Moderator Guidelines and Contributor Rules

[Thanatos_Prime]

10 hours ago, code88 said:

Hi, I usually take lot of screenshots of the games I play and wanted to contribute to the database with them. My question is if there is a limit in size or quantity. Lots of them are in 4k and can take more than 5 mb each, and for some games I have over a dozen. 95% of them are PC games but I also have some high resolution screenshots of emulated games.

One other thing to consider is the platform. Many people want screenshots in the original resolution the system offered. So while that doesn't really limit you for windows games much, for other systems it could.

[neil9000]

Personally i would want the highest quality images available. I run on a 4K screen so depending on how Launchbox/Bigbox themes display the images a for example snes 240p image doesnt look great if a theme uses large screenshots.

Just a personal preference though.

[code88]

2 hours ago, kurzih said:

This is not a guideline, but rather what I would recommend myself:

File Size:
There is a limit in size. You can't upload files too big, the system will give you an error when trying to do so or if the file format is wrong.

File Quantity:
That Limit is probably just common sense. 2-6 Gameplay screenshots sounds like a good number to me - I usually just upload the title screenshot and 1-2 gameplay images, especially if one screenshot can be 5Mb. I don't think many would want to see their HD filled up too quickly

I wouldn't add more screenshot images where there are screenshot images already. But you can always try to submit a replacement to existing ones if you have for example a higher quality one, or with the correct aspect ratio expected for the platform. Or replace one that has a watermark (which is against the database rules).

Thank you for wanting to contribute! It would be great having more media especially for PC games, looking forward to it

Thanks for all! Yes with the quantity I was thinking on that number based on the already existing images, I was more worried about the size. And I will try replacing the images if they are low res, almost everything I have is 1080p, 1440p or 4K.

1 hour ago, Thanatos_Prime said:

One other thing to consider is the platform. Many people want screenshots in the original resolution the system offered. So while that doesn't really limit you for windows games much, for other systems it could.

 

1 hour ago, neil9000 said:

Personally i would want the highest quality images available. I run on a 4K screen so depending on how Launchbox/Bigbox themes display the images a for example snes 240p image doesnt look great if a theme uses large screenshots.

Just a personal preference though.

Both cases makes sense to me, I guess I should upload only a few of the images like the examples in the spoiler and leave the existing ones.

Spoiler

 

[viritys]

Disclaimer: Also not a guideline  There's a lot of unused potential in the db;  if the users had the option to choose how many images they want to download, there wouldn't be any reason to limit the amount of uploads. As it is where you have to download every screenshot and deleting them is cumbersome, you should limit them to something sensible. Five maybe? Same problem with boxes; we add the region to our uploads but then have to download every box of every region..

As for the resolution, according to Steam's public stats, going above 1920x1080 is generally not recommended, see the chart below. OTOH those 2.17% will be damn happy

1024 x 768 0.39%

1280 x 800 0.72%

- 1280 x 1024 1.27%

  1280 x 720 0.39%

  1360 x 768 1.60%

  1366 x 768 10.91%

  1440 x 900 3.40%

  1600 x 900 2.65%

  1680 x 1050 2.07%

- 1920 x 1080 63.51%

- 1920 x 1200 0.83%

- 2560 x 1080 1.13%

  2560 x 1440 6.06%

  3440 x 1440 0.82%

 3840 x 2160 2.17%

Edited June 13, 2020 by viritys

[Thanatos_Prime]

As a note as we've had this conversation in here in the past, in reference to the wikipedia field in the DB, I've been told recently that all Wikipedia image scraping code has been removed from Launchbox. On the one hand that means any game-specific wikipedia entries can be approved without causing Launchbox issues, on the other hand this field really only exists in the database as the moment as I don't believe it is displayed in the Launchbox application anywhere. It is kind of an orphan. Hopefully that can be fixed in the future.

[kurzih]

I have a question about the ESRB Age rating field that's been bothering me for a long time.

I feel this field is really unclear, even the info tab isn't clear enough:

Simply put, my main question is: what is the aim for Launchbox with this field? Is it:

1) To take the age rating found on the game's cover / publisher website and have it in this field (yes, according to the rule in the screenshot).

2) For America only? since ESRB is an American age rating system founded in 1994: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board

2b) I would assume it's not for America only, but what about games that were not published in America at all? And games pre 1994?

3) And to me, most importantly and confusing: what is the use for option "ESRB - Not Rated". Lately I've seen this used as a mean of "I don't know the age rating, but I don't want to leave this field empty"

To my understanding, "Not Rated" is mainly used for online gaming portion of the game, user-generated content and other content that simply cannot be Age rated. If a game has no age rating, then what's wrong leaving this field empty?

I find it a bit disturbing seeing for example Adult Only Japanese PC games given a "Age Not Rated" status, when they are actually "Adult Only +18" games in Japan. And I've been submitting probably over a 1000 Japanese entries since this Spring, wouldn't really want to see those "Not Rated" additions on 18+ games I've added (I just leave the field empty if I can't confirm the age rating). Unless "Not Rated" is want Launchbox Devs want for games without age ratings/unconfirmed age ratings?

