Forums > Bugs > Add new game wizard of Steam cannot access region-locked games
gbcat (11797) on 7/17/2021 2:07 PM · edited · Reply · Permalink · Report
For example Uncharted Waters IV HD Version
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1424800/Uncharted_Waters_IV_HD_Version/?l=english
It is Asia only currently.
Rik Hideto (467524) on 7/20/2021 4:34 PM · Reply · Permalink · Report
You can add the entry without using the scraper. Takes few more clicks.
Steam Store Description:
"Uncharted Waters IV", a popular title from the "Uncharted Waters" series, is now available in HD! The game takes place in 16th century Europe, during the "Age of Discovery". It is an ocean adventure simulation RPG where you take on the role of an adventurer, merchant, or soldier, and create dramatic experiences with the various people living in the same world. The player's goal is to become the ruler of the world's 7 seas. To do so, in addition to becoming the ruler of each area of the sea, players must also search out the secret treasure "Hasha no Akashi" that lies deep within one of the sea areas. Search ruins scattered through the world, decipher treasure maps, and dig up hidden treasures... there are numerous events that will make your adventure even more dramatic. Set sail on your adventure!
Steam cover:
https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1424800/header.jpg?t=1621485135
...
Foxhack (31763) on 7/22/2021 6:46 AM · Reply · Permalink · Report
That's... a little hard to do because we can't see the page at all.
An error was encountered while processing your request:
This item is currently unavailable in your region
So, no tech specs, no promo images, no text, ratings or anything else can be seen unless you're in that region or you're using a VPN. It suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.
Rik Hideto (467524) on 7/22/2021 7:30 AM · Reply · Permalink · Report
Google Uncharted Waters IV HD Version and then view cache. :P
MrFlibble (17674) on 7/27/2021 9:59 AM · Reply · Permalink · Report
Not to derail this topic, but is there really an urgency to documenting Steam games (as opposed to games not available via that platform, e.g. independent developer stuff)?
It's not like that platform is going to go away in foreseeable future, while using a scraper basically just copies Steam content without adding anything of our own to such contributions. From what I notice, scraped pages rarely get updates even in the form of user screenshots, even less a good user-written description, so it's basically mirroring Steam pages. And if Steam is not likely endangered in near future, maybe the effort be better spent on some other material?
Also don't forget that many games sold via Steam have official developer/publisher pages with relevant info. So even if a game gets removed from Steam library there's a chance that information about it will be preserved elsewhere.
MrFlibble (17674) on 7/31/2021 9:36 PM · Reply · Permalink · Report
What irks me the most is that scrapers require no research on the part of the contributor who uses them. For example, if someone contributes user screenshots, it can be inferred that that user played the game in question and perhaps owns a copy (if that is an issue) -- and hence to an extent can act as an expert on that game. So I can for example address that user additional questions about a game for which they contributed user content.
Conversely, I could add as many games as I like via scrapers, just making sure no one has added them before, without even looking at the description and finding out what each of them is about.
And if I decided to do research and dig info on a game even a little, maybe play it, even, then why use the scraper in the first place? (Oh, and for now I'm not going to go into the whole thing about digital store descriptions / ad blurbs actually being entirely unsuitable as stand-ins for user-made descriptions, because they are intended for a different purpose. But yes, they are not suitable.)
Koterminus (122173) on 8/1/2021 12:06 AM · Reply · Permalink · Report
It sounds like you are misinformed about what the scraper actually does. For Steam games, for example, the scraper automatically creates an entry and adds the cover, ad blurb, release info, homepage link, and screenshots from the store page - nothing else. The contributor must still examine gameplay footage to select what genres and rating categories are applicable, check to verify that the scraped title matches the cover, check that the release information is correct (and it often isn't) and submit new companies if necessary, and finally, check that the scraped homepage is an actual website dedicated the game and not a company website or social media profile.
The scraper exists to streamline the process of adding games; it's not a free points machine. While ad blurbs are written for different audiences than user-created descriptions, most of the time they are good enough to convey what the game is, and when they aren't, we send them back to the contributor with a request to write a suitable description instead. Allowing ad blurbs in place of descriptions allows us to create game entries much faster, which brings us to one of the next most important functions of the site: credits. A contributor cannot submit a set of credits, or any other valuable information for that matter, for games if they do not have pre-existing entries on the site. I think this in itself is a very good argument for the existence of the scraper: it's better to have an entry for a game with no user-contributed content than no entry at all, just so that it's there in case someone does want to contribute something.
MrFlibble (17674) on 8/3/2021 12:28 PM · Reply · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Koterminus wrote--]I think this in itself is a very good argument for the existence of the scraper: it's better to have an entry for a game with no user-contributed content than no entry at all, just so that it's there in case someone does want to contribute something. [/Q --end Koterminus wrote--] I can tell you about my personal experience with this: a long while ago I played the shareware version of Spiderweb Software's Nethergate and liked it. Unfortunately, other priorities prevented me from contributing screenshots from my playing session at that time. Back then I also noticed that the updated re-release, Nethergate Resurrection, was not featured here at MobyGames, and took a mental note that maybe I should add that game. I never got around to do that.
Fast forward some years later, when I discovered that someone had added the game via scraper in the interim. Of course, the ad blurb never mentioned that the game was in any way related to the original Nethergate, and the release year was 2012 (the year it appeared on Steam), not 2007 which was the original release year. There were no tech specs added so the fact that the game is shareware was not reflected. Neither was the original Mac release (and Spiderweb is a company that caters first and foremost to Mac users) mentioned at all. Whether the original contributor knew all these things and neglected to add them to the game information is not up to me to judge. But this prompted me to write a description for the game and add the correct release dates.
I admit that the existence of the scraped entry kind of simplified my job here, to an extent. And maybe, without it, I would not get around to add the game on my own to the database. But what the scraper produces are still incomplete stubs at best, and who's to go through them all to get them into proper shape? And even worse, what about all the games which are not sold via Steam or GOG, would it not be better to document these, because they're less exposed, from the side of widespread knowledge, to the public? One could say that the scraper system effectively creates preferential advantages for games that are not endangered to be forgotten, because Steam takes care of them being well exposed and sold. And there's no way to create similar "stubs" for let's say shareware games found at cd.textfiles.com, or some rare/obscure regional releases (stuff like Hades 2 for example), unless someone manually goes through them, which you'll admit is far more demanding than using the scraper.
andrew gar (0) on 1/15/2022 6:22 PM · edited · Reply · Permalink · Report
[spam redacted]