32
votes
Accepted
What are the requirements for asking a game identification question?
TL;DR:
Game-identification questions are okay only if you include screenshots, audio, or other tangible media from the game.
We use the tag game-identification for asking questions about games ...
20
votes
Accepted
Is suggesting games in comments for off-topic questions discouraged?
All you're going to get is some general opinions from the people who frequent meta on this. There is no definite site policy against it... just a few vocal users who are against it.
The argument ...
20
votes
My game identification question was closed as off-topic. Where can I ask for help instead?
/r/tipofmyjoystick
https://old.reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick/
This is a subreddit dedicated to answering game identification questions, and allows identification questions without any sort of assets.
Community wiki
18
votes
Why was the Game Identification ban decision enforced when the result was not clear-cut?
So you seem to be hung up on the math of it. Let's start with a simple and clear point: The "math" you're talking about doesn't matter. The decision has been made and it is not going to change. Sorry ...
14
votes
My game identification question was closed as off-topic. Where can I ask for help instead?
If the game you remember has a clear Science Fiction or Fantasy theme, then you can ask on our sister-site:
Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
Please see their helpful video game ...
Community wiki
12
votes
Re-evaluating the text of our Game Identification close reason
Suggested Close reason:
Our support for video game identification is for situations where you find a game in a video, advertisement, news article, movie and so on, and you have a picture, video/audio ...
RobotnikMod
- 36.5k
11
votes
Titles of game identification questions
I agree that your latest edit helped make the title more unique, and I have re-approved it because of this. The only constructive criticism I have is in future, try to keep the title and any image alt-...
RobotnikMod
- 36.5k
11
votes
Can we please Be Nice when commenting on ITG questions?
This was my comment that I had left on a question with a -2 score and the user had asked why they had received downvotes on their question.
Honestly, I don't find that my comment was all that rude, ...
11
votes
My game identification question was closed as off-topic. Where can I ask for help instead?
The Bridge
If you have at least 20 reputation, you're welcome to join us in The Bridge, Arqade's main chat room. Most of the regulars have played quite a few games, and might be able to identify the ...
Community wiki
10
votes
Accepted
Re-evaluating the text of our Game Identification close reason
Alternative Close reason:
Game identification questions that rely solely on memory are off topic here. If you find a game in a video, advertisement, news article, movie and so on, and you have a ...

DragonrageMod
- 25.7k
10
votes
Accepted
May I ask game identifcation questions on meta?
No. Meta is specifically for questions about Arqade. You are more than welcome to ask in The Bridge though.
UnionhawkMod
- 32.8k
10
votes
Does the ban on game identification cover custom game levels?
I would say it falls into the exact same category as other game identification questions.
Memory is inherently flawed and any question that relies on it alone for identifying a game, or mod. While a ...
10
votes
Where to have game identified?
We have a blog post on this topic:
http://blog.gaming.stackexchange.com/2012/08/identifying-games-when-you-cant-remember-the-name/
Other than that, I'm afraid we won't be of much help.
10
votes
Accepted
How can one find the name of an old arcade game without an image or sound bite?
Without an artifact from the game itself, asking a game identification question was decided to be off-topic for Arqade. In other words, one wouldn't find out the name of an old coin-op arcade game ...
9
votes
Accepted
Why does Game Identification require pictures, audio or screenshots?
To be honest, I find that calling these questions game-identification to be a bit of a misnomer with how the current policy stands (and I'll come back to this later). The thing is, "Game ...
RobotnikMod
- 36.5k
9
votes
Accepted
Why do (good) Game-Id questions get so much rep?
[This question should be migrated to Psychology.SE]
In all seriousness though, it's probably because Game Identification questions were so polarising in the past; a lot of choice words, arguments, ...
RobotnikMod
- 36.5k
9
votes
Where do we stand on artifacts the asker believes are from a game?
Aside from finding the answer, we have no way of knowing whether or not an artifact is truly from a game
Consider these two t-shirts (on sale at Spreadshirtmedia.com):
One of these symbols is ...
9
votes
How can one find the name of an old arcade game without an image or sound bite?
Our sister site Retrocomputing Stack Exchange welcomes both game identification questions (as long as they're written for 'old' computers) as well as questions about arcade games and hardware. As ...
8
votes
Where do we stand on artifacts the asker believes are from a game?
TLDR: A good question doesn't require an answer to prove that it is on topic.
A good question doesn't require an answer to prove that it is on topic. So, any game id question should state where the ...

DragonrageMod
- 25.7k
7
votes
Should we give a website recommendation for off-topic identification and recommendation questions?
The problem with adding non-stack exchange sites in a custom close reason is that it means we're endorsing those sites as being a reliable and high quality resource for those types of questions. Might ...
WipqoznMod
- 44.6k
7
votes
Accepted
What comes first, rules or helpfulness?
Tell the user "sorry but no"
If you are so inclined and know the answer, maybe leave it in the comments as a courtesy?
Otherwise, if you so desire, link to other places where they can get help
Finally,...
7
votes
How should a Game Identification question that no longer has a valid artifact be handled?
Well, I updated the link. I checked whether the video was snapshotted in the wayback machine and it appears to be working from there. Albeit quite slowly and no more embed possible.
It was a video I ...
7
votes
Accepted
Asking to identify the game based on keyboard combination only
I still believe it would be off-topic.
My reasoning is:
If we go by the tags definition, we only allow these questions when they contain a screenshot, video, or audio clip, none of which you will be ...

Timmy JimMod
- 48.5k
5
votes
Accepted
User asks an identification question with a game artifact, has it closed, gets answer after closing, and wants to fix the question
Let's ignore the policy discussion, the edit war, the 'answer' in the comments, and the heated debate for a second, to focus on the question itself. This was the original question body:
Hi could ...
RobotnikMod
- 36.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Would adding an additional prompt for 'game identification' questions encourage users to provide more information?
It's not that their descriptions need to be fleshed out some more; it's that we don't identify anything from pure memory. No amount of detail will change that.
SE has experimented with a lot of ...
5
votes
Should we redirect Game Identifications to other SE (or even non-SE) sites?
We close Game Identification questions without an audiovisual artifact because they're just not a good fit for our Q&A format, but that doesn't mean we don't want to help users track down a game. ...
WipqoznMod
- 44.6k
5
votes
Are we shutting down art character identification questions?
There is no inconsistency between the two questions you linked to. The first is about a character which is assumed, through context, to appear in a video game, and in fact does. The second is half of ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
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