So what I ask is a clarification on this ESRB field - especially the usage of "Not Rated", thank you!

 

Suggestion: could we add an "Adult/nudity content: Yes/No" field? That could probable even open up the possibility for adding missing covers (front/back ), due to the nudity in them (that cover could be hidden in certain conditions if it's flagged "Yes", some of them are quite mild, but I've skipped them too).

Edited September 15, 2020 by kurzih

[Jason Carr]

On 6/27/2020 at 9:59 AM, Thanatos_Prime said:

As a note as we've had this conversation in here in the past, in reference to the wikipedia field in the DB, I've been told recently that all Wikipedia image scraping code has been removed from Launchbox. On the one hand that means any game-specific wikipedia entries can be approved without causing Launchbox issues, on the other hand this field really only exists in the database as the moment as I don't believe it is displayed in the Launchbox application anywhere. It is kind of an orphan. Hopefully that can be fixed in the future.

Having a Wikipedia URL for each game is still rather useful, regardless of whether we actually scrape data from Wikipedia or not. Just having the link available is useful in itself.

7 hours ago, kurzih said:

I have a question about the ESRB Age rating field that's been bothering me for a long time.

I feel this field is really unclear, even the info tab isn't clear enough:

Simply put, my main question is: what is the aim for Launchbox with this field? Is it:

1) To take the age rating found on the game's cover / publisher website and have it in this field (yes, according to the rule in the screenshot).

2) For America only? since ESRB is an American age rating system founded in 1994: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board

2b) I would assume it's not for America only, but what about games that were not published in America at all? And games pre 1994?

3) And to me, most importantly and confusing: what is the use for option "ESRB - Not Rated". Lately I've seen this used as a mean of "I don't know the age rating, but I don't want to leave this field empty"

To my understanding, "Not Rated" is mainly used for online gaming portion of the game, user-generated content and other content that simply cannot be Age rated. If a game has no age rating, then what's wrong leaving this field empty?

I find it a bit disturbing seeing for example Adult Only Japanese PC games given a "Age Not Rated" status, when they are actually "Adult Only +18" games in Japan. And I've been submitting probably over a 1000 Japanese entries since this Spring, wouldn't really want to see those "Not Rated" additions on 18+ games I've added (I just leave the field empty if I can't confirm the age rating). Unless "Not Rated" is want Launchbox Devs want for games without age ratings/unconfirmed age ratings?

So what I ask is a clarification on this ESRB field - especially the usage of "Not Rated", thank you!

 

Suggestion: could we add an "Adult/nudity content: Yes/No" field? That could probable even open up the possibility for adding missing covers (front/back ), due to the nudity in them (that cover could be hidden in certain conditions if it's flagged "Yes", some of them are quite mild, but I've skipped them too).

Per ESRB, it's exactly what it's supposed to be: the official American ESRB rating only. I guess the confusion is coming from "This field is stated to be replaced and/or modified", which I'm guessing is a relic from Vlansix's development. I don't ever plan to replace or remove the ESRB field. What we should eventually do instead is add fields for the ratings from other regions as well, and they'll be labeled as such.

For the time being, if a game does not have an ESRB rating (either because it wasn't published in the US or because it was published before the ESRB was invented), the game should be marked as Not Rated, which means that it does not have an ESRB rating. If you don't know whether the game was rated or not, you can simply leave it blank. It's actually really easy to find rating information by searching the ESRB's website.

Per adult only games, to be honest I'd rather them not even be in the database at all. I know not everyone agrees with this, however, and it is an open database, so I'm sure there's quite a few in there. We do have a very strict no-nudity policy for the media, however, primarily to protect kids and keep us out of hot water because we have no age checks on the games database website. Please keep that in mind and never upload any images with nudity to the site. If a box has nudity on it, the box image cannot be uploaded to the LBGDB at all, period. Otherwise we risk legal consequences and getting the site shut down, but really it just comes down to protecting kids, my own kids included. I could really use the community's help to mark any images with nudity in them for deletion.

[kurzih]

3 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

 I could really use the community's help to mark any images with nudity in them for deletion.

Thank you for the clarification!

My main concern was indeed these 18+ games and having a "Not Rated" stamped on them instead of a 18+ or relevant marking. Though that concern still exists, since it's been confirmed that we should have them for the time being marked as "Not Rated", until we get more age ratings in the system. The European PEGI would be the most easy to have content wise next I think.

For myself, I'm pretty sure I didn't upload any naughty bits in those wacky but cool Japanese entries (with also stunningly beautiful pixel art & animation) - I have to say, some of them are really, really good games and safe for anyone. I recommend using Retroarch's translation API if someone wants to give those games a go without the need of Japanese language skills: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/ai-service/ I'm using sometimes the version that does a screenshot of the current gameplay while pausing and translates the Japanese text into English. 

I did stumble into a few potentially policy-breaking images in the Windows section today. Since it's fresh in the memory I will try to find them and do some moderation. I'm sure the community will help!
 

Edited September 15, 2020 by kurzih

[Jason Carr]

Thank you @kurzih.

