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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 that the asker doesn't know the name of. However, we have very strict restrictions on these kinds of questions to avoid numerous problems we've had with these ...
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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 against answering them in the comments (before the question is inevitably closed and deleted) is "If you give them an answer in the comments, you're just ...
20
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 to tell you, it's just the way it is. Trust me, today is my 3rd anniversary here on Arqade, I've been around a little while, and we are happier because of this ...
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We shouldn't be. Simple rule of thumb for identification questions: You must be asking for the identification of a real actual thing that somebody else can look at. Examples of acceptable formulations:
"What is the font in this screenshot?"
"What game is being played in this Youtube video?"
"What song plays during the 4th level of that Awesome Game?"
"...
17
I'm posting this answer because I think Mark Trapps answer while excellent, gets a bit away from the core concern raised by this question in favor of talking about a tag than anything else.
So, to speak to the core question: Should we allow requests for identification of games based on the reference to actual visual, textual, or audio artifacts of that game?...
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What is an Audiovisual artifact?
An audiovisual artifact is a picture or sound clip from the game. It needs to be something concrete, such as a screenshot or sound clip, and not something from the memory of the user.
Why does an Audiovisual artifact grant an exception to the Game Identification ban?
One of the primary reasons for the Identify This Game (...
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/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.
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No, it's not in this case, because... well, quite frankly, there's no longer a question here.
We don't allow game identification questions of the "help me remember this old game" variety. The exception if you have a screenshot is primarily there for those situations when you, say, encounter an image of a game in some other media, but can't identify ...
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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 file, or other medium to point to. Identification from descriptions and memory alone is off-topic. Read our Game Identification Wiki for help and more info.
...
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Site Policy Rule #1: We don't allow Identify This Game questions.
Site Policy Rule #2: We allow one single exception, for when the question asker has a concrete artifact from the game.
Abusing Rule #2: Retroactively adding a concrete artifact after the game has been identified in the comments, for the express purpose of making a question that violates rule ...
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No, I'm sorry, that is not good enough. We've tried. We have. It didn't work out.
If you'd like, there are other websites that can help you in your search, such as:
Wikipedia's lists of videogames
/r/tipofmytongue
/r/tipofmyjoystick
/r/askgames
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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 identification guide: How to ask a good (video game) story-ID question and also their general ID guide How to ask a good story-ID question?, and remember that Stack ...
12
Rules are generally decided in two ways. Either they are a network-wide rule handed down from the powers that be at Stack Exchange (aka the Community Team), or they are a site rule that got discussed here, on meta (likely a million times, as it was with the identify this game ban) and decided upon.
The ITG rule is not likely to change (because honestly, ...
11
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-text short - for the latter, around 50 characters is fairly ideal.
As for titles, the better ones are:
Descriptive - drawn from what can be seen in the ...
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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 picture, video/audio file, or other medium to point to, we can answer that. See our Game Identification Wiki for more info and for help with your search.
My ...
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No. Meta is specifically for questions about Arqade. You are more than welcome to ask in The Bridge though.
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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, although the tone of the comment was rather stern, so I can find how someone could think that I meant to bully them.
I simply wanted to state to the user that ...
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[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, meta-discussions, chat logs, example questions, close/reopen votes and everything else were thrown into the mix, and it took a hell of a lot of people's time, ...
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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 game you're looking for just from the description.
Remember that our Code of Conduct still applies and, since this is a chat room, messages can get lost in the ...
9
The only game identification questions we allow are those based not on words you can type into the question box, but on specific audiovisual artifacts; that is to say, screenshots or photographs or video footage or soundfiles from the game in question. Obviously, this means that most Game Identification questions are not allowed, because most people looking ...
9
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 artifact was found, and why the author believes it to be from a game, or it is off topic by the same reasoning that questions requiring an answer from the game ...
9
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 made before the early 90s here, on Arqade.
Not every possible gaming-related question can be asked here, as the Q&A format of every site in the Stack Exchange ...
9
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 always with identification questions, please add as much detail as you can remember and think is relevant.
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That question really isn't asking what game is in the screenshot. Nowhere in the entire body of it is the screenshot mentioned. And I'm not saying that as quibbling over wording; the screenshot, in fact, is the answer.
No, seriously; it was added in, and the title of the game was added to the question title, after someone guessed it in the comments. I ...
8
Opening the floodgates? I don't buy it
I feel that the argument of "If we ever allow anything even remotely approaching a question that asks for identification of a game, we're going to open the floodgates and will have to start closing thousands of questions and argue with people in meta all day long over their specific questions!" to be kind of overblown. ...
7
So I want to address a specific fallacy regarding identify-this-game (as well as it's equivalent on Sci-Fi, a site with a similar 'style' of expert, which I'll get to in a moment) - specifically, the idea that, as the 5th most frequently used tag on the site, that these questions are in some way overwhelmingly popular. The thing is, that tags on Gaming.SE ...
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This isn't some debate that happened over the course of a couple weeks, it's been an on-going topic since the earliest days of the site. Sorry, but the decision was already made and voted on.
7
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 Identification" as a topic area is broad enough to stand for two separate types of questions:
Memory-based - which are off topic:
Example: "I remember a game with a duck. ...
7
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, vote to close and walk away
Then you can have rules and helpfulness.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
