Difference between revisions of "Frequently Asked Questions"

Latest revision as of 15:26, 9 September 2014

GamePhobias FAQ

What is a “trigger”?

The word “trigger” can have several meanings to different people, but on the Internet it is most commonly used to denote anything that causes a negative psychological reaction in an individual. This reaction can range from an unsettling feeling to extreme anxiety or even panic.

What are Content Advisory Tags?

Content Advisory Tags (CATs) are words or phrases used to categorize games based on content that we at GamePhobias believe could be problematic for some individuals. We use CATs instead of triggers because we believe that CATs reach a wider audience. Also the acronym CAT was too fun to pass up.

Do the reviews list every CAT in the game?

Probably not. If there are only one or two instances of a CAT in a game then the review will contain them all, but if the CAT is present throughout the game, the review will say so and not list every single instance. For example, modern first-person shooters will be tagged with the Guns CAT but it will not list every single gun in the game, since in a shooter game there would be too many to list.

Why are things like Mario Kart 8 tagged when they are so cartoonish?

Our mission is to provide information to players and their loved ones, not pass judgement on whether or not something should or should not be problematic. As such, we tag content in games regardless of art style, play style, context, etc. While we will comment about things like art style, we firmly believe that it should be up to individuals to decide what is and isn't problematic for them.

Why are so many games tagged with Jump Scares?

A number of games, while not having scripted jump scares may have events that act like a jump scare, such as a sudden shell in MarioKart or a Pyro hiding around the corner in Team Fortress 2.

Do your reviews have spoilers?

On the whole, yes. We at GamePhobias decided that having detailed reviews was more important than avoiding spoilers, so the reviews will detailed, specific instances of CATs, which may lead to spoilers. However, all CATs for a game will be under an "Expand" cut so you will not see the description unless you click on it.

Are you affiliated with the ESRB?

No. We have no affiliation with the ESRB. We see ourselves as a supplement to ESRB ratings. We encourage gamers to use both the ESRB ratings and our CATs when deciding what games are right for them.

Are you affiliated with anyone else?

No. We are not affiliated with any website or company. GamePhobias L.L.C is a privately owned, independent company. We do not receive compensation based on the games we review or the content that we generate. Our only source of revenue is advertisements and donations.

Will you ever have CATs for physiological or neurological conditions such as epilepsy?

No. As we state in our Disclaimers page, we do not have tags for “medical/neurological conditions such as, but not limited to, epilepsy, migraines, or sensory processing disorders”. Our site specifically caters to psychological reactions to game content, not physiological. This is primarily due to the fact that we feel that we are not equipped to judge whether or not a game should be tagged for those conditions.

Will you add a severity scale or some other rating metric to help differentiate between types of the same content?

We have decided that we will not add anything like this to the site, for a number of reasons. We recognize that there is a difference between, say, textual implications of sexual assault in an SNES RPG and a graphic depiction in a more modern game. However, ultimately we feel that adding any sort of rating metric is contrary to the purpose of the site. We are, first and foremost, an information website, not an advice website. We provide information so that people can make their own judgments about what is or is not problematic for them. Introducing any sort of rating metric or severity scale places an implicit judgment on what should or should not be problematic for someone and an implicit judgment on the game itself. We do not want to do either. Also we feel that creating such a system would end up too arbitrary, and thus be ultimately unhelpful. We feel that a binary and objective “Does this game have content” vs. “Does this game not have this content” with descriptions of the content is a better option. Thus, general comments on graphics type (cartoon vs. realistic) is the only commentary we are willing to make.

How do I use the CATs?

Please go the How to Use This Website page for tutorials on how to use CATs and other functions of this site.

How can I contribute?

Please go to the How to Contribute page for tutorials on how to contribute games and commentary.

Why can't I edit pages?

