Welcome to N4G. Please read the following pages of guidelines to better understand our rules and policies. If you have any questions about the rules or policies, please submit a ticket.
Communication Guidelines
The following guidelines apply to all forms of communication on N4G, whether it be in the comment section, private messages, tickets, or part of one’s N4G profile.
Our Goal
As a community-driven site, we want to ensure that we allow people to communicate openly about the subjects being presented. The spirit of N4G is to allow gamers a place for lively debate on the latest news and opinions. In keeping with that goal, we hope you understand our rules and can abide by them so as to foster a community of open-minded individuals who love discussing this hobby of ours.
Offensive Content
Posting pornography, attacks against other people or groups, racial slurs, or similar content is not allowed on N4G. Offenses of this type will not get any warning and will be met with an immediate restriction based on the severity of the action.
Trolling
Defined as the making of one or more statements aimed at eliciting a negative response from others, trolling is something that is not allowed on N4G. We understand the subtle difference between a good-natured joke but oftentimes will even flag those if we find the response to them to be heated rather than recognizing them for what they are. In addition, certain terms are used solely as a means to troll and are not allowed, such as ponies, xbots, umadbro, and ‘salt’ references. More often than not we mark minor infractions, warn users for multiple infractions or major infractions, and proceed to restrict from continued infractions after the warning.
Off Topic
The foundation of any debate is that it remain focused on the topic at hand. Please note, it is extremely rare that the conversation should turn to about the individuals you are arguing with and instead should remain on their thoughts shared. Bringing in external topics not germane to the subject at hand may result in comments being hidden. Continued discussion of off-topic material may result in a restriction.
Personal Attacks and Name-calling
At no time should a conversation get to the point where you need to insult another user personally or call them a derogatory name or refer to them in a derogatory manner. In addition, telling users to shut up, to die, to kill themselves, or the like is not allowed. Infractions of this sort rarely have a warning and instead, will lead to an immediate restriction dependent on the severity of the infraction and previous infractions.
Reporting Offenses
Each comment can be reported using the ‘flag’ icon to report it as spam or inappropriate. Any post that breaks any rule above should be reported as inappropriate while actual spam should be reported as such. Reporting individuals for a disagreement only serves to clutter the report system, so we ask that you use it to report actual incidents and not just disagreements or based on the perceptions of individuals who tend to have greatly differing opinions or tastes.
Offenses made via Private Message must be submitted to us via ticket at http://n4g.com/tickets/add/… and should include a link to the screenshot of the offensive comments made towards you or others.
Submission Approval and Reporting Guidelines
A keystone to the success of N4G success is the ability of our community to help ensure the correctness of submitted content as well as help direct the type of content they would like to see approved. Please note the following items as it pertains to reporting and approving submissions on N4G.
Approval Power
Contributors have a varying level of approval power based on their Contributor Rank. The approval power starts at 1 and goes up to 5. Moderators and higher-level staff members may outright approve (or fail) any submission.
Approval Process
Once a submission is created, it is placed into pending. Pending submissions have 2 days to get approved. Submission starts with requiring 10 approvals from the community to get approved and, over time, goes down to needing as few as only 3 approvals from the community. A submission that is unable to garner enough approvals within 2 days will be automatically failed.
Please note that our submission guidelines — http://n4g.com/user/blogpos… — mention that resubmitting failed content is not allowed. Once something is failed, it can only be moved back into pending or otherwise modified via moderator action.
When to Approve a Submission
The purpose of the approval process is not only to allow our users the ability to decide what type of news they would like to see and how quickly, but it is also to ensure that contributors who submit content are doing so within the guidelines provided. Approving a submission should be done once a submission is found to be submitted validly, without error(s), and without any legitimate reports on it (report types of lame and others oftentimes do not require fixing by the contributor who submitted the content). Users who regularly approve content should be aware of the Submission Tutorial http://n4g.com/user/blogpos… and Submission Guidelines http://n4g.com/user/blogpos… .
People who approve content with obvious errors may receive warnings and, later on, restrictions for continuing to do as such.
Contesting Submission Reports
Any contributor who wants to contest a report made on their submission may do so via ticket at http://n4g.com/tickets/add/… . Make sure to include the URL to the submission in question and why you do not believe the report is accurate. A moderator will review and determine the validity of the report. If it is not valid, it will be removed.
