howto:named_outfits wiki (formerly "WIP Guide to Gacha Game Tagging")

This wiki is still a WIP, and it's ruleset hasn't been applied yet. See forum #17377 for the relevant discussion.

Intro and notes for the WIP

Throughout recent years, there has been lack of an agreed standard on how alternate costumes for characters games with gacha/lootbox mechanics should be handled on Danbooru. This has lead to each franchise having its own de facto standard, mostly due to the fact that a system that works for one title may not necessarily work so for another. This has led to confusion and inconsistencies (not only between franchises, but sometimes within a franchise itself like in the case of Fate), this is caused in great part by users who may or may not be familiar with the inner workings of each particular game and the lack of established tagging conventions, which leads them to make their own decision or just follow by example. The goal of this project is to define a single basic standard for tagging characters and skins/outfits that can be easily be adapted to any new or existing franchise with gacha mechanics wile remaining consistent with each other.

Note: Due to its unique circumstances when it comes to character and costumes , Fate/Grand Order is being discussed separately it is unclear at the moment if this system will be also used for FGO or if a specific system will be adopted, as such, this article has deliberately excluded any examples from that game. Please go to topic #17356 ("The Fate/Grand Retagging Project") discussion regarding tagging conventions for F/GO specifically.

The proper wiki draft follows:

This is a guide on how to tag characters and alternate costumes from games with gacha-style mechanics

What is a "gacha-style" game

Gacha (ガチャ) is shorthand for gachapon (ガチャポン) (sometimes also called gashapon (ガシャポン)) and is a type of Japanese vending machine that dispenses a plastic capsule containing a randomly-selected toy or prize. Usually this is toy is a part of a collectible set, incentivizing customers to keep spending until the get the complete collection

Similarly a gacha-style game (usually shortened to gacha game or just plain gacha) is a video game in which players spend either real life money or an in-game currency in exchange for randomized prizes either by directly spending on a random prize (also known as rolling) or via in-game containers with randomized prices (usually known as lootboxes. Said prizes tend to be additional characters, alternate vwrsions characters, alternate costumes (also known as skins), weapons, etc. Since Danbooru is a character-based imageboard the discussion is going to center around characters and outfits, please note that these conventions are not exclusive to mobile games or what people usually consider "gacha games", many console and PC games use similar systems for releasing characters and alternate forms/outfits. This guide focuses primarily on gacha games due to their massive popularity in recent years (particularly in the East) and the large amount of art that results from that, but these guidelines also apply to games using similar systems regardless of the platform of genre.

What makes tagging characters from a gacha game different

Danbooru's tagging guidelines when it comes to characters are If it talks, acts on its own, or is otherwise shown to be sentient in the source material (game, anime, manga, novel), it is a character and If a character has alternate identities or forms which are visually distinct, these are tagged as well using the official name or the fan-agreed name, if there is no official one (see howto:tag and howto:character), this however has caused quite a lot of confusion and inconsistencies when it comes to tagging characters and costumes from gacha games, due to the complex way in which gacha games often treat and release characters, alternate costumes, and/or alternate forms, in particular the way in which some games treat costumes independently from characters but gives costumes specific names, while other games treat existing characters wearing a different outfit as a completely different character (often giving them a different in-game ID number and/or giving them different, stats, skills and character classes, etc).

This is in stark contrast with other forms of media, which usually don't name alternate outfits. For example, the swimsuit that Yoko Littner wears inTengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's beach episode (post #178763) or the black dress that Tomoe Hotaru from Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon' (post #2227732) which she's often depicted wearing, neither of which is given special treatment or even given a specific name. Compare with Azur Lane's Sirius, who has a swimsuit that is officially named Midsummer Seirios (post #3529663). Since it's a visually distinctive form and is given an official name then it's given its own tag according to danbooru's guidelines.

Definition of "character variant"

According to Danbooru's character tagging guidelines If a character has alternate identities or forms which are visually distinct, these are tagged for the purpose of this guide said alternative identities, as well as named outfits will be referred to as a "character variants", other terms used to refer to variants are forms, versions, skinsand alternate costumes

Some games release alternate outfits in the form of character skins. In gaming terms, this is an alternate costume that only serves to function as a cosmetic change for a character, without changing the character's in-game functionality. If a skin has been given an official name, it may be considered a variant for tagging purposes.

