
   • When researching something, if two sites have conflicting metadata, try and find a 3rd and see what the 3rd one will match. 
   • Good and acceptable websites to double-check metadata are MobyGames, Giant Bomb, Wikipedia, IGN, Steam, GOG and GameFAQs.
2. Game names should reflect the box of the game, with the exception of games that break scraping in LaunchBox.
   • For example, Alien 3 breaks scraping with it's superscript 3.
   • Characters like : and - and & are acceptable as long as they don't break the above rule.
   • Characters like - and + are not acceptable UNLESS on the Boxart or the Developer spelled the name of the game with them. Still cannot break the scrapability rule.
3. A game should only have 1 entry per platform.
   • Multiple Disc games don't get entries per disc. Still 1 entry.
   • Special Editions only get a unique entry on the Database if the game is significantly different than the already existing entry. I.e. Fallout 3 and Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition would be two separate entries.
4. Game Descriptions should only contain descriptive text about what the game is.
   • Should not contain cheat information.
   • Should not spoil the game.
   • Do not answer Puzzles in the description.
5. Consoles will be getting merged with alternate scraping names.
   • For example. Famicom and the NES are the same. They will be getting merged soon, but before that is added if the game exists in the NES category don't add it to the Famicom category.
   • They're the same console with different regional names. Regional naming alternatives is coming for Consoles and Game Titles.
6. Adult games are allowed on the Database, but nudity and partial nudity is not allowed.
   • Adult Language is allowed as long as it is not obscene.
7. Front and Back Box Art must have the proper regional tag and be added to the proper category.
   • Reconstructed box art can not be used in any other category then the reconstructed section.
   • Fan art must be directly related to the game.
   • Must be created or customized by a user.
   • Fan art must be at least 1280 x 720 for Background based art.
   • Real life photography is not allowed .
   • Must comply with the other rules, like no nudity.
   • No Watermarks of Website logos, Icons or uploader images.
8. When possible, get the best looking image available.
   • No watermarks.
9. Game entries require 3 approvals or 3 rejections in order to proceed in either direction In the case of stalemates, we'll try to convene on the forums and discuss the game currently stuck in limbo and proceed from there.
10. Metadata should reflect the console it was released on.
    • if a game has multiple versions on multiple consoles then multiple entries will be required.
    • So if a game exists on PS2, Xbox and GameCube then there should be 3 game entries, 1 for each console.
11. A game's release date must require at least a release year. If the game has documentation for the release day and month then please provide.
    • Older games may not have accurate data on release dates.
    • In case of no year, leave blank until that information can be found.
    • The release date should be the first date the game was released on.
    • Regional Date categories are going to be implemented, which will then require each game to have the proper date for the proper region.
12. Game ratings should reflect what is on the box.
    • There is no guess work or making up ratings. If one doesn't exist, then one does not exist.
    • The United States, Canada and Mexico use the ESRB.
    • The K+A rating was changed to E. In this case make the rating E.
    • The database will denote that before 1998 E used to be K+A for historical accuracy.

[FistyDollars]

Are watermarked images banned? Because I've come across a couple submissions with MobyGames watermarks at the bottom and rejected them (don't need MobyGames to get annoyed with us.)

[Cebion]

Yes they are. We want to be a complete and genuine database with original content no mobygames site ripoff.

[FistyDollars]

I assumed as much; could we have that clarified in the Moderator Guidelines?

[SentaiBrad]

Yea I will make that disctinction on the doc. Preferably no watermarked images.

[SentaiBrad]

Edited.

[Freestate]

I don't agree with 12. What's the point with nudity again on this days? Forgive me if i don't understand but i'm really bored with keeping close always to US prerrogatives with nudity. Blood, destruction and magnum guns are permited but we have to censorship a boob? Parental advisor for this cases, not censorship.

[FistyDollars]

Freestate said I don't agree with 12. What's the point with nudity again on this days? Forgive me if i don't understand but i'm really bored with keeping close always to US prerrogatives with nudity. Blood, destruction and magnum guns are permited but we have to censorship a boob? Parental advisor for this cases, not censorship.

Personally I think we should have any entries with "adult content" flagged as such, and an option to show that sort of thing be built in to either Launchbox or your Launchbox Games Database account. I really don't like the idea of censoring box art on principle, but that's just my opinion.

