Style Guide Poll #6: Multi-platform Physical Release Game Category Placement

[tripredacus]

Platform post in Adv Guide updated.
News thread updated.

Sneak King entry updated.

[leonefamily]

Sorry for my super late forum responses lately. Yes it kinda causes problems to just use the oldest platform for a few things. Yes, it's good for some platforms especially the ONE/XSX co-branding (it is a fantastic solution) but it causes issue for the Sneak King example since it has 360 box style but now it's been changed to OG xbox, and the same would apply for the demo discs which co-branded versions look more like 360 discs but now they would become just og xbox. It would also cause issue for stuff like the Red Dead Redemption 360/ONE version since it has ONE box style but now would become 360, further complicating the 360 category as there are already plenty of different 360 versions of RDR there. Lots of people who would see the box at first glance wouldn't realise it's not JUST a ONE game (although it's clearly written Xbox 360 / Xbox One with big white letters) and I can personally confirm this as, it is time for me to make a big reveal, I manage the electronics department at the largest Walmart store of central Québec. I can ATTEST that most people don't even take the time to read and just assume it's only a Xbox One game just by taking a look at the box style. Even worse, the manufacturers who send me the stuff, as well as all of our own internal systems, always refer to those games as XO (walmart's abbreviation of Xbox one) not only on all the 360/ONE co-branded items but also on the ONE/XSX titles, while 360 titles used to have their own category obviously and XSX only games are indeed referred as XSX in our internal systems.

TLDR listing as older console will not always give the best results. Could be used for the ONE/XSX titles but for the rest it should just be something like "Co-branded titles should be listed under the console which the box size/style most closely resembles". But that's just my personal opinion 

[tripredacus]

It was a close vote, so people are really split on it. I think that no matter which option had come out on top, there would be equal amount of complaints about it. This is really just a situation where a different behaviour or design of how the site works with the data (ie: how it is displayed to the user) would be the ideal way to remedy things like this.

Especially since there still is no real way to handle true multi-platform things, such as accessories that with with Sega/Nintendo or Playstation/Xbox/PC (because it is USB) or Micros/SMS or the multi-platform Micro games that were mentioned earlier. At least for accessories we have a generic category we put them in.

[n64ra]

It was a close vote, so people are really split on it. I think that no matter which option had come out on top, there would be equal amount of complaints about it. This is really just a situation where a different behaviour or design of how the site works with the data (ie: how it is displayed to the user) would be the ideal way to remedy things like this.

Especially since there still is no real way to handle true multi-platform things, such as accessories that with with Sega/Nintendo or Playstation/Xbox/PC (because it is USB) or Micros/SMS or the multi-platform Micro games that were mentioned earlier. At least for accessories we have a generic category we put them in.

What was the final tally for each category? Had I realized there was a vote, I would have picked the way the manufacturer marketed the game. With a close vote, the correct answer is let each user decided how the data is displayed to them individually at the game level. For two examples, I want Gears Tactics as Xbox One (older console) and Sneak King as Xbox 360 (newer console). Why not have two entries in the database for Gears Tactics, one on Xbox One and the other on Series X, saying this is the same game just you the user are selecting the one you want in your collection?

[tripredacus]

It is imperfect the way it is but that is how the site currently works. So we have to have these types of "rules" so we can properly manage the data. We can only ask the devs to come up with a different solution.

As for why not two entries, well because then they would be dupes. And it wouldn't make sense to do it that way, to create duplicates of almost all of the Xbox titles between the different categories. Why then bothing having a category for each platform and just have 1 ginormous Xbox platform? Shall we also be creating up to 6 dupes for third party accessories that are branded for multiple consoles and computers? What about creating dupe entries for all of the Master System games that can be played on the Genesis using the Power Base Converter or Game Boy games that can be played on SNES? I say no thanks to that, it is difficult enough to manage the database with just 1 of each thing.