[Mr. RetroLust]

15 hours ago, kurzih said:

Thank you for the clarification!

My main concern was indeed these 18+ games and having a "Not Rated" stamped on them instead of a 18+ or relevant marking. Though that concern still exists, since it's been confirmed that we should have them for the time being marked as "Not Rated", until we get more age ratings in the system. The European PEGI would be the most easy to have content wise next I think.

For myself, I'm pretty sure I didn't upload any naughty bits in those wacky but cool Japanese entries (with also stunningly beautiful pixel art & animation) - I have to say, some of them are really, really good games and safe for anyone. I recommend using Retroarch's translation API if someone wants to give those games a go without the need of Japanese language skills: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/ai-service/ I'm using sometimes the version that does a screenshot of the current gameplay while pausing and translates the Japanese text into English. 

I did stumble into a few potentially policy-breaking images in the Windows section today. Since it's fresh in the memory I will try to find them and do some moderation. I'm sure the community will help!
 

To delete hundreds of images people have worked on is a bit drastic isn't it, why not pixelate the offending parts in an image editor, now all those images will be lost, a real pity. Some cartoon nipples are only pixelated circles btw lol can't even call em nipples. Anyway, it does baffle me that nipples are an offense but guns/weapons aren't, I know this is debatable but I never could understand this censorship.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Mr. RetroLust

[zugswang]

18 minutes ago, Mr. RetroLust said:

To delete hundreds of images people have worked on is a bit drastic isn't it, why not pixelate the offending parts in an image editor, now all those images will be lost, a real pity. Some cartoon nipples are only pixelated circles btw lol can't even call em nipples. Anyway, it does baffle me that nipples are an offense but guns/weapons aren't, I know this is debatable but I never could understand this censorship.

Cancel culture, don't you love it.

If they get their hands on video games that offended anyone, there would be none left !

[kurzih]

33 minutes ago, Mr. RetroLust said:

To delete hundreds of images people have worked on is a bit drastic isn't it, why not pixelate the offending parts in an image editor, now all those images will be lost, a real pity. Some cartoon nipples are only pixelated circles btw lol can't even call em nipples. Anyway, it does baffle me that nipples are an offense but guns/weapons aren't, I know this is debatable but I never could understand this censorship.

The request for help and instruction from Jason was very clear:" We do have a very strict no-nudity policy for the media, however, primarily to protect kids and keep us out of hot water because we have no age checks on the games database website. Please keep that in mind and never upload any images with nudity to the site."

"I could really use the community's help to mark any images with nudity in them for deletion."

Self-censoring is not a solution, who would even be qualified for that ? What if there is a legal problem one day, all that crap would go to Unbroken Software, since it's their website platform. We can only help them to avoid a situation like that and stick to the rules

I did suggest an "Adult tag" - but Launchbox is not my creation and don't want to argue against the people working hard on this software.

Please see first page of this thread:

Rule number 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."

 

Personally I think violence is more an issue than nudity, but again - you've been here long enough to know this: we have rules for contribution.

You should quote/talk to Jason if you don't agree. Don't argue with me - I've decided to follow the rules. Simple as that.

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by kurzih

[harryoke]

jeez .... its like going back to '87 again.

this caused quite a bit of controversy back in the day ?

Edited September 16, 2020 by harryoke

[kurzih]

7 minutes ago, zugswang said:

Cancel culture, don't you love it.

If they get their hands on video games that offended anyone, there would be none left !

I get it, personally as a European I'm OK with nudity and much more against violence in any form. But this is about Launchbox's rules - we go ahead with rules about Region tags, colons, title naming etc. but suddenly when there's nudity, it's a debate?

@harryoke, remember the European cover for Barbarian II? I think that was actually banned in Germany. We could go on foreever and ever about this topic, but please guys: Jason asked for help and we have written rules. That's not too hard, is it?

Edited September 16, 2020 by kurzih

[harryoke]

4 minutes ago, kurzih said:

Adult Language is allowed as long as it is not obscene."

I come from the north east of England , what is obscene to you,may not be to me.

 

[harryoke]

@kurzih Barbarian

yes Maria Whittaker ..... mmmmmmmm

such sweet teenage mammaries .... sorry i mean memories

 

[neil9000]

At the end of the day these are the rules that were put in place by Jason, and everybody here has to abide by them, as simple as that, and the rule is no nudity, period. While i also personally disagree with this approach and agree with what others have said that it seems very very strange to me that we are not allowed to see what we, as a species look like, but its perfectly fine to see what our insides look like when opened up in a violent fashion by a knife/gun/explosion, it is what it is I'm afraid.

Those are the rules, you abide by them or access to the database for you will be restricted, its as simple as that I'm afraid.

[Mr. RetroLust]

The issue to me is the deletion of (historical) game imagery. I would have no problem with pixelated unrecognizable nude parts in an image, I would even help out to censor those images but to completely delete them is very drastic in my opinion.

[harryoke]

Preservation is key ... keep the untouched images off site , only add censored ones on database. that is our point

[harryoke]

Please say the untouched images were backed up ?

Edited September 16, 2020 by harryoke