[Further discussion is needed regarding an outfit that was initially released without a name, then retroactively given a name later in the franchise's life, and whether or not it should be likewise retroactively tagged with a new character tag. While this is uncommon, it does happen.
- Benit149]

"TAGGING GUIDELINES":

Character Variants

"Default" variant: The first or variant of a character to be released, or the "base" variant of a character in the case of games with upgrade trees is considered to be the "default" variant of the character and is named according to the usual naming guidelines (e.g. sirius_(azur_lane)

Variants with official names: For variants with an official name a new tag must be created with the variant name as a qualifier, if the character name has a copyright qualifier then the said qualifier must go after the variant qualifier (e.g. sirius_(midsummer_seirios)_(azur_lane)), therefore the template for named variants is: character_name_(variant_name)[_(copyright)].

Holiday variants and special costume variants with no official name: For seasonal/holiday variants with no official name and variants with a specific identifiable costume (kimono, raincoat, santa outfit, etc) but no specific name the season/holiday or the costume should be used as the qualifier (e.g Character_Name_(Haloween) or Character_Name_(Kimono))

All variants must imply the default variant tag, this is to allow people to quickly search for all posts of a character regardless of variant (e.g. sirius_(azur_lane) or to exclude a particular variant of a character while keeping the rest (e.g. sirius_(azur_lane) -sirius_(midsummer_seirios)_(azur_lane))

[There is some debate as to whether or not the default should get the same treatment as the holiday variant for consistency’s sake, or if it’s best to just leave them as is. At the moment, the default is left as-is.
- Benit149]

Character Upgrades

Some games have a mechanic where the characters may upgraded, resulting in design changes ranging to minor alterations to their default outfit, to compeltely different outfits, to even some major design overhauls for these cases a general tag for the game mechanic is used, rather than new individual character tags, some examples are Kantai Collection remodels, Azur Lane retrofits and Girls Frontline MOD3,

Shared Costumes

Some games (particularly idol games) have instances where multiple characters will wear the same costume as a sort of uniform or as a part of a collection set (barring minor design changes for individual characters), these outfits too are given general tags rather than individual character tags, some examples are Idolmaster's Cute & Girly,and Cool & Sexy outfits and the maid cafe collection from School Idol Festival.

[More discussion is needed as to whether or not it is desirable to leave it like this or to expand them as chartags. The crux of the [argument is that gentags wind up getting 'lost' in the quagmire of dozens of other gentags describing everything in an image, while making chartags for every instance is far too cumbersome and pedantic.
- Benit149]

Characters cosplaying as a specific variant of another character

For character cosplaying as a specific variant of another character you must add [[/b]both[/b] the default variant and the specific variant *_(cosplay) tags (e.g. if a character is wearing Sirus' swimsuit you must add both the sirius_(azur_lane)_(cosplay) and sirius_(midsummer_seirios)_(azur_lane)_(cosplay))

Characters from Existing Copyrights

Quite often already existing characters with their proper tag on Danbooru are added to games as gacha prizes, In these cases the already existing character tag should be used instead of creating a new tag, if said character receives additional game-specific variations the variations should be tagged as per the above mentioned guidelines, already existing art of the character are NOT to be tagged with the gacha copyright tag and, new uploads should only be tagged with the gacha copyright only if

• The image in question contains a game-specific variant of the character
• The image in question makes specific reference to a situation from the game (e.g elements of the game interface being present on the image, game-specific dialog being quoted or references being made to a game-specific situation)
• A game-specific character is present in the image
• The character is wearing a game-exclusive outfit but it isn't tagged as a variant

[The last point is debatable, it is mostly in place because that used to be the official or the de facto policy for most gacha, see love live! school idol festival
-Mexiguy]

List of Games with Named Outfits

This is an ongoing work-in-progress. Any contributions made will be greatly appreciated, as previously stated Fate/Grand Order is being discussed separately, and it's not to be included in this list

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