Forums > MobyGames > Credits suggestions

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MegamanX64 (16003) on 8/5/2008 4:15 PM · Permalink · Report

So I'm adding a lot of credits right now and I thought of a couple of suggestions:

  1. I would be valuable to know if there are already credits awaiting approval for a game. It sucks to spend lot of time adding credits and then finding out that someone beat you to it.

  2. There are a couple of standard places to look for credits: the manual, game menus, game ending and a game's website. Perhaps it could be noted for each game without credits if these standard places have been searched an found not to contain any credits, as a note to future contributors so they know where to look and where not to bother.

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Sicarius (61518) on 8/5/2008 7:16 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

To 1: I agree that it would be helpful to see that or handle it like game entries are (blocking further submissions) but as a rule: If you begin to add credits and see that there are already Groups listed and you didn't enter any of them yourself -> Stop doing what you are doing immediatly and write a message to Sciere or Corn Popper asking if there are credits pending or if the groups are just left-overs from a previously abandoned submission. And don't do anything until you hear from them.

That's how I do it and that saved me from many hours of doing double work for nothing.

To 2: Interesting suggestion but in 99% of the cases the user has to own the game to find the credits and someone who is interested in submitting those credits usually knows all that or at least stumpled upon them for his first few submissions. So I see no use for the information where someone else may have looked - especially because I then ask myself: why didn't he enter them if he bothered to look for then? But perhaps someone else has a different opinion :).

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Игги Друге (46656) on 8/5/2008 10:16 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Sicarius wrote--]To 2: Interesting suggestion but in 99% of the cases the user has to own the game to find the credits and someone who is interested in submitting those credits usually knows all that or at least stumpled upon them for his first few submissions. So I see no use for the information where someone else may have looked - especially because I then ask myself: why didn't he enter them if he bothered to look for then? But perhaps someone else has a different opinion :). [/Q --end Sicarius wrote--] You don't have to own the game, a pirate copy is usually enough. But it makes more sense to use "unorthodox" methods if you know that the more common ones are already exhausted.

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Sciere (923797) on 8/5/2008 9:49 PM · Permalink · Report

  1. What Sicarius says.

  2. We only accept official sources, usually the game manuals, sometimes in-game credits (harder to transcribe). Other sources are usually not accepted because they can be incomplete. If you want to know, send a message and I can let you know for existing credits what source has been used. Usually however, "incomplete" credits are easily to spot because an entire group is missing (developer, localized publisher), etc. - because it wasn't mentioned in a certain version or source.

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MegamanX64 (16003) on 8/5/2008 10:08 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Thanks for the tip about the credits. I've actually sent some mail to the "contributions" email, asking about exactly that, but no response yet...

I'm thinking that if you can't find the credits in an official place (manual, in game) then you might be able to track down the developer and ask. Otherwise the credits section will never be complete, which would be a shame because it's the most interesting part of mobygames if you ask me. So a database of places already searched for credits could be helpful eventually.

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Sciere (923797) on 8/5/2008 10:46 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Also we need to convince publishers this way (that's you EA and SEGA) they need to list the credits in a prominent place, preferably in the manual. There are plenty of developers annoyed with incomplete rap sheets because the publisher decided it would be good to only list the credits in-game, after completing the entire game. We can't make a difference, but if enough people complain about it (and the standardization is still being worked on), it will reach the people responsible eventually.

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Игги Друге (46656) on 8/5/2008 10:18 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Sciere wrote--]2. We only accept official sources, usually the game manuals, sometimes in-game credits (harder to transcribe). Other sources are usually not accepted because they can be incomplete.[/Q --end Sciere wrote--] But if you have an "other" source and know that it is the only available source (no info in the manual or on-screen), you're more likely to submit that than if you don't know whether there aren't any better sources available.

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Indra was here (20760) on 8/6/2008 10:48 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start MegamanX64 wrote--]

  1. I would be valuable to know if there are already credits awaiting approval for a game. It sucks to spend lot of time adding credits and then finding out that someone beat you to it.

  2. There are a couple of standard places to look for credits: the manual, game menus, game ending and a game's website. Perhaps it could be noted for each game without credits if these standard places have been searched an found not to contain any credits, as a note to future contributors so they know where to look and where not to bother. [/Q --end MegamanX64 wrote--]

Sicarius' advice on #1 seems to be the best bet. Though, oddly I never seem to have this problem...although numerously seen same credits pending at the same time. Even more odd, Sciere usually wins the submission by 5 minutes. :p

Well, for #2, can't really help that much. A dedicated submitter would usually check all information available on the game. Most credits usually end up in readme files or other *.txt files in the game. Additional credits usually are found here also.

Really doesn't matter if where it comes from (as long as its official), providing you give a supporting screenshot, or most approvers will leave the submission in limbo.