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General discussion (archive)Mobygames Redesign(124 posts)(124 posts)
(124 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 14, 2013
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Psyringe: Out of curiosity, who owns the actual content of mobygames - database, user reviews, etc.?
Formerly MobyGames, now GameFly. You give them unrestricted (non-exclusive) usage rights for any data you submit, and you're not allowed to scrape it because the database is under GameFly's copyright. Which makes sense, because if they didn't have full rights to the data, any number of things could force them to stop displaying or even remove stuff. As for the future of the data, that's where MobyGames' notorious communication problems come into play: those who would tell, don't know, and those who know, won't tell. Asking questions is pointless. Worst case scenario, there is no recourse if GameFly decides to shut the site down (such as releasing the database back to the original founders).

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tomimt: The mods at Moby are very picky about informaton. I've submitted a couple of games there and it's always the same hassle getting the info just right. I guess it has its own effect in terms of that many would be info submitterts do it once and after they've gotten frustrated, they are not likely to do it again. I think it would be better if it worked more like Wikipedia. People would submit info and the other users would verify it and alter it if needed.
It has become worse due to an approver mass exodus several years ago, in response to the lack of open communication (see above). Many deemed it no longer worth spending their time on, considering the uncertain future of the project.

It's a different paradigm indeed. My suggestion was to stick to the stringent approval process, but get into the habit of stating sources with the information; verifiability and such. An approval process can guarantee a higher standard, but only if the approval process itself is accountable. Of course suggestions like this have now become doubly pointless because not only is nobody who can do anything about it listening (see above), but the redesign also broke so many other things that there seems to be a complete approver's strike in progress.

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Darvond: Does nobody ever bother to poll the users before rolling out a new layout?
They did, they just ignored all the responses they got.
Post edited September 14, 2013 by Anamon
Posted September 14, 2013
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Crosmando: Any of you guys ever come across a game so obscure it's not even on mobygames?
Better Dead Ratification
Posted September 15, 2013
Jesus Christ. I'm seeing mild-mannered people I've known for years (from there, since I was a contributor and an approver years ago) ripping into the MobyGames admins. It's scary.

I think this was the last straw for a lot of people. The site is finished.
Posted September 15, 2013
Well, is there an alternative to mobygames that works with a Creative Commons license?
Posted September 15, 2013
Man..., this new site runs slower than molasses. =(
Posted September 15, 2013
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Psyringe: Well, is there an alternative to mobygames that works with a Creative Commons license?
this, and a (decent) API would be nice.
Posted September 15, 2013
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KingofGnG: I wouldn't bet on that. When I search for information about a specific game on-line, I usually go through several sources on different websites. And I remember having bookmarked/wrote down a couple of promising "universal gaming database"-style sites a bit of time ago.
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tomimt: I'd say Moby most likely has the most info about wide range of different platforms. There's some platform specific sites that got more info about the games on that specific platofrm, but as far a lot of info about different platforms in a single location goes, I'd say Moby takes the cake.

But anyway, I wouldn't mind if some new site would rise in front of Moby, as the site is quite rigid and in many cases very slow in what comes to adding new info. Sometimes the submitted info even stays in some sort of limbo, when nonoe of the admins feels like looking at it. I think some sort of Wikipedia style site would be much better alternative.
Maybe we should talk to the GOGWiki people about attempting to grow one ourselves in parallel to the GOG specific one!
Post edited September 15, 2013 by Fever_Discordia
Posted September 15, 2013
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Psyringe: Well, is there an alternative to mobygames that works with a Creative Commons license?
Nope, and that probably wouldn't be a good idea since all the content would just be stolen by sites with higher Google rankings and which would throw ads on everything.
Posted September 15, 2013
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Foxhack: Nope, and that probably wouldn't be a good idea since all the content would just be stolen by sites with higher Google rankings and which would throw ads on everything.
That problem is highly overestimated, especially if your site is established. MobyGames certainly would've fit that criteria. Besides, you can prevent the worst of it by choosing the right CC license. Attribution is a given, so other sites can't claim the content as their own. Choose the non-commercial model and they're not allowed to put on ads, which prohibits making a SEO-optimised ad dispenser site. And those who don't care about those rules, well, they don't care if it's CC or copyrighted either, as evidenced by various sites that have copied MG content as-is over the years.

But of course this would have to be a new project; GF/MG couldn't change the license even if they wanted to. They'd have to get the permission from each contributor whether they'd be allowed to continue using their additions under the new license, which borders on the impossible. Personally, the thing I'm most concerned about is the (probably the world's largest) cover scan collection. This is all GameFly's property, they can take it away at any time and nobody else is allowed to use it; yet this is probably the most hard-to-replace part if any new project tried to. All those local editions and budget re-releases and strange compilations, etc.