Site Association Approvals
Any community member who is associated with a specific news source should never approve content from that source. The core concept of N4G is to allow the community to decide on what to approve. When a person associated with a source approves content from a site they are associated with, they are acting on behalf of that source and not the N4G community. In addition, concerted efforts to push content through using friends or associates are not allowed and may result in moderator action if discovered.
Personal Agendas
Persons who use the reporting system to serve a personal agenda against a specific source or user may find themselves restricted from reporting submissions. Furthermore, it should be noted that all communication guidelines — http://n4g.com/user/blogpos… — apply to the reporting section of the site.
Please note that these rules and policies do not supersede the Terms of Service you agreed to upon signing up for an account with N4G and its sister sites on the BGFG network.
Current Moderation Team
This is the official list of people who moderate N4G on a regular basis. Anyone else claiming to be a moderator who is not on this list should be reported to the Site Admin via Private Message.
Site Admin/Network Manager
Christopher
Moderators
cl1983
coolbeans
Emilio_Estevez
Submission Tutorial
The following page explains how to submit content to N4G, including our policies on what is or isn’t allowed for each element of the submission. Some guidelines are covered in our Additional Submission Guidelines – http://n4g.com/user/blogpos… – and may cover specific rules to specific content types not shown here. Please make sure you are aware of all guidelines. Failure to follow the guidelines may result in warnings or restrictions if issues continue to occur with a contributor.
When entering a new submission, please adhere to the following list of guidelines for each section of the submission.
.: URL
URLs should, when possible, be direct links to the original source of the news being reported with the following considerations:
a) if the news was discovered from a source other than the original, then the source at which the news was found should be entered as the Credit URL;
b) direct links to YouTube, social media sites, personal blogs/sites, forums, or the like are not allowed unless: 1) the individual or company posting the material is a video game developer; 2) the individual or company posting the material is a video game publisher; 3) the link is to an image that is relevant video game news on its own;
c) URL shorteners should never be used unless absolutely necessary;
d) URLs should be to the non-mobile Web version of the source;
e) if the original source of the story is presented in a language other than English, then the URL should use the Google or Bing translate link so that the page is automatically translated when viewed via N4G;
f) direct links to sites that require a login to view the content (age gating is allowed), press releases, presentations, pdfs, and similar content are not allowed and should be linked from an alternative news source that does meet the criteria listed;
g) KickStarter and similar crowd-funding sources are not allowed but may be presented as news by a video game news source;
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.: Title
When possible, the title of the submission should match the title of the original source of the news excluding the following exceptions:
a) titles not in English should be translated as needed without any personal influence;
b) titles created from tweets or similar non-title having sources should be created without any personal influence;
c) exclamation points should be removed from the title unless used as part of the normal style of the game title or company name;
d) all caps should not be used unless as part of the normal style of the game title or company name;
e) Trademark, registered trademark, and similar icons should be removed from the title;
f) site names are required to be placed at the end of the title for the submission types of Preview and Review but are to be removed for any other type of submission;
g) offensive language, other than that which is a part of a game title or company name, should be edited by replacing letters of the word following the first letter with asterisks (*);
h) [NSFW] text should be added to the beginning of any title where the source links to content that contains graphic content, such as nudity, pornographic imagery, or extreme acts of violence;
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.: Summary
The summary should provide a brief and understandable description of the content being presented at the source with the following considerations:
a) if the summary is a copy of part of the content of the original source or contains pronouns such as I, We, or Us, then the summary should be cited using the following format: [Author Name] writes: “[Summary text]”;
b) summaries should not end abruptly or with an ellipsis (‘…’);
c) summaries should not contain text encouraging the reader to ‘find out more below’ or ‘read more at the source’
d) summaries should not contain links;
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.: Story Type
Select the appropriate story type based on the submission.
News: used when the story presents information or quotes about a subject, not used for opinion pieces or research pieces.
Review: used when the submission is a review of a video game that has been released within the last 6 months (or re-released on a new platform or as a remaster/remake). Reviews of games older than 6 months or hardware/culture reviews should be submitted as opinion pieces.
Preview: used when the submission is a preview from a video game journalist of hands-on gameplay or in-person developer shown gameplay of an upcoming video game. Write-ups on demo videos published to the Internet are not allowed.
Interview: used when the submission is a question and answer format with one or more industry persons. Video-based interviews should be submitted as interviews and not videos.
Rumor: used when the submission is not an official statement or press release from a developer or publisher but is something presented by an industry insider or similar person of a credible nature.
Trailer: used when the submission is a video of the promotional type that has been released by the developer or publisher of a video game.
