itch.io

@leafo, I have a number of tag merge recommendations. I posted it in another thread since this one seemed old but looks like this may be the best place after all.

ItchIO search and discoverability can be improved by these tag merges and edits, based on total counts and related tags. We want to reduce tag clutter while also reducing how overbearing it can be to search games or classify projects. I'm a Data Analyst by trade.

@leaf and @Admins, can you reply to the options below on what's possible / actionable from these recommendations?

SET 1 _______________________________________________________________

1. COMBINE: "Gacha" (375 total) + "Gacha Club" (100 total)
   1. Reason: Niche tag. Projects are similar/same. Both are in Mods category. When merged, it only totals around 475 project, with rare "this week" additions.
2.  COMBINE: "User Interface UI" (3000) + "Graphical User Interface GUI" (2250)
   1. Reason: UI is the industry term in IT, UX and AR. User Interface also holds more, crossing assets, games and mods; also more common in every-day language than GUI.
3.  COMBINE: "Western" (2175) + "Wild West" (400)
   1. Reason: Western holds 2175, while Wild West has 400. A large many of the wild west projects are also already tagged "Western". 
4.  COMBINE: "Nuclear Throne" (250) + "Nuclear Throne Together" (500)
   1. Reason: Niche tag. Projects are similar/same and both are in the Mods category. When combined, it only totals around 750 projects, with rare "this week" additions.
5.  COMBINE: "Infinite Runner" (6700) + "Endless Runner" (4450)
   1. Reason: Clear overlap, one used more largely than the other. Merge into infinite or endless runner.
6.  COMBINE: "Word Game" (1675) + "Wordle" (375) + "Words" (102) + "Crossword" (85) + "Word" (154)
   1. Reason: Would save on tags and redundancy in the word-based game genre/subgenre. Word Game is use far more largely than the other tags for these types of games.
7.  COMBINE: "Comics" (8850) with "Webcomic" (900)
   1. Reason: For greater discoverability. One is used far more than the other. Rare to see "new this week" additions to this tag.
8.  COMBINE: "Zine" (8450) with "Fanzine" (1100)
   1. Reason: For greater discoverability. One is used far more than the other. Rare to see "new this week" additions to this tag.
9.  COMBINE: "Virtual Pet" (1675 total) and "Desktop Pet" (185)
   1. Reason: One is far more used than the other. Merging into Virtual Pet would give far better exposure for those under Desktop. 
   2. Perhaps combine these into "Digital Pet" or "Digital VR Pet", to better overlap across Tamagotchi games, pet caretaker games, animal adoption games and monster-raising grow-up games.
10.  COMBINE: "Parkour" (3600 total) + "Movement Shooter" (100)
    1. Reason: Movement shooters would gain more exposure if merge into Parkour. The parkour tag includes shooters and run-&-gunners, with movement being core to gameplay. Movement Shooter is far less widely used, given the overlap.

SET 2 _______________________________________________________________

1. EDIT TAGS: "Flying" (2425) and "Flight" (2150)
   1. Reason: How can these be more distinct? Flight and Flying have a lot of overlap, covering planes, skydiving, air falling, superpowers flying, and even birds.
   2. Renaming would help. Like "Flying Games" and "Flight Simulator" or "Plane Flights" and "Flying Sims" 
   3.  It'd help distinguish plane-based experiences versus flying with superpowers or flying as birds or flying like air-diving. The distinction is not clear, given the major projects overlap.
2. COMBINE: Historical (2800) + Period Piece (150)
3. COMBINE: Mythology (1950) + Norse (250) + Celtic (175). 
   1. Reason: Mythology, Norse and Celtic have overlaps and lean more into legends, mythos, gods, and fantasy elements. So separate tags not as needed.
4. EDIT / SPLIT TAGS: More Distinctions for "WAR" (3600 Projects Total)
   1. Reason: Perhaps edit the "War" tag into two tags. "War History" and "War Games", to best distinguish war-themed games and historical-war related projects.
   2. "War History" could then hold the "World War I" (300) and "World War II" (675) tags, which relate to current history.
5. EDIT / SPLIT TAGS: "Non-Linear" (800)
   1. Reason: The "Non-Linear" tag is not distinct or hold enough clarity by itself.
   2. Perhaps edit into or split into "Non-Linear Puzzles", "Non-Linear Story" or "Non-Linear Platformers" tags.
   3. It's not clear enough on what is non-linear. If this is focused on non-linear stories, then this could be merged into "Multiple Endings" which has 8400 projects, if the tag was intended for non-linear narratives.
6. EDIT FOR CLARITY: "Binaural" (150 projects total)
   1. Reason: Could be clearer if renamed to "Audio Binaural" or "Binaural Sound" to find more easily by more common words.
   2. Binaural is not common, but searching for the word audio or sound is more common. It would help these projects be more easily discovered, among those other keywords.
7. EDIT FOR CLARITY: "Synthwave" (1500 projects total)
   1. Synthwave refers to a subgenre of electronic music with origins in the 80s. 
   2. However, renaming the tag to "Music Synthwave" would help give it more context for newer generations, who do not have terms from the 80s. 
   3. "Music Synthwave" or "Sound Synthwave" game tag would also increase discoverability for those curious about audio-based gaming experiences.
8. COMBINE FOR CLARITY:  LGBT (11,800) + LGBTQIA (4750)
   1. Would total around 16,550. One is clearly used more over the other.
9. COMBINE FOR OVERLAP: Combine or Merge in Different ways that make sense. There's major overlap.
   1. LGBT (11,800)
      1. LGBTQIA (4750)
      2. Gay (6250)
      3. Queer (5100)
      4. Transgender (3750)
      5. Lesbian (2800)
      6. Gender (450)

___________________________________________________

Set 3 - FINAL: HORROR TAGS!!

Combining Smaller Horror tags into Larger Horror tags, to reduce clutter across Itchio and search:

THE TOP HORROR TAGS:

1. "Horror" has 79,200 total
2. "Creepy" has 19,400 total
3. "Dark" has 17,900 total
4. "Psycho Horror" has 12,300
5. "Survival Horror" has 11,600
6. "Spooky" has 7,850
7. "Dark Fantasy" has 5300

THE LOWEST ONES that could be merged into top ones:

1.    Siren Head only has 100, could be merged into Psychological Horror.
2.   Creepypasta only has 400, could be merged into Creepy or Psychological Horror
3.   Incredibox only has 215 could be merged into Creepy, Spooky or Dark Toony tag
4.   Sprunki only has 475, could be merged into Creepy or a Dark Toony tag
5.   Slasher only has 600, could be merged into Survival Horror
6.   Spoopy only has 775, could be merged into Spooky
7.   Horrible only has 800, could be merged into Dark, Creepy, Horror or Suspense
8.   Baldi's Basis only has 1250, could be merged into a Dark Toony tag
9.   Lovecraftian Horror only has 1400, could be merged into Dark Fantasy or Horror
10.   "Suspense" has 2025 (is this story suspense? thriller suspense? narrative suspenseful games? Could be merged into a more distinct item or a word added for more context.