An openly licensed database would be no problem. In some respects, Wikipedia already is one, albeit a really bad one. And you don't see sites built from Wikipedia dumps stealing their traffic either.




Amen to the blowing of gaskets. I'm probably the last person to raise allegations and assume bad intentions (or lack of good intentions). But by this point even I had to say, whether MobyGames has a future or not, I understand that this is not in our (the community's) hands, but at least talk to us. There is absolutely no excuse for dragging the community along for years and not even once making a clear, official statement about the state of affairs. It costs nothing but 10 minutes of someone's time and is all we've asked for for years. Supposedly there would be people paid to do just that. But nothing. The redesign definitely was the last straw, because it being worked on was always the excuse we were fed when someone official did decide to drop by -- "we hear your concerns, but at the moment, the redesign is top priority." Well, none of our concerns were heard and now we have de facto proof that no one is interested in starting to listen.

It's hard to put in perspective if you're involved, but by now I think I can say that MobyGames is absolutely the worst-handled web project I have seen in close to 20 years of being on the web. Zero communication, I have not witnessed this in even the most ramshackle personal hobby site projects.
Post edited September 15, 2013 by Anamon
Posted September 15, 2013
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Crosmando: Any of you guys ever come across a game so obscure it's not even on mobygames?
Own a handful, not even all that obscure or rare either (Monet: The Mystery of the Orangery comes to mind), but I could never be bothered to add them with all the effort it took to contribute anything on there. Even contributing Cover Art, which is what I did most, started to be a bit of a pain.
Post edited September 15, 2013 by Gonchi
Posted September 15, 2013
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Crosmando: Any of you guys ever come across a game so obscure it's not even on mobygames?
I thought I had one, a PC Booter named Demon Force, but that's from an era when it was near impossible to find legal copies of games here, and I think it's probably Brian Fargo's The Demon's Forge, though I don't have a working floppy drive to make sure.
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AFnord: SL The Game (A surprisingly good game about public transportation in Stockholm)
Oh, damn, you had that? I've been looking for quite a while for that.
Posted September 15, 2013
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AFnord: SL The Game (A surprisingly good game about public transportation in Stockholm)
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fisk0: Oh, damn, you had that? I've been looking for quite a while for that.
It does not run all that well on modern computer. The scroll speed makes things nigh unplayable, and it has graphics issues as well (though these are not all that bad). It's a nice historical curiosity, but there are better games out there that deal with similar things (like Cities in Motion 1 & 2)
Posted September 15, 2013
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Crosmando: Any of you guys ever come across a game so obscure it's not even on mobygames?
Yip: Volgarr the Viking :P
Posted September 15, 2013
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fisk0: Oh, damn, you had that? I've been looking for quite a while for that.
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AFnord: It does not run all that well on modern computer. The scroll speed makes things nigh unplayable, and it has graphics issues as well (though these are not all that bad). It's a nice historical curiosity, but there are better games out there that deal with similar things (like Cities in Motion 1 & 2)
It's mostly the setting, Stockholm in the late 1990's, that's the most intriguing about it for me (pretty much the only reasons I'd want an original Xbox is to see the rendition of Stockholm circa 2001 in Project Gotham Racing ... and of course Metal Wolf Chaos). Would be neat if SL (or Spårvägsmuséet) would do the GOG thing and re-release it for modern systems, however unlikely that is.
Post edited September 15, 2013 by fisk0
Posted September 15, 2013
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AFnord: It does not run all that well on modern computer. The scroll speed makes things nigh unplayable, and it has graphics issues as well (though these are not all that bad). It's a nice historical curiosity, but there are better games out there that deal with similar things (like Cities in Motion 1 & 2)
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fisk0: It's mostly the setting, Stockholm in the late 1990's, that's the most intriguing about it for me (pretty much the only reasons I'd want an original Xbox is to see the rendition of Stockholm circa 2001 in Project Gotham Racing ... and of course Metal Wolf Chaos). Would be neat if SL (or Spårvägsmuséet) would do the GOG thing and re-release it for modern systems, however unlikely that is.
Yea, it will probably never see another release. It was meant as an educational tool and was mainly given to schools in & around Stockholm, with a small amount sold to the general public. These days it is too outdated to be used as an educational tool, and a real niche game, probably only appealing to people who live in Stockholm and/or people who have played most other games of that type, and who are looking for something new.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Mobygames Redesign(124 posts)(124 posts)
(124 posts)