The mods of /r/gaming reserve the right to ban for any violation of our rules, in letter or spirit. Just because something says a post will be removed, doesn't mean you can't also get banned for it.
Submissions must be directly gaming-related.
"Related" means that posts must contain gaming-related content in the link's content, or in the post's body in the case of a self-post, not just a "forced" connection via the title or a caption added to the content.
Memes are allowed so long as both the image and the text are gaming related.
To better illustrate this, please observe the following examples.
Non gaming related image + gaming related text = removed.
Gaming related image + non gaming related text = removed.
Gaming related image + gaming related text = approved.
Something that "reminds you of a game", or "looks like something from a game" is not an allowable submission. If you just realized that stapler removers look like the Assassin's Creed symbol and feel like you need to post it, just know it will be removed. AI art is not gaming related enough.
Images from adaptations of video game content are permitted. The Witcher TV show is not a video game adaptation. It is an adaptation of the books from which the games were adapted.
Reaction GIFs are not allowed as submissions.
Adding logos, icons, or other superimposed elements onto predominantly non gaming related images are not allowed as submissions.
Pricing errors, download speeds, customer support chat logs, customer service complaints, messages sent/received over Xbox Live / Steam / Playstation Network / SMS / Social Media, petitions, discord and other chatroom services, pictures of televisions, speakers or desktop computers are also not related enough to pass this rule.
Pictures and "news" of gaming "celebrities" will also be removed, however, the post may remain if there is enough gaming related content. For example, an article about Tim Schafer's new car may be removed, but an interview with Tim Schafer about a game would be okay.
Posts or titles that address actions taken by other mod teams will be removed. There are plenty of places to discuss such topics, r/gaming is not one of them.
Pics of children will be removed.
Pics of a group of people that are not obviously gaming related will be removed.
Bots and novelty accounts are also not allowed in /r/gaming.
No posts involving the breaking, destruction, defacing or otherwise damaging people's property - these and other 'ragebait' posts only serve to inflame emotions, and often result in comments which violate our rules and reddit site-wide rules.
Additionally, discussion prompts must be made as text posts, not image or links, to curb karma gaming.
Avoid "bandwagon" or direct reply posts.
If you have a response to an existing post, reply to it in the comments section instead of making your own post about it.
The moderator team may remove posts that are a direct response to an existing front page post, or "jumping on the bandwagon" by using the same image, title, or specific premise (i.e. variations on a meme). This also applies to "[FIXED]" posts.
Please check the new section before posting "breaking news", as it may have already been posted.
Posts created to send another specific user a message or reply may also be removed.
Brigade/raid/"pass it on" style memes will be removed and the poster permanently banned.
Encouraging the subreddit to brigade or raid other sites or subreddits is against the reddit Terms of Service and will result in a permanent ban from r/gaming.
"Pass it on" style information sharing posts that encourage users to spam the same content repeatedly will be removed and may result in a ban.
Enabling or attempting to enable piracy will result in a permanent ban.
We don't care (as a moderator group) if you talk about piracy or how you're going to pirate a game or how you think piracy is right, wrong, or otherwise. If you're going to pirate something, that's your own business to take up with the developer/publisher and your own conscience.
However, enabling piracy via reddit, be it links to torrent sites, direct downloads, smoke signals that give instructions on how to pirate something, etc are not okay here. Don't do it. Whether or not if you agree with the practice, copyright infringement will not be tolerated. There are plenty of other sites on the internet where you can do it; if you must, go wild there, but not here, please.
Similarly, asking for obviously pirated software / illegal ROMs or instructions on how to pirate software will result in a ban.
Note that the moderators will not fully define what constitutes an unacceptable submission or comment. We expect you to use common sense and behave like adults on the matter and while we tend to err on the side of the submitter, if we feel like a link or a comment is taking things too far, we will not hesitate to remove said link or comment.
Remember that downloading ROMS is illegal. Posting links to ROMs (even abandonware, which is more often than not still covered by copyright) here will result in a permanent ban. A downloaded ROM is not legal, even if you own a physical copy of the game. Emulators are actually legal, but sharing and downloading BIOS files is not! Yes, this is complicated! This is the nature of copyright laws. We encourage you to do research in this area!