[Jason Carr]

For starters, in order to keep us out of hot water and largely because we don't yet have any age restriction stuff in place (not to mention that all data is always accessible whether you're logged in or not), we need to enforce the "no nudity" rule. In the future once the more important things are taken care of, we can add safeguards in for that stuff and perhaps eventually allow those games in a restricted state. For now, though, we don't have that stuff in place, so unfortunately this means we do need to block nudity for the time being.

[donarumo]

Can I get a clarification on "Delete Image". I've been seeing a number of these and I'm not sure I'm choosing the right option. These images are clearly from the games in question so first, I'm not sure why they were ever marked for deletion but second, my options are to "Accept Delete" or "Reject Delete". Does accept mean to delete the image from the database and reject keeps the image, or the other way around?

[SentaiBrad]

Accept means you accept the changes that the user is making, or rejecting the changes the user is making. I think some users use the delete image instead of Edit Image to change it up, it's hard to tell though.

[Jason Carr]

Yes, "Accept Delete" means to approve the deletion and actually delete the image (if there have been enough approvals). "Reject Delete" means to keep the image. One issue we're seeing with the images right now is that some users are deleting existing images and then adding new ones instead of replacing them, which gives us no visibility as to why they're deleting an image. Really, images should only be deleted if they don't meet the quality requirements or are misplaced. If in doubt, you can reject image deletions. I'd rather not get rid of images unless they really are incorrect.

[CliveBarker]

I have a doubt. There is a playstation 2 game called WWE Shut your mouth. A user submitted a box art change, the thing is, the previous box art is fine but the difference is that one is from the America release and the other box art is from the Europe release. Both images are high resolution and correct but the art is different due to regional changes. What image should I accept? The America one or the Europe one?

[DOS76]

We need both. I'm pretty sure we are trying to gather regional images. Sorry that I haven't been doing much moderating lately as I've been dealing with family issues and my math class is keeping my busy also.

[Jason Carr]

Images from one region should never replace an image from another region (we want to keep both images instead). So if a user submitted an image replacement that replaces a European image with a US one, or vice versa, it should be refused. Instead, users should be adding a new image with the correct region listed on it, and if necessary, they can update the old image to be the correct region as well. Sooner or later I will be adding notes text blocks to the moderation and submissions so that we can explain this to people in the moderation process. Also, I think it'd be nice to have an option to keep both images in this situation. So that'll be coming eventually as well.

[Cebion]

DOS76 said We need both. I'm pretty sure we are trying to gather regional images. Sorry that I haven't been doing much moderating lately as I've been dealing with family issues and my math class is keeping my busy also.

I agree. Though what is an european release? Any game from the europa? Uk Relase? German Release? Or whatever comes first.

[Jason Carr]

I'm not an expert on the matter, but I've been marking any box with PEGI as Europe. We may need to change our region list; right now it's basically just continents. If anyone has concrete details on that stuff, let me know. I quickly reviewed a few other sites and came up with what we have.

[Jason Carr]

Thanks again all for all your help and support. Looking for some feedback on new fields here: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum/games-database-news-and-updates/new-fields

[CADScott]

I think there needs to be some discussion and rules about what constitutes Fanart for the database. I have had a lot of submissions for moderation that had issues as such: - Blown up screenshots, sometimes with the games clear logo on the screenshot. - Unrelated to the game itself (A digitally rendered space scene for a space shooter game) - Very low resolution images, such as 700 x 500, which I would consider awful as Fanart as they would usually be stretched fullscreen as a background. - I actually had a rendered pornographic image at one point, not sure what the submitter was thinking. It was not obvious, but when you saw it, it could not be unseen! I suggest fanart should have a minimum resolution standard, at least 1280 x 720, should at least be related to the game itself, and should not be a screenshot.

[SentaiBrad]

Yea fanart needs to be something someone created, either with logo's and screenshots, renders or drawn etc. Something someone made. A straight screenshot should just go in to the screenshots. It also obviously needs to follow the other guidelines. 720p is probably smart in the long run too. It just depends, I approved screenshots of the Dragon Ball Z anime for a DBZ game, but I would deny those real shots of the planes that we had the other day. It just kind of depends I guess... It needs to be directly related (though I denied those Terminator screenshots), 1280 x 720 at least, follow the other rules.