Stealth Change of [NA] Entires to [NA] - CA

[n64ra]

I have about 1500 titles but don't own any Canadian versions of North America releases. I've noticed when scrolling through my collection every once in a while that some of my entries now have the format "<name of title> - [CA]" That's easy to change because it still falls under the category of "<console> - [NA]". Seems the person(s) doing that are good at providing screenshots of the Canadian boxes. What's worse is there's usually NOT an entry left as the standard [NA] release! You might think I just misread or am lazy and picked the only [NA] entry available; however, I'm pretty good at adding entries when they don't exist. I just did it today for two titles in response to the above and have done it in the past. I'm certainly fine with NA - CA releases being in the database, but annoyed I have to remove from them my collection and add/create the general [NA] entry.

Is there anyway to prevent the stealth changing of [NA] releases to [NA] CA releases?


Ones I made today: https://www.vgcollect.com/item/202079 and https://www.vgcollect.com/item/202080

[dhaabi]

Well, it's certainly difficult to call these edits representative of a "stealth change," as the edits are proposed in good faith to what the original information pertaining to the entries had provided.

For example, in the instance of World in Conflict: Soviet Assault [CA]—an entry which you created, even—the box art provided features the Canadian release of the item, and this information of the entry is original. No other original information seems to have been provided at the entry's creation that would help others to indicate that this is, in fact, not the Canadian release, as you're suggesting. Had there been additional information supplied to fields such as Item Number or Barcode with United States' information to back up the original Item Name, even with the conflicting box art, then these changes would not have been accepted with such quick judgement. In times, entry creators may be messaged for further verification of what the item entry is exactly. Or, if the entry creator is not an active member anymore, then it is left up to staff to find out which of the two (or more) possible identities for the entry is most common.

At the same time, in the instance of Rage - Anarchy Edition [CA], both the Front Artwork and Barcode information is original to the entry which indicate the entry's current identity of it being representative of a Canadian release.

In short, if you're wanting to prevent situations like this, provide newly-created entries with as much information as possible and double-check item entries to ensure that what you're adding to your account is what you actually are meaning to add. Unique item numbers and barcodes are perhaps the biggest indicators as to what an item entry was most intended to originally represent. It is not uncommon for entries to be created with incorrect box art; however, in both of the examples you mentioned, the artwork is original and has not been updated.

[snyderec3]

I've seen the opposite happen. When I added this item to my collection it was the Canadian version, but now it's listed as the US version, even though it's still showing the Canadian box: https://vgcollect.com/item/7894

[tripredacus]

I've seen the opposite happen. When I added this item to my collection it was the Canadian version, but now it's listed as the US version, even though it's still showing the Canadian box: https://vgcollect.com/item/7894

That is a different situation. In the future, report things like this in listing errors.

Corrected the name (will gain a descriptor once the other entries are made)
Removed front/back pictures

Please upload correct box pictures.

Also try to remember that the console sections were made as generic entries, so original generic entries will be changed to some sort of specific entry in the future. Even this one... considering there are multiple releases of the SNES with SMW in US that use same barcode. (Even the Canadian release has this barcode)

[n64ra]

Interesting to see it happens from Canadian to non-Canadian too!

Thanks for confirming the entry now named "World in Conflict: Soviet Assault [CA]" was created by me. That means it originally had the name "World in Conflict: Soviet Assault." I'm impressed that the tiny picture was enough for an editor to realize it was the Canadian image. I certainly can't tell that until I googled for additional images for the game box yesterday to learn the Canadian version has two sets of red text after "PC DVD" in the top left. I wasn't asked and believe I am still active. For new entries, I'll add barcodes. As for entries I didn't create like Rage - Anarchy Edition, the box art https://vgcollect.com/images/front-box-art/24617.jpg is still too small to read French on it. One would have to notice there's just more text on the box art than the US release. I certainly missed the one liner in the Box text field of the entry "Par les créateurs de Doom et Quake" to give it away or the slightly different barcode - 093155117488 vs 093155117457. I have been operating under the assumption that the title took precedence over the supplemental material of images or box text, but I see here it is in fact the opposite. 

[tripredacus]

The ESRB rating looks different on CA vs US releases, it is very easy to tell based on this.