Firstly, it may be a good idea to have a read of the Tour page if you haven't already. This helps to give a general sense of what Arqade is good at, and what we've determined doesn't work well for our site.
Following on from that, if you need more in-depth info on a topic, you can also check out the Help Center, which has dedicated pages for What topics to ask about, and What types of questions to avoid.
Both the Tour and the Help Center are available from the 'Help' menu on the top-navigation bar:
Now, on to the topic at hand:
Nintendo Nightmare's Cheat Box
...would asking how [Nintendo Nightmare's cheat box] works and/or what it does under certain circumstances be allowed?
I would say that, given that Minecraft Commands are on-topic here, its fair to say that asking about commands and how to use them for the cheat box would also be on-topic. This is knowledge that someone playing the game would know.
So for example, these types of questions would be acceptable:
- How do I add [an object] to the game using the cheat box?
- How can I modify the properties of this object?
- What parameter can I specify to place an object upside down?
- I'm getting error "Invalid command" when using the cheat box, how can I fix it?
However, asking how the cheat box works under the hood would be off topic. How exactly the object turns commands into objects in-game isn't something that we (as gamers) would know about. The original developers of the game/mod would be able to answer this, but as gamers are very rarely the developers, we would not be able to answer something like this.
As it is, we've explicitly called out these sorts of questions as being off-topic:
Please note, however, that site policies prohibit questions of the following types:
- Speculative questions about developer intent, with respect to both mechanics and narrative
...
- Help Center: What topics can I ask about here?
In General
...Is asking how a specific object in a game works in a non-code sense allowed? ...[e.g.] what will happen if a certain enemy ends up outside of bounds, or the exact height of a character's jump. ...
I think it's a good idea to draw from the Tour page for this:
Focus on questions about an actual problem you have faced. Include details about what you have tried and exactly what you are trying to do.
In other words, so long as your question is specific, focused, and something that can actually occur, you should be ok to ask it. Here's a real-world example of an NPC being somewhere they shouldn't: How to get Father off the roof?
On the other hand, open-ended, theoretical questions like "I was wondering what would happen if [NPC] in [Game] was placed [Out of Bounds]" aren't what we're here for:
To prevent your question from being flagged and possibly removed, avoid asking subjective questions where ...
- you are asking an open-ended, hypothetical question: "What if ______ happened?"
...
Help Center: What types of questions should I avoid asking?
Conclusion
When you have a specific, focused game-mechanics question you want to ask, first ask yourself:
- Can a person who plays this game answer the question?
If the answer to that is 'Yes', then you should ask it!
