Sorting out the arcade category

[kimimi]

I personally think this section's a bit of a mess and needs reorganising - we go from the hyper-specific (regional revisions of particular boards) to the ultra-generic "I have an arcade cabinet". In my opinion, we need to do one or the other, and I think in the long run it'd be better to go for the more generic and then specify in the notes section exactly what hardware the game uses, otherwise the list's going to end up a mile long and isn't really going to be that much use to anyone.

Also, the "arcade conversion" section just needs to go. As I understand it it's meant to include games that were put inside non-original cabinets.... but why do we need to note this? If it's in a non-original cabinet then the cabinet is just a big wooden/plastic box used to play the game, it's not a part of the overall package. People have every right to be proud of the work they put into their cabinets but if they're worth noting as individual "releases" then my modified PC Engine is also worth it's own category and the Mean Machines Sega stickers on my PAL MD make it a regional variant

To make this section practical and workable I would remake it like this -

Arcade cabinets - for original boards in matching original cabinets (ex: a Jp Daytona USA board in a Jp Daytona USA cab), or original generic cabs - Astro City/Blast City/Egret, etc.
Arcade motherboards - CPS2/MVS/PGM/F3, Atomiswave, NAOMI etc. Just for hardware needed to run the games, not the games themselves.
Arcade games - games that require a specific motherboard to run, like games for the motherboards I mentioned above. Format can be put in the notes section.
Dedicated PCBs - these are games that come as a single unit, with no removable game. Ex: Tekken, Soul Edge, Golden Axe, Gauntlet, etc. PCB type can again be written in the notes section.

Having these four categories with the full set of regional variants should cover everything without causing headaches.

I must admit I have a personal interest in pushing this through (I still can't list most of my arcade stuff with the current system) but I do honestly think it'd work better going forward too.

[foxhack]

I'd prefer the generic route, but a lot of people have pretty much abused the fact that they can create entries willy-nilly. :\

[kimimi]

Perhaps make a style guide section about it? Is it possible to stop repeat offenders from creating new entries for a while?

[scott]

Perhaps make a style guide section about it?

Ya I need to do some updates to the Style Guide. But, some sections of the database, I'm really confused about. I think Matt and I are meeting tonight to work on the site, so I'm going to talk to him about it.

Is it possible to stop repeat offenders from creating new entries for a while?

I wish. Unfortunately, as admins, we kind of lack the tools to discipline users who are repeat offenders and don't seem to "get it". The only thing we can do at the moment is send PMs and hope that they check their messages and change their ways.

[kimimi]

Thank you both for your replies!

[disgaeniac]

LMAO @ "repeat offenders" 

Merry Christmas, Kimimi!

[insektmute]

Resurrecting this one to bring up that I'm with kimimi on dropping the 'arcade conversion' category, and for pretty much the same reasons. It just doesn't make any sense to me, since pretty much every arcade game can be plonked into another cab without much difficulty, barring maybe those ones that use specialized controls or multi-screen setups. Her suggestions on differentiation between the various types would work well, I think.

The current listings are a bit all over the place, particularly since some system boards have their own categories (CPS-2, Neo-Geo MVS, etc) are in their own distinct categories, while others (Atomiswave, PGM2, etc) are not. Makes for some big inconsistencies.