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I feel that the admins are being too overzealous in closing questions for being "Subjective" or "too localized" at the slightest hint of subjectivity or locality playing a role.

Here's some recent examples of what I mean:

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/2120/what-is-the-best-selling-game-of-all-time-closed

Question asks for a list of the best selling games. Closed for being "too localized." This is insane. There is absolutely no rationalizing this as being too localized. There are sites available that track game sales which make it easy to list exactly what this question asks. There is no quantifier in his question that even suggests a locality. The reason lists time as being the locality, but this shouldn't be an issue, since any decent game sales list will be updated.

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/2118/suggestions-for-games-playable-on-linux-closed

Question asks for games playable on Linux. Closed for being "too subjective" and "argumentative." The question is basically asking for a list containing games playable under Linux. This is not subjective. There are plenty of lists containing Linux games available. Additionally, questions like this can be nice since someone might point out a game that has previously been overlooked. I don't know how this question would be considered "argumentative" at all. The only thing argumentative about it is that there is no reason it should have been closed and yet it was closed.

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/2031/what-are-some-of-the-easter-eggs-in-games-closed

Question asks for easter eggs in games. Question is closed for being "not a real question." This one really bothers me because the only reason it is closed is because the admins are basically trying to set policy that isn't actually outlined by the site. This is not an admin run site. Admins do not set policy. This is a valid question, and there are lists available that answer this very question.

It seems to me that there is a push trying to set the policy for this site by smashing down questions that don't mesh with that policy. Right now it seems the policy is to only allow very dry and clear cut questions that are somewhere along the lines of "What is the Konami Code?" This is a bad policy decision and isn't one that should even be made by admins. Just because a rule exists doesn't mean that you need to take it to draconian levels of enforcement. A question where locality plays a role should not be closed for being too localized unless it is too localized to be answered.

And honestly, some of you need to obtain a dictionary and look up subjectivity and objectivity because you don't seem to have a clue what they mean.

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    thanks for the feedback swiss – Jeff Atwood Jul 15 '10 at 23:08
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    I would have to voice my agreement with Swiss. This is a site for gamers, and we need to be aware that while some question types don't conform with the typical stackexchange definition of validity, they make more sense to the gaming community. On the other hand, we don't want to taint the first impression to the public. I think we need to keep discussions like this open for the next several months at least and take cues from the user base. I would simply implore everyone to keep an open mind as to the style of questions we will allow. – Ritwik Bose Jul 16 '10 at 1:14
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    @Mechko, if we do that there won't be a site in the next several months. The official word is that SE is an engine for Q&A, not discussion, and Jeff has already stated that he has doubts about this site. Allowing this questions will make those predictions true. – juan Jul 16 '10 at 1:26
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    Siding with Juan on that one. You can find countless gaming forums, to discuss games. What is hard to find is a place to ask simple questions and get answers without a discussion noise. – Gnoupi Jul 16 '10 at 13:16
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    I don't exactly see how name/site listing can lead to discussion. It's a list. A summary you post and that's that. There is no discussion possible. Also, the thinking pattern here is one originally built for StackOverFlow. This isn't the same site and it's not about the same subject. You can't expect to use the same rules and that the gamers who come here will like/understand them. Programmers ask to the point. Gamers ask broad. Also, badp, lists will always be incomplete. That's a given. Meaning it's not an argument against posting them. – KdgDev Aug 22 '10 at 23:54
  • @Jaun Can you please link to the aforementioned remarks by Jeff? – sequentiallee Sep 5 '10 at 1:55
  • @Juan Sorry to pester, but did you miss my comment? – sequentiallee Sep 10 '10 at 9:43
  • @Lee You misspelled his name in your first comment, and this is a fairly old post. In any case, his mention of doubts is directly related to this even earlier post, where he provides a podcast where Jeff does say that he is nervous about the future of the site. But that was 2 months ago. – Grace Note♦ Sep 15 '10 at 17:25
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https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/2120/what-is-the-best-selling-game-of-all-time-closed

Closed for being "too localized." [...] There is no quantifier in his question that even suggests a locality. The reason lists time as being the locality, but this shouldn't be an issue, since any decent game sales list will be updated.