Video: used when submitting a video of gameplay or similar content that isn’t a promotional trailer or a videocast or when it is a community-made trailer or video of interest to the gaming community. Please note that videos that fit within another category type should be posted there, such as articles, interviews, and opinion pieces.
Screenshot: used when the news is of in-game screenshots from a game. Off screen images should be posted as image story type.
Image: used when the submission is an image, such as a photo, piece of artwork, or graph.
Article: used when the submission is a guide, technical write up, or researched/gathered data on a video game topic. Video-based guides should be submitted as article story types.
Opinion Piece: used when the submission is a “Top” list or another form of opinion-based write up on a video game topic. Video-based opinion pieces should be submitted as opinion piece story types.
Podcast: used when the submission is the audio recording of one or more people discussing gaming topics. Videos of people talking over random gameplay not specific to the discussion should also be posted as podcasts.
Videocast: used when the submission is a video of one or more people discussing gaming topics and filmed doing as such in real time.
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.: Story Image
The story image used must reflect the submission content and can not contain any NSFW content or other content that would break N4G’s communication guidelines.
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.: Video Embed
If there is a video tied to the submission, then the video should be embedded when possible. The embed code of a video should be utilized and not direct links to a video on YouTube or a similar video site.
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.: Credit URL
Credit URL should be used to give credit to a news source that led the submitter to the original source of the news with the following considerations:
a) Credit URL should never be a copy of the original source or a random link to a non-relevant source;
b) if an alternative source is being used because it is inappropriate as an original source due to a submission guideline, it should be listed as the Credit URL;
c) source URLs translated with Google or Bing should have the untranslated link as Credit URL;
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.: Tags
Tags are required and should reflect the core subject of the submission. Use the following guidelines to determine which tags to use:
a) if the submission is about a game, use the video game tag and the platform tags specific to the news being presented (do not just blindly include platform tags);
b) DLC and single episodes of episodic games should get their own tags and be utilized where the discussion is about those specific portions of a game;
c) tags about a developer, publisher, or similar company should only be used when the submission is about them as a company, not when the submission is about a game of theirs;
d) review and preview story type submissions should only have the game tag and the platform(s) that the specific review applies to, never any other tag;
e) if the submission involves quotes by or news specific to an industry professional (developer or publisher, not a journalist or analyst), then include the tag of the industry professional;
f) the Culture/Offbeat tag covers most books, movies, board games, artwork and similar topics and should be used when discussing things without a platform tied to them;
g) the Industry tag covers news not specific to a single developer, publisher, or console manufacturer but applies to the business of video game development or publishing;
h) the Technology tag is used for hardware specific to video games, such as GPUs, gaming peripherals, and the like;
i) videocasts and podcasts that discuss a wide array of topics should limit their tags to key items and should not spam every platform or game tag that was mentioned;
j) video game news sites, journalists, video streamers, cosplayers, and similar non-industry professionals should not have their own tags but should fall under the Culture/Offbeat or Industry tag when applicable;
k) the Dev tag is for submissions detailing game development techniques, procedures, or technology, it is not for use with submissions where developers are mentioned in general;
l) the Next-Gen tag is for submissions about an unnamed, future platform and is not for submissions where the platforms being discussed already have a tag associated with them;
m) all Android platforms, whether phone, tablet, USB device, or console should use the Android tag as the platform;
n) all PC operating systems should use the PC tag, Xbox One X and Xbox One S should use the Xbox One tag, PS4 Pro should use the PS4 tag, and 2DS should use the 3DS tag;
o) tags marked as ‘Do Not Use’ should never be used;
p) if a tag does not exist, then create it or ask a moderator to create it for you via Ticket or private message;
The following guidelines involve specific rules for certain types of content on N4G as well as how duplicates, plagiarism, content theft, and similar items are handled.
As always, if you disagree with the failing of a submission for any reason, you may submit a ticket from here: http://n4g.com/tickets/add/… . N4G will no longer handle submissions issues outside of N4G via Twitter, Facebook, or similar external methods other than N4G private messages and tickets.
