Have you any ideas for good level tags?

We've been trying to clean up the tagging of the media, i.e. all the levels we've been uploading. Tags are great when someone is looking for certain types of levels.

Of course we have the Categories (Precision/Timing, Adventure/Maze, Logic/Puzzle, Playable Bug/Exploit Levels, and Kid Stuff), but anyone is free to post to whichever Category they at first want. If I find some level grossly miscategorized, I'll move it into a more appropriate Category. I would love help on this so, in case you ever find a miscategorized level, please use the "report" feature (the link below the level card) to alert the staff to your observation.

But this is a thread about media tags, which is the section called "Tag Cloud" (found right below Categories when viewing the levels listings). Senior Members of the forum have the privilege to tag their own threads and media in the forum. But as mentioned, we've been trying to clean these tags up to be meaningful and limit their abuse.

Tags that are subjective are poor tags since they can have different meanings to different people. For example, an "easy" level for one person may be a "difficult" level for others. Similarly tags that are too common have little value as they don't help others find unique levels. For example "bbot" or "puzzle" as tags could be said for 80+% of our catalog.

Thus I would love to get your input on what tags you would like to see and be able to find levels against. Please leave your comments below. Here is a partial list that we've started using to give you a guide on what we think make good tags:

game style / theme
+ golf (essentially any lever-hitting-a-ball game; like Mini Golf, original level #42)
+ pinball (similar to golf, but levers are like paddles)
+ football/soccer (where B is asked to move balls at his feet)
+ ball control (like Balance Ball, original level #23)
+ labyrinth (after the wooden toy, AKA ball-in-a-maze toy, special version of ball control)
+ maze (for bots not balls)
+ traffic (as per the Traffic levels made by Martin, AKA Rush Hour by ThinkFun)
+ sliding puzzle (like Klotski or Unblock games; Traffic is a 6x6 sliding puzzle)
+ chess
+ code breaking (like Modern Art, original level #38)
+ sudoku
+ frogger (similar to the old arcade game or the contemporary Crossy Road game)

bot types
+ nobots
+ rbotonly
+ bbotonly
+ weird bots (bot with non-standard head, e.g. headless, win block, multiple blocks, etc.)

distinctive features
+ 2D (for slice-type maps)
+ underwater
+ animal
+ furniture
+ vehicle
+ tribute
+ movie
+ star wars
+ ww2
+ world site
+ monument
+ pop culture

notable levels
+ challenge# (for each of the level creation challenges)
+ 4kids (levels suitable for young children or made by young children as per this thread)
+ remake (re-design of one of the original 50 levels)
+ demo (although now limited only to the Game Behaviours section, this tag represents old demos)
+ onetapwin (although now limited to the Notable Levels section, this tag represents old levels that only needed one tap to win
+ collaboration (if more than one author contributed to the level design)
+ behaviour discovery (although these are now requested to be posted in the Game Behaviour forum).

I'll add to the above list as warranted. Thanks for your help!

 

Do please note that the "facebook" tag is a special tag that we are using so that forum members can find those levels that @richardfu_ has chosen to feature on the official Mekorama Facebook page (as per this thread).

Only richardfu, chemi, or other staff memebers should ever be using this tag. Anyone who is not a staff member found using this tag will be automatically banned from the forum. Since only Senior Members have the privilege to access tags on their media, this shouldn't be a problem. If ever you find that a level was forgotten to be tagged or is tagged in error, again please use the "report" feature to alert a staff member to the issue. Thanks!

 

I hear you. In an ideal world those would be great. Unfortunately, they are hard to define. Chemi gets away with it in his monthly recommended levels lists because: 1. He's personally played each level, and 2. His opinion is that of only one person. In other words, it is hard to tag levels with these terms without spending quite a bit of time understanding the level. Similarly, one person's opinion may easily differ from another's.

The biggest issue arises, however, when a level may have each of these characteristics. The majority of the database would end up having these tags and they would end up becoming meaningless. If someone would be looking up the logic tag, they would be presumably looking to play specifically logic-based levels and may get frustrated when encountering some with a bit of ability in them too (and vice-versa). I've considered the tags "logic only" or "ability only" but I'm thinking that something more descriptive such as the game style tags already mentioned would be more useful.

Another piece of evidence against these terms is the fact that despite the simplicity of the terms, many still misunderstand them when it comes to placing them in the communal categories. This is only compounded when we would start talking about exploits. For example, Autopilot has become a catch all for climbing, falling (Rug Pulled Out), pushing (Hercules), jumping over a gap (Crossing the Chasm), and riding a movable (Push and Glide) - so where do you draw the line as to which is easy/commonly used? And will this still hold true in a few months? Hence why I started using the tag "Behaviour Discovery" at least for when a new trick/exploit is showcased.

Thanks for the suggestions though!!

 

I like both suggestions. Thanks! In fact I'm not sure why I didn't list 2D above already as we've been using that tag.

 

Added!

 

@ "everyone" - please note that attempting to go back and properly tag well over 12,000 levels is no small feat. Everyone is thus encouraged to use the "Report" feature (under a level card) to let the Moderators know whenever they think a tag should be added or removed from a level. Thank you!