Hey Guys,
today I checked out some entries from the ME page companies to improve.
I'm a bit conflicted after reading all possible forum entries for how to handle companies.
Let's take the first example where I'm not sure how to handle it.
https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/3197-Curve%20Studios
The Company was founded as Curve Studios but was later bought and renamed itself to Curve Digital and as of last year again to Curve Games.
Currently we do have the main entry Curve Studios with Aliases for Curve Digital.
Issue #1
I browse a game for example https://www.uvlist.net/game-232207-10+Second+Ninja+X which has Curve Digital as its name.
Clicking on the publisher entry from the game entry brings me to the Curve Studios company page.
Issue for me is that this is the same company but this company no longer acts under the old name.
In that case I would have to update the companies name and set the older name as an alias.
Issue #2
The Company improve page lists entries that are missing founded and closed dates and the appropriate status.
With the construct from above I can maybe add a founded date but I can't add a reliable Status like Name changed nor when the company closed for a new one by renaming for example. Also often a company is only a Developer and later on also Publishes and rename for example.
Agree it's the same company but man it's confusing :D
Maybe something like a timespan under an entry would help.
Like
2005-2017 Curve Studios
2017-2022 Curve Games
and each entry can be filtered for its games.
Companies to improve
re: Companies to improve
In that case I would have to update the companies name and set the older name as an alias.
In this case I would rename the company entry to the current name of the company and the other older names as aliases. In the game entries the name of the company at the time of the games release can be used. Thats how I would do it.
When the company is dead and the company was mostly known under an "older" name and not the newest one, then I think having the most well known name as official is the best solution.
Issue #2
The Company improve page lists entries that are missing founded and closed dates and the appropriate status.
With the construct from above I can maybe add a founded date but I can't add a reliable Status like Name changed nor when the company closed for a new one by renaming for example. Also often a company is only a Developer and later on also Publishes and rename for example.
Agree it's the same company but man it's confusing :D
Maybe something like a timespan under an entry would help.
Like
2005-2017 Curve Studios
2017-2022 Curve Games
and each entry can be filtered for its games.
Yes its a bit confusing. Especially with the "name changed" status. Because the status "name changed" implies that the company would get a new company entry under a new name. But that would contradict the way I would handle issue #1. I personally would put the company status as "active". The name changes can be explained/added as short description. Another issue with the status "name changed" is the fact that its unclear if a company is still active or not. So I personally try to avoid the status whenever I can.
There are a couple of other open questions with companies.
- What to do with companies / teams that have exactly the same name? Only solution at the moment is to rename one of the names a bit. If companies are from different countries then I would rename the lesser mainstream company to [company country]. But its not very satisfying.
- What to do with "labels" of companies? Many budget labels of companies have their own entry. Example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/412-Psyclapse --> I thought about removing the company and put Psyclapse as alias of Psygnosis. But in the end I left it as is. Another example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/519-MicroStyle which is basically Microprose just games labeled differently. U.S. Gold also had many sub-labels.
In that case I would have to update the companies name and set the older name as an alias.
In this case I would rename the company entry to the current name of the company and the other older names as aliases. In the game entries the name of the company at the time of the games release can be used. Thats how I would do it.
When the company is dead and the company was mostly known under an "older" name and not the newest one, then I think having the most well known name as official is the best solution.
Issue #2
The Company improve page lists entries that are missing founded and closed dates and the appropriate status.
With the construct from above I can maybe add a founded date but I can't add a reliable Status like Name changed nor when the company closed for a new one by renaming for example. Also often a company is only a Developer and later on also Publishes and rename for example.
Agree it's the same company but man it's confusing :D
Maybe something like a timespan under an entry would help.
Like
2005-2017 Curve Studios
2017-2022 Curve Games
and each entry can be filtered for its games.
Yes its a bit confusing. Especially with the "name changed" status. Because the status "name changed" implies that the company would get a new company entry under a new name. But that would contradict the way I would handle issue #1. I personally would put the company status as "active". The name changes can be explained/added as short description. Another issue with the status "name changed" is the fact that its unclear if a company is still active or not. So I personally try to avoid the status whenever I can.
There are a couple of other open questions with companies.
- What to do with companies / teams that have exactly the same name? Only solution at the moment is to rename one of the names a bit. If companies are from different countries then I would rename the lesser mainstream company to [company country]. But its not very satisfying.
- What to do with "labels" of companies? Many budget labels of companies have their own entry. Example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/412-Psyclapse --> I thought about removing the company and put Psyclapse as alias of Psygnosis. But in the end I left it as is. Another example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/519-MicroStyle which is basically Microprose just games labeled differently. U.S. Gold also had many sub-labels.
re: re: Companies to improve
- What to do with "labels" of companies? Many budget labels of companies have their own entry. Example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/412-Psyclapse --> I thought about removing the company and put Psyclapse as alias of Psygnosis. But in the end I left it as is. Another example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/519-MicroStyle which is basically Microprose just games labeled differently. U.S. Gold also had many sub-labels.
I also encountered this while researching Gametek.
Firm XY created a new label with another company to release budget games in specific country.
- What to do with "labels" of companies? Many budget labels of companies have their own entry. Example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/412-Psyclapse --> I thought about removing the company and put Psyclapse as alias of Psygnosis. But in the end I left it as is. Another example: https://www.uvlist.net/companies/info/519-MicroStyle which is basically Microprose just games labeled differently. U.S. Gold also had many sub-labels.
I also encountered this while researching Gametek.
Firm XY created a new label with another company to release budget games in specific country.