.: Submission Relevance
Certain submissions may not be deemed relevant as news for N4G. Please use the following examples as a basis for how relevance is determined:
a) general tech news of devices utilized for more than just gaming, such as TVs, non-gaming focused laptops and PCs, VR devices not aimed at just gaming, AR devices not aimed at just gaming, cell phones, and business news about the companies who create such technology are not always relevant to N4G; Submissions of this nature are best suited for our sister site, http://www.techspy.com
b) movie, TV show, or book updates on video game-based material is not generally allowed, though we do allow initial news of such things happening to be submitted as it is ‘of interest’ but should not be a focus on N4G; Submissions of the movie or TV show nature are best suited for our sister site, http://www.filmwatch.com
c) a generic tweet or single response interview item from an industry professional may not be relevant if it provides no new information, is an opinion about and not news on hardware, or is a generic response without any specifications as to how something may or may not be handled;
d) a submission detailing that a game which is not a limited run version, such as collector’s or limited-edition releases, is up for pre-order is not relevant as this is just standard for games shortly after being announced;
e) a submission about a petition on a game is very rarely relevant as petitions can be started by anyone for any reasons;
f) submissions about users taking a poll are only relevant if the poll was made by a developer, publisher, or similar company and not petitions from social network sites, twitter, or gaming news sites (even then, we don’t allow direct linking to polls, only news about them);
g) submission that present stats from a storefront, such as Amazon, Steam, or similar sources are not relevant;
h) submissions that roundup or recap news already reported are not relevant and are considered duplicate news, this includes review roundups and Metacritic postings;
.: Spam and Self-Promotion Content
N4G does not allow any content that self-promotes a service or product, such as specific video game apps or gaming gear. We do not allow news about updates to a site, contests sites are running that are not sponsored by a developer or publisher, or similar content. Self-promotion includes having ads or links on other pages of the site that would self-promote a service or product.
N4G does allow game deal submissions but will fail any that are deemed to be less informative, minor in detail or purpose, and more about spamming affiliate links or the like that would generate revenue for the site in question. We also only accept links to official promotions from a platform that links directly to an official store page promoting the sale and not a news site listing each item in the sale.
Sites deemed to be made solely to advertise such things will be banned and prevented from submitting content altogether.
.: Duplicate News
A submission is considered to be duplicate news when the primary topic being reported has been covered by a previous submission. Typically the first submission to be made is considered the first of a submission and following submissions posting the same or very similar content will be failed as a duplicate of the first submission. In some cases, such as placeholders, fast news events like E3, or a submission of notably low quality, a moderator may choose to approve a submission that was posted after the first submission instead and fail the first one.
Having a submission identified as being a duplicate does not mean that N4G believes you have copied content from another source, only that the news being reported has already been provided first by another source or that the additional content you may include does not warrant its own submission. In the instance that a duplicate is failed, an alternative source linking to the source can be added to the first submission of the news.
The identification of what submission is first is determined by the submission ID in the URL of the submission and not the time stamp since time stamps can change.
.: Previously Failed Submissions
No submission should be resubmitted once failed. If you feel a submission was incorrectly failed, then contact the moderator staff about the submission from http://n4g.com/tickets/add/… .
.: Placeholder Submissions
Any submission created before the news is available and updated once made public or updated after the initial submission in a way that would prevent others from posting the same content at the time it was made available is considered a placeholder submission and will be failed when found. Examples of this include updating an old submission still in pending to post breaking news on a whole new topic to make it look like it is first based on the submission ID or adding a trailer that was released after the initial news of a new game release that wasn’t originally in the submission to begin with.
As placeholder submissions are a direct attempt to block the ability for others to report news on a topic, it is uncommon that a restriction does not get applied to the contributor who uses a placeholder.
.: Story-Within-a-Story Submissions
At times, certain portions of stories can get overlooked when the original source is of a lengthy nature and covers a lot of material. This is most often seen in interviews. To account for this, N4G allows some leeway by allowing story-within-a-story (SWAS) submissions. The following are the requirements for a SWAS submission:
a) only text-based interviews of a substantial length (more than 1,000 characters of interview text on a single page or spanning multiple pages), video-based interviews lasting more than 5 minutes, or video-based presentations lasting longer than 5 minutes are allowed to have SWAS submissions based upon them, any other type of content is not allowed regardless of length;
b) the original source from which the SWAS is derived must be submitted and approved for at least six hours prior to submitting a SWAS submission;
c) the content of the SWAS submission must highlight something relevant and meaningful to the video game community;
c) the content of the SWAS submission must highlight something that is hidden within the original source, meaning not something highlighted in the title, highlighted by large-text quotes or easily found near the beginning or end of the source (last part not applicable to video content);
d) the content of the SWAS submission must not cherry-pick multiple topic items from the same source as a means to copy a ‘good portion’ of the original content onto their own site;
e) only one SWAS is allowed per original source content by a single site;
f) the N4G moderation staff may, at any time, declare that multiple SWAS from the same source have run their course and are no longer allowed;
.: Multiple Tweet Submissions
Sometimes a single tweet or post may not be enough to cover the whole topic presented on Twitter (or similar source). In these instances we allow sites to submit the news from their site where they chain together the various posts and add any necessary clarification to them. This is only allowed when the multiple tweets are relevant to one another and can not be utilized to chain multiple tweets from a single source but having no necessary connection to one other.