The problem here is time localization. StackExchange is meant to be ask once, answer once, read many. Questions that are Too localized fail at the "read many" part: the answer is bound to change too quickly to be useful.

You do have a point about linking to a site. The question is being reopened by the, erm, "admins". (More on that later.)

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/2118/suggestions-for-games-playable-on-linux-closed

The question is basically asking for a list

Exactly. Lists aren't cool. Will you ever be able to provide the definitive list with all games ever existed for Linux? Won't that become outdated pretty fast anyway?

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/2031/what-are-some-of-the-easter-eggs-in-games-closed

Question is closed for being "not a real question."

Again, lists aren't cool.

The admins are basically trying to set policy that isn't actually outlined by the site. This is not an admin run site. Admins do not set policy. This is a valid question, and there are lists available that answer this very question.

Drop the dictionary for a moment and reread the close messages.

closed as too localized by alexanderpas, Macha, Brandon, marco.ragogna, Mehper C. Palavuzlar

closed as subjective and argumentative by Oak, ChrisF, alexanderpas, Arda Xi, Ivo Flipse 7 hours ago

closed as not a real question by ChrisF, Arda Xi, marco.ragogna, Oak, Mehper C. Palavuzlar 9 hours ago

It may be me, but I don't see any diamond in that list. The community runs the site. The community, in this site, sets the policy. The community closed these questions.

Where are those horrible admin persons you are talking about? Did you actually look at what's going on here before laying blame on those evil admins?

The community, by the way, reopened the first question, also:

Post Reopened by Arda Xi, badp, Jeff Atwood♦

(Fun fact: admins are part of the community!)

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    Note that with the Linux question, I could have mentioned every single Flash game out there and through Wine, quite a bit of Windows games too. The question should be aimed at resources to find games, rather than a list of games – Ivo Flipse Jul 16 '10 at 6:39
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First of all, there are no admins on that are closing questions, it is the community that is.

For more information about how this works, read the FAQ

Now, let's look at the individual questions:

What is the best selling game of all time?

Time is certainly a factor for determining localisation, for example, when the next generation of consoles comes out, the answer can become outdated and (very) wrong, and who is going to make sure that the answer is going to be updated?

A better question would have been: How to determine which game is the best selling ever.

Suggestions for games playable on Linux

  • First of all, this question is way too broad.
  • Secondly, The size of possible answers is so big, there are whole webpages for them, and they don't even scratch the surface
  • Thirdly: Lists aren't cool!

A better question would have been: Is there a game like Port of Call that runs natively on Linux?

What are some of the easter eggs in games?

Just the similar reasons as the previous one.

A better question would have been: Have I missed some easter-eggs in Portal

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The focus of the site should be to make people better at gaming by giving them expert advice on how to do things, that's Q&A.

All these questions, don't teach people how to do things by themselves, the next time they encouter the problem.

  • The best selling game question only helps people be better at quizzes (I won btw) and as you can see the results are even boring (hint: it's all Nintendo)

  • The Linux question should have aimed at resources on where to find games that are Linux compatible or tools to play games on Linux, not a random list of games anyone could mention.

  • The site will probably become more lenient towards 'funny' questions once there is an established base of quality question. Right now, this question would lead to 5 other similar questions that serve no purpose other than a quick laugh.

I completely agree that this shouldn't take the fun out of gaming, but in the end I just want to know how to beat a boss on God-mode or what the freaking way out of that gigantic maze was. These questions, do not serve such a purpose.

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I suggest a Fourth Place: Polling for these questions, so that those who do care and not mind subjectivity have a chance to find what they seek (without having to leave the comfort of the great SE system, that is)

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    You can also not advertise it everywhere. – Gnoupi Jul 16 '10 at 13:15
  • @Gnoupi: Sorry, I hope I didn't overdo it. I just thought it would really help for those linked questions – Zommuter Jul 16 '10 at 15:41

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