Is registering games on VNDB common?

[ProfKranc]

Hey guys,

Wondering how many of you all register your visual novels, be it your first try or professional games, on the Visual Novel Database?

I find it very useful, but I was wondering if it's common practice? And if so, any tips for when you do?

Thanks!
PK

[papillon]

Players put them up for me when the games come out, I don't put them there myself.

I have a personal dislike for people shoving their games in there when they aren't complete and don't have a fixed release date. It's annoying when the system is cluttered up with a bunch of games that may never be finished. It also prompts some users of the system to vote review scores onto your game which hasn't even come out...

[RotGtIE]

I have a personal dislike for people shoving their games in there when they aren't complete and don't have a fixed release date. It's annoying when the system is cluttered up with a bunch of games that may never be finished. It also prompts some users of the system to vote review scores onto your game which hasn't even come out...

Strange. I contacted them about this and was told that their standard for uploading entries is that they require something to be released when adding a VN, and that a playable demo would suffice. Are you talking about demos for VNs that don't have release dates for a full version?

[papillon]

That may be the standard, but that doesn't stop people from creating the entries. It's user-edited, after all. Anyone can fill it up with garbage.

Take https://vndb.org/v18386 for example. There's basically nothing there except a staff list. Not even a screenshot.

I easily found at least four more games with no demos and nothing but a single image on their entries but I didn't want this to turn into name-and-shame. If you're curious, just sort English releases and look through all the TBAs.

[RotGtIE]

I imagine most people don't even bother to ask about the database entry policy before adding something. Must be a lot to police, which might be why enforcement is lacking.

Oh well, that's the internet for you. Lots of garbage to sift through, but that's what you gotta do to get to the gems.

[Coren]

I don't think it's common to put your own games there. People tend to register your games on vndb after you've released them on renai.

[Didules]

As Coren and Papillon said, it's often players who put the game on vndb.
Honestly I didn't know vndb until a friend told me my very first game had been put on it (and I felt really bad, as if it was beyond my control, I quite disliked it since the game really was just me trying my hands at coding and stuffs).

[Daedalus]

Personally I don't see it as a bad practice, as long as you have something to actually show. A bit arbitrary though, I know, but very short, first try type of concepts shouldn't IMO be included there.

As to who should add the game to the database, I don't think that it really makes much difference anyway. Sure most of the time it's the community that does it, but if you're very new developer and trying to make your name, a little "self advertising" is not a bad thing in my books.