Question on Alternate Names field

[Gaming.Zone]

I am curious what the intended use of Alternate Names is? Was the purpose to call out title differences by region for relational linking or is it there to actually help with finding games better for the end user?  Or are Alternate names meant to help those importing in the future when in the GamesDB?

Given the example of Videocart-1: Tic-Tac-Toe & Shooting Gallery & Doodle & Quadra-Doodle
It has alternate names of:
Tic-Tac-Toe + Shooting Gallery + Doodle + Quadra-Doodle
Videocart 1: Mühle - Tontauben-Schießen - Kreatives Malspiel - Videoscope
Muehle, Tontauben-Schiessen, Kreatives Malspiel, Videoscope
Tic-Tac-Toe, Shooting Gallery, Doodle, Quadra-Doodle

For this game is there benefit for formatting differences of the same data (ie the +) ?

Asking ChatGPT it is suggesting to use Alternate Names to make searching later easier like:
Tic-Tac-Toe
Shooting Gallery
Doodle
Quadra-Doodle

Is this true and would it be useful to include in my Launchbox build or is it overkill?

 

I do software QA for a living so when I run into something like this I tend to want to learn as much as I can to understand it's true purpose as if I don't I will edge case the heck out of it and find out later I have to do re-work when development adds proper guard rails to the area.  

Thanks in advance.

[JoeViking245]

7 minutes ago, Gaming.Zone said:

Was the purpose to call out title differences by region for relational linking or is it there to actually help with finding games better for the end user? 

In short, yes.

In your example, you'll note the middle 2 are German (listed to the right).

The other 2 might be how the game is listed is something like a no-intro set (or similar).

14 minutes ago, Gaming.Zone said:

For this game is there benefit for formatting differences of the same data (ie the +) ?

The above might be 'the benefit'.

 

19 minutes ago, Gaming.Zone said:

Asking ChatGPT it is suggesting to use Alternate Names to make searching later easier like:
Tic-Tac-Toe
Shooting Gallery
Doodle
Quadra-Doodle

Is this true and would it be useful to include in my Launchbox build or is it overkill?

Not really.  e.g.  If you manually enter the game and type in only the last one, the searched result still gives you "the right answer".

Also, some platforms may have the game 'combo-pack' as well as the individual games, separately.

[Gaming.Zone]

Thanks for the reply.

I was aware that the 2 in the middle were for the SABA Videoplay in Germany.

I believe that you were able to answer some of my questions, which I thank you kindly.

For the example I provided I believe at some point No-Into named the file differently and this helps grab legacy versions of the rom to scrape.  

As far as what I was asking for about my created collection on my PC.  If I have a large collection, is there benefit to add 
Tic-Tac-Toe
Shooting Gallery
Doodle
Quadra-Doodle
as individual Alternate names in my collection to make search parsing quicker?

...or is the fact that there are redundant items now slowing down my game search.

I am asking anticipating a large collection eventually.

I want to know if I am shooting my foot or if I can get some sort of search efficiency in the future by making smart changes.

Thanks again.

 

[JoeViking245]

8 minutes ago, Gaming.Zone said:

As far as what I was asking for about my created collection on my PC.  If I have a large collection, is there benefit to add 
Tic-Tac-Toe
Shooting Gallery
Doodle
Quadra-Doodle
as individual Alternate names in my collection to make search parsing quicker?

If anything, it would make it "slower".  You've essentially added 4 additional fields that it now has to parse through as well.  However, my guess is it'll search the main Title first, then the alternate names [if there wasn't a hit in the main title].  Making the alternate title(s) a moot point [in this example].  (IF my guess is correct)

Now... say, if you rename the games' Title to "My Favorite Game", it would probably be nice to have those alternate names available.  ("I renamed the game to something really cool but forgot what I called it. But I know it had the game "Doodle" in it.")

 

That all said, searching happens pretty dang fast.  I think you'll spend way more time adding in the alternate titles than you could ever collectively save waiting for search results.

[Gaming.Zone]

19 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

If anything, it would make it "slower".  You've essentially added 4 additional fields that it now has to parse through as well.  However, my guess is it'll search the main Title first, then the alternate names [if there wasn't a hit in the main title].  Making the alternate title(s) a moot point [in this example].  (IF my guess is correct)

Now... say, if you rename the games' Title to "My Favorite Game", it would probably be nice to have those alternate names available.  ("I renamed the game to something really cool but forgot what I called it. But I know it had the game "Doodle" in it.")

 

That all said, searching happens pretty dang fast.  I think you'll spend way more time adding in the alternate titles than you could ever collectively save waiting for search results.

Thanks. 

I was under the same assumption but wanted to hear it echoed.  Again the issue with being a QA is I am always looking at software in abstract ways.  

I appreciate the dialogue.