Unfortunately due to the current state of affairs in the gaming community and on the Internet in general, malicious defacing of pages is a real concern for us. To avoid this, we felt it was best to allow only administrators to create and edit pages. We realize that this is not a perfect solution, however we do not have the man power required to constantly moderate pages. Thus, this is the best solution we have right now. If you want to comment on pages or the website, please use the Discussion tabs on each page or e-mail us at submissions@gamephobias.com.

Can I come on as staff for GamePhobias?

While we appreciate your interest, we are not accepting any new staff members or administrators at this time. If we choose to expand our team, we will make an announcement on our social media accounts.

I noticed that one of the game pages was wrong. Who can I contact?

If something is wrong, please put it on the discussion page for that game. We check those regularly and we will do our best to correct the error as soon as possible. You can also e-mail us at submissions@gamephobias.com with the subject line "Game Name: Correction".

There is an ad on the site that is triggering for me. What can I do?

Though we do our best, we cannot completely control the types of ads that our ad service generates for our site. We can block ads, but we cannot prevent new ones that may be at issue. If the ad is truly an issue, please contact us at gamephobiaswiki@gmail.com. Also contact us if the ad forces an automatic redirect away from our site.

I submitted a request for a review, but it hasn’t been added. What happened?

We are a small team working on a big website. We promise to do our best, but creating reviews is a very time-consuming process. Unfortunately it may take several weeks for your request to appear on the site.

I submitted a review but it hasn’t been added. What happened?

In order to ensure quality we do not post reviews of games unless multiple people or we ourselves can verify that the game has, and more importantly, does not have certain tags. In addition, creating new pages for reviews is a time-consuming process and we are a small team. We ask for your patience as we work through our review backlog.

I requested a tag to be added but it hasn’t. What happened?

Since adding tags to multiple parts of our site and adding them to the game surveys is an extremely time-consuming process, we do not add tags unless we get multiple requests for them and we feel they will come up in multiple games. That said, we strongly encourage our viewers to use the Discussion tabs at the top of each page to suggest other content that players should watch out for. We discourage users from using the Discussion tabs to talk about triggers for medical/physiological/neurological conditions, because that is outside the purview of the site. We do not guarantee that a tag will be created just because it has been requested, especially in the above medical instances in which we do not feel we have the necessary expertise to reliably provide information on the matter.

If I donate, what will my money be used for?

For full transparency, it is important that we make it understood that we are a private company, not a noprofit organization. Money earned by the site will in part go to supporting Gamephobias Staff, allowing them more time to work on GamePhobias. However, rest assured, that a sizable fixed percentage of all revenue, be they from ads or donations, go directly into a fund specifically meant for improving and maintaining the website.

Why do you have ads? Can I use Adblocker?

GamePhobias uses ads to generate revenue for improvements to the site and as supplemental income for us so we can have more time to work on the site. We would prefer that you do not use Adblocker, because aside from donations, ads are our only source of revenue for the site. We are not paid by any game company and we do not receive money based on the games that we review.

Can I advertise on your site?

Only if you do so through our current ad service. We will not provide free advertising for anyone on the site and we will not allow third-party advertising on the discussion pages.

What does PC/NPC/Avatar/Sprite mean?

These are some common terms used to describe certain elements common to move videogames.

PC stands for "Player Character," and is a term used to refer generally to the entity in a videogame which the player is controlling when they play the game.

NPC stands for "Non-Player-Character" and is a common term used to describe all characters in a game which the players are not actively controlling.

Avatar is a term used to describe the character a player is controlling when playing the game, much like "player character," but is generally more commonly used to describe a character that is in some ways meant to not just be a character controlled by the player, but a stand-in in the game world for the player.

Sprite is a term used commonly to describe the visual depiction of moving objects/people/characters in older videogames, or video-games that take place in two dimensions/2D/non-3D games. A a 2D sprite's 3D equivalent is a 3D model.

Do you have any social media platforms?

Yes we do! You can find us on Tumblr at http://gamephobias.tumblr.com, our twitter handle is @GamePhobias, and our Facebook page will be launching soon.