.: Rumor Submissions
Looking to maintain a balance between allowing rumor news and to prevent the typical rampant spread of false rumors, N4G has the following rules regarding rumors:
a) rumors are not allowed from anonymous sources unless the rumor is based on a photo or image;
b) spoken or written word rumors must come from a credible source with a history of being an insider in the industry or the like and not from any random Internet user;
c) video or image-based rumors that look easily faked are not allowed;
d) speculation is not a rumor and is not allowed, what someone ‘thinks’ is an opinion and not a statement that something will happen;
.: Click-bait Content
While N4G wants to give people their space to share opinions, sometimes harsh or unpopular ones, it is in the best interest of N4G to attempt to prevent sites from taking advantage of current discussions or sore topics to encourage fanboy arguments and trolling rather than constructive debates among our users.
Content submitted with the intent to mislead, hyperbolize, or otherwise use language or images to rile up discussion between community fans or similar groups may be failed at any time. Click-bait may come in the form of a misleading title, inflammatory summary, or the provocative use of images.
.: Industry Professional vs Non-Industry Professional
For all intents and purposes, N4G defines an industry professional as someone who is a video game developer and/or a video game publisher or similar position in the industry, such as professional analysts. N4G does not consider journalists, streamers, cosplayers or the like as industry professionals when it comes to reporting news for N4G. This means that their personal lives outside of their job as a journalist, streamer, cosplay, or the like is not allowed as news or interviews on N4G. We recognize their position in the industry in which they reside, but the focus on N4G is on the video game industry and not those who generally report on or entertain based on the industry. Furthermore, we do not consider all comments from industry professionals to be relevant to video games. N4G does not need to know the thoughts a developer or publisher has about a movie or the like.
.: Professional Gaming News Site/Channel vs Personal
As the video game news industry itself has grown alongside the video game industry and the Internet has given everyone the ability to have a voice on the latest gaming news, N4G has a need of determining what sources are considered professional and what are considered personal. This designation is only pertinent to the submitting of opinion-based content, such as opinion pieces, reviews, previews, and rumors. Personal sites are still able to post news, interviews, and similar content without any issue.
While we know many would consider their content to be professional in nature, these are some of the items that N4G looks at when determining whether a source is professional or personal:
a) domain ownership/credibility;
b) quality of content provided compared to other sites;
c) age of site/channel and activity of site/channel;
d) type of content provided on a regular basis;
e) number of persons associated with the site/channel and actively participating (prioritizing actual people rather than ‘staff’ postings);
Social Issue Submissions
N4G recognizes that social issues affect every part of our lives as well as gaming. While we recognize this, it is important that N4G remains about video game news and not a place for social issues to be argued back and forth between journalists or similar persons. In light of this desire, N4G has the following policy about social issue submissions:
a) social issues covers racism, sexism, LGBTQ rights, religious rights, and similar topics;
b) social issue submissions will only be allowed if the submission directly involves a developer or publisher, whether individually or as a company;
c) social issue submissions from an individual developer or publisher must be about how the specified social issue is or has impacted their job directly and is not just a personal opinion on a social issue;
d) submissions about organizations or people associated with an organization that is not directly related to industry professionals and is focused on one or more social Issues are not allowed, even if the individual associated with it is a developer or publisher;
Please note that opinion pieces about the quality and efficacy of gaming journalists and sites as it relates to how they review games or present content is still allowed as long as it is not about a social issue.
.: Plagiarism and/or Content Theft
Any instance of a site copying the content of their submission from another site, utilizing images or videos without proper citation, or even modifying images or videos to remove the watermarks of the original source will face a site ban. Site bans of this nature last for a minimum of 3 months. After that time a site may request a review of their site. If upon review the banned site is found to be free of plagiarized or stolen content, the ban will be lifted. Any further issues with plagiarism or content theft from a single site will result in a permanent ban. Attempts to circumvent the ban will result in a permanent ban.