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Recently, the question, Which games use a neural network to influence game play? was closed as an off-topic game identification question and left closed in the Reopen review queue.

Should it be reopened?

I don't think that it is an off-topic game identification question. It's not the "I remember this thing about a game, what game was it"? type of game identification question that we close as off-topic here. I believe the close reason was used incorrectly. It's more similar to other on-topic questions on this site.

As for the question asking for a list or its topic broadness, I think a question should be closed for that reason only if it is asking for an unbounded or open-ended list, or a very large list of items, which is not the case for this specific question. According to Arqade's site tour, one shouldn't ask about:

Questions with too many possible answers or that would require an extremely long answer

I don't think the question fits that criteria. Several positively-received questions actually have multiple games in the answers.

Related meta post about a similar list-type question where the community voted to reopen: Why was my question about games in a compilation closed?


Also, I concur with @pppery's comment regarding moderator actions on a disputed question:

Also note the question was closed by a moderator acting doubly (meaning it would have taken two community members without diamonds to close the question) despite having passed the close vote queue, and then left closed again by the same moderator acting doubly. This sort of question is not the right time for moderators to use their moderator powers. [...]

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    Also note the question was closed by a moderator acting doubly (meaning it would have taken two community members without diamonds to close the question) despite having passed the close vote queue, and then left closed again by the same moderator acting doubly. This sort of question is not the right time for moderators to use their moderator powers. (Disclosure: I was the first reopen voter)
    – pppery
    Nov 2, 2022 at 5:06
  • @pppery sigh.... it's annoying how even if I got through the review queues, my mod powers still "work". I still feel the question isn't suitable. Me and 3 other 20k+ reputation users seem to agree. All I'm going to say is reference my original comment on the question. It just doesn't quite fit the Q&A format and would need updating should new games be developed that use neural networks meaning. Questions and answers like that... just don't sit right for me for this site.
    – Timmy Jim Mod
    Nov 2, 2022 at 11:19
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    @TimmyJim Your original closure wasn't in the review queue, and was in fact after the community had left the question open in the review queue by 3 to 1.
    – pppery
    Nov 4, 2022 at 2:20
  • @pppery I meant the reopen review. Pretty sure that was through the queue.
    – Timmy Jim Mod
    Nov 4, 2022 at 2:34
  • It might not be game identification but it pretty clearly falls into a list of games that match a given criteria, which is one of the off topic criteria of game recommendation.
    – Robotnik Mod
    Mar 18 at 16:14

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My first problem is that if this can be closed as an identification question, so can any of the numerous "What is the first game to...?" under the tag, proving that just because a question technically fits a closing reason doesn't mean that question should be closed.

This true-but-objection also applies to the arguments mentioned in the comments:

  • "Which game(s) satisfy " is game identification. It's also not good for the Q&A format because there is no way to give a single correct answer."

  • This is basically asking for a rolling list of games that meet a criteria.

If these are the only reasons we have for closing this particular question, we need to revise our tag info (which would be fine by me :).

But like the "What is the first game to ...?" question type, this question asks for a finite list that can potentially be given in a single (and thus correct) answer (we could even start a community answer on this type of question by default so everyone is encouraged to pitch in).
The 'rolling' property of the list can be prevented; is not a limitation given by the OP (in that sense "this is basically asking for" is untrue); and is in any case not necessarily a reason to close a question.

Remember that a question should not be judged by its answers: I believe this applies to potential answers as well.

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  • I do however get Timmy's frustration with it, but I can't really put my finger on why that is exactly.
    – Joachim
    Nov 24, 2022 at 16:39
  • "What is the first game to" has historically been accepted on the site, whether I agree with it or not (I think these particular questions are barely passable). The post that this meta is about wants to know all the games that do this or have this trait. This would be a rolling continuous list that, in theory, never has an end if more games are released that meet the criteria that the post was about, meaning answers could become outdated and would need to be maintained. That's my bigger issue with it. That, and it doesn't quite fit the Q&A format that all SE sites are based on.
    – Timmy Jim Mod
    Nov 28, 2022 at 13:48

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