Looking for some consensus on game + accessory bundles

[topspot123]

The Playstation 2 Accessories category (https://vgcollect.com/browse/ps2accessory) includes both individual accessories and game and accessory bundles. 

The standard Playstation 2 category has some game and accessory bundles listed here instead.  Some examples:

https://vgcollect.com/item/30043
https://vgcollect.com/item/30042
https://vgcollect.com/item/30039
https://vgcollect.com/item/30038
https://vgcollect.com/item/30040
https://vgcollect.com/item/30032
https://vgcollect.com/item/1407
https://vgcollect.com/item/30044
https://vgcollect.com/item/30046

I mildly prefer to have the games in the game category regardless of the inclusion of accessories, but I am willing to go along with the group consensus.  These are only some examples and it is likely that these discrepancies exist for other platforms too.

[aliensstudios]

Yeah, I noticed this changed a bit back too. For a while, if the game included the accessory, it was listed in the games category, but maybe something got adjusted in the criteria because one of the admins went in and changed a lot of the items in question to the "accessories" category probably a year ago.

I too preferred to have my games that included accessories to be listed with the rest of my games, so for the items that changed, I removed them from my collection and just put the game variant in my collection having to make a note that it included the accessory. I agree with you personally, but am intrigued to see what others in the forum think.

[telly]

The way I see it is console > game > accessory. If a bundle includes a console it should be put in that category regardless if it has games for it, etc.

[tripredacus]

Having the accessories that include games (or as some say, games that include accessories) in the accessory category eliminates a duplicate item in the database. We will have duplicate items in the database either way because of how it is currently set up and the inability to link items to each other, however treating these are Games with accessories creates a double duplicate.

We can use the SingStar Rocks entry as an example
https://vgcollect.com/item/30039
Where there are two items of interest:
- The retail pack that contains the microphones and the NFR version of the game
- The retail game that has the "SingStar Microphone Required" logo on the front and UPC on the back.

Method 1: Games with accessories
1. Retail game entry created in Games category
2. Pack-in game entry created in Games category
3. Accesory pack that includes microphones and game in Games category
4. Accesory pack that includes microphones and game in Accessory category

Method 2: Accessories with games
1. Retail game entry created in games category
2. Pack-in game entry created in games category
3. Accessory pack that includes microphones and game in Accessory category

This is the reason why they should be treated as Accessories with games.
- As seen in Method 1, putting the accessory pack in the Games category creates a double duplicate. It becomes a duplicate of the accessory entry and the entry for the pack-in game.
- We already allow pack-in games to have their own entries. This is so people can choose to add the game individually rather than the entire product (such as accessory or console pack) and just note that they have the game and not the other stuff.

SingStar microphone bundles are not the greatest example to be had here, as they were released in many different packages. There are other examples that would be better, but we could change the games in the example and have the same problem.

[betelgeuse]

I’m still not feeling the accessory category...

The mics are all the same with the sing star games. No need to have multiple categories. I would prefer the bundle to be listed as a game. If you only have a set of microphones for some odd reason, then it becomes an accessory. Maybe users can write in their comments section that they only have the mic or game for the bundle. Kinda like showing the package or box artwork, even though you only own a cartridge/disc. The barcodes should be different on the individual game anyway and would get a unique listing.

I feel the same about some of the other changes that were made as well. DDR games, Rockband, Guitar Hero, Ace Combat, Wii games with controller, Taiko Drum Master etc. All of these have unique barcodes separate from the accessory if an accessory was even available to be purchased separate.

[desocietas]

Yeah, I feel kinda the same about having it primarily in the accessory category, but I think the bigger flaw might lie in the database format in general. It would be nice to be able to link items together or have a redirect of some sort, especially to help link individual items within a bundle/edition.

[tripredacus]

There are other methods that is not mentioned already.

Method 3
1. Retail game into the games category
2. Accessory pack that includes the game in the game category
3. Pack-in accessory as a loose item in the accessory category

In this method, the pack-in game does not get a separate entry. If the pack-in game is unique, it would be listed as such in the description of the pack itself.

Just so that we are aware that I personally prefer this fourth method, which is not used on the site:

Method 4
1. Retail games go into games category
2. Retail games with accessories go into games category
3. Retail Accessories with games go into the accessory category

In this method, pack-in accessories and games (not even those included with consoles, unique or not) do not have individual entries. If you had acquired only a portion of a pack-in item, you should add the main item to your collection and use notes field appropriately. For example, if you had just got 1 SingStar microphone, you would have to pick one of the retail packs and notate it appropriately. If you had gotten the NFR version of a game, you would add the appropriate console to your collection. There are ways around this however, such as instead of adding partial items to your collection, you would add them to your wantlist and note that you already have x part or only need x part.

The reason I prefer the fourth method is specifically because the site does not allow item linking.

And I am sure there are many other ways to deal with this situation... BUT I can assure you that no matter which one we use, we will not have 100% satisfaction among the userbase as to the method chosen.

[tripredacus]

I have thought of a way this can possibly work out, let me know what you think of this

Any item that is a game with an accessory included can be added into a Game category as long as the physical game inside is not a special/Not for Resale version. If the game included is an NFR version, then the NFR game gets an entry in the game category and the Game with Accessory item goes into the Accessory category.

This would still mean that things like that SingStar example would end up in the Acessory category, but games like Vampire Night + GunCon on PS2 or Lethal Enforcers on Sega Genesis would be put into the Game category and the accessories that come with those packages can be put as loose into the Accessory category as long as there was not a stand-alone retail release of that specific accessory.