Rule Change Discussion

[Doom]

 

I brought it up again.

Whatever 2 turns out to be, it needs to address these specific examples:

1. Tengen Tetris (retail release, unlicensed)
2. Half-Life (Dreamcast) (Never released, only pirate copies exist)
3. Zelda: Parallel Worlds (Homebrew hack of real game, only exists as a ROM or on reproduction carts)
4. USA-style covers for Japanese only releases (chances are good this would be a translation hack on a reproduction cart)
5. Beats of Rage (Homebrew Dreamcast game)
6. Beats of Rage: The Simpsons Arcade (Homebrew with unlicensed IP)

I can't think of any others.

[tiktektak]

As I said in the private discussion point 1 makes sense for me the rest not.

[AppleQueso]

They all seem fine to me. We're honestly far LESS likely to get in trouble for unlicensed/unreleased games than we are for the stuff we already host.

We at one point allowed those games anyhow, we never had problems then, so honestly I think unwarranted paranoia quite frankly isn't a good enough reason to exclude these sorts of things.

[UncleBob]

If we're going to allow covers for hacks/homebrew, I demand a cover for (NSFW) [spoiler]The Legend of Zelda: Link Gets Laid[/spoiler].  I've never actually played this game, but this article (also NSFW) totally shows just how deserving of a cover this game is.  I'd probably get something like this on a repo cart, if there was an option for that.

[AppleQueso]

Unless we establish a concrete rule against, erm, adult games, I see no reason why we shouldn't host it so long as whatever cover is made passes quality standards. Hell the high quality standards we have alone should filter out most of the fluff anyhow.

(also oh god I can't stop laughing reading that)

[shenske]

Unless we establish a concrete rule against, erm, adult games, I see no reason why we shouldn't host it so long as whatever cover is made passes quality standards.

I've been trying to stay out of this one but i bet you guys can take guess how i feel about this.  I'm all for hosting unlinced games but not that kind of game. 

[AppleQueso]

Yeah, it's fully understandable haha

(what about stuff like Custer's Revenge? That's a no-go too I assume?)

[Akumu]

I don't see a problem hosting covers for adult games if they are proper releases (like Jast USA releases and such). Japanese eroge usually has artwork and music done by legit professionals so it is games after all. Random pervy romhacks however are probably more debateable

At worst just put a (NSFW) next to the game name in the listing.

[AppleQueso]

I don't see a problem hosting covers for adult games if they are proper releases (like Jast USA releases and such). Japanese eroge usually has artwork and music done by legit professionals so it is games after all. Random pervy romhacks however are probably more debateable

At worst just put a (NSFW) next to the game name in the listing.

I think a bigger question might be how many people are actually going to make a cover that meets the site's quality standards for some random pervy rom hack anyhow?

[Akumu]

You'd be surprised over the people who inhabit this world of ours my friend. Don't be shocked if you suddenly see a cover Nude Punch Out that exceeds all expectations.

Not from me of course.....

[tiktektak]

Oh god this is exactly going were I never want our site to go.

Cover sections full of useless romhack game covers which have no reason to exist on a site which is there to preserve artwork for games which will be lost in time someday.

Maybe you missed my point apple. My concern is not the pirating problem (MPAA, RIAA and the likes f**k off) or the adult stuff problem! It is just that I do not want to have useless romhack covers or covers for regions which never existed for a game on the site! Who needs such stuff anyway?

The preserve something it has to physically exist in the first place!

Hmmm.... Maybe it is a bit difficult to explain for me in english.

[Akumu]

Well for romhacks, the only ones that should ever be considered would be the ones that have a good reproduction cart rate and actually needs a cover. As for translated repros that's a bit more difficult. I'd say it has a good place in our community on our forums and perhaps in a special section on the wiki, but not on the main site.

Unless it is Nude Punch Out of course, then it goes right onto the mainsite, no validation process for that one.

[AppleQueso]

If the goal of the site is to preserve the art of games, then why allow any customs of any kind at all? Why are you against genesis case covers being the standard for genesis/master system games if the goal is preservation?

I'm just going to copy a portion of sheep's post from earlier in the thread:

I think the point should be more around the ethos of the site - and if that is to archive original artwork for posterity, then all custom covers should be in a seperate section (or hosted off site) - if however the ethos is to host covers for videogames, including custom alternatives, then what difference does it make if starfox 2 or beats of rage mods are here?

Or we can establish something as simple as "must be available in a physical form", be it reproduction carts, chinese pirate carts (Kart Fighter, NES FF7), DC .isos burned to cd-r, etc.

[tiktektak]

If the goal of the site is to preserve the art of games, then why allow any customs of any kind at all? Why are you against genesis case covers being the standard for genesis/master system games if the goal is preservation?

1. It would be my personal goal to preserve artwork if this would be my site. It isn't.

2. I would not want customs on the site if it were my site. It isn't though.

3. I'm against Genesis cases being standard because they are not easily available in large quantities for small money and often don't look like new anymore(or better said look extremly f'd up).

[UncleBob]

Customs aren't bad.  Remember, this site started out from the idea of making custom GBA covers for DS cases.

Likewise, as I said before, I could totally see importing a game (for example, a GameCube game) that comes in a totally different style case and wanting a cover that fits the style of the rest of your collection.  Heck, my single imported GameCube title actually shares a two-disc case with the NA release of the game.

*and* if we're going to throw out all customs, the entire peripheral thread is done for.  And I really like the idea of cases/covers for memory cards and such.  And there's things like, say, Chibi Robo for the DS, where I requested a cover without the ugly "Only at Walmart" logo.  Plus games like the original Guitar Hero DS, Wii Sports, Metroid Prime Hunters demo, etc., etc...  These are some of our most popular downloads.  (anyone have an actual list of our top 10 downloads?).