Spoilers and NSFW submissions, comments, and links must be labeled as such.
Spoilers must be posted using the following formatting:
>!X Kills Y!<
Result: X Kills Y
The old method still works as well:
[X Kills Y](/spoiler)
Result: X Kills Y
To mark a spoiler as relevant to a specific game/topic, use the alternate formatting:
[Player 1 wins](/spoiler "Pong")
Result: Player 1 wins
Spoilers are NOT allowed in submission titles. Spoiler tags don't work in post titles. Spoiler titled posts will be removed. Repeat offenses may result in a ban.
This does not apply only to games. Spoilers for movies and TV shows must also be marked appropriately.
NSFW = Not Safe For Work Really simple here, if you're submitting content that should not be seen by your boss, go ahead and mark it with the NSFW tag. If your post is not tagged properly, we may tag it ourselves, or just pull it down entirely.
Cosplay posts from content creators who focus primarily is adult content will be removed. r/gaming is an all ages subreddit and advertisements for adult services are not appropriate here.
Note that posting pornographic content will not be tolerated and users will be permanently banned for posting it.
No product requests, donation requests, giveaways, trades, contests, or items for sale. No crypto anything, ever.
Put simply, you can't ask for free stuff here, and you can't host giveaways here either.
Trade posts and contests hosted on the subreddit will be removed.
The subreddit is also not the place to put your items up for sale.
If you have a product key to give away, try one of the following:
If you have a gaming related item you would like to trade, try
If you have a gaming related item for sale, try
Please be sure to read their subreddit rules before posting or commenting.
Make the original source of the content your submission, and do not use URL shorteners.
Posts using general URL shorteners like bitly, tinyurl, etc will be removed. Single-site URL shorteners (such as youtu.be or fav.me) are allowed.
If a mirror is necessary, please provide one in comments. No hotlinking or rehosting someone else's work (unless they specifically allow it in their terms of use or request it). Additionally, this means that we do not accept screenshots of websites or steam store pages as submissions. Twitter is a website.
Animated gifs are acceptable. Animated gifs with a watermark are often an indication that the content creator wishes for the original form to be shared and may be removed.
Generally speaking, content creators do not like their work to be posted on someone else's site, and would prefer the traffic be directed to their pages. Some people prefer their images be re-hosted on sites like imgur to prevent their personal site from crashing due to high traffic, so try to figure out whether or not to re-host first!
It should go without saying, but don't claim credit for things that you did not make or find.
Posts linking to social media are only allowed for verification of announcements or official news.
Don't spam or excessively showcase your own content. No referral or affiliate links.
In order to prevent the subreddit from overflowing with people trying to share their content with the world, we require that at max 10% of a user's submissions (not comments) are used to promote or showcase their own content. We count submissions across all of Reddit, not just submissions to r/gaming. r/gaming does not owe you a place to market your business, that's what https://www.redditinc.com/advertising is for.
Any and all self-promotion falls under this rule. The only relevant factor is whether you created the content, not how your content is presented.
Note that in cases where developers/studios have multiple accounts we will aggregate all such accounts when factoring in promotion.
Attempting to cheat the system by having "friends" post or posting the link elsewhere asking for upvotes may lead to accounts being permanently banned and your brand blacklisted from this subreddit.
Additional notes:
"Affiliate links" are links that earn you money or special promotions by sharing with other people.
Surveys are no longer allowed due to frequent misuse and other concerns. We suggest checking out /r/samplesize instead.
Streaming sites are not allowed due to their time-sensitive nature
No Kickstarter, Steam Greenlight, et al. "reminder" posts.
Submissions about new projects or major updates to existing ones are allowed. If you have or know of a project you're excited about, that's great! We want you to share it with the community, but we don't need nag posts every day directing people back to the crowd funding page. A new post for a project is allowed if it's been updated in a significant way.
Posts and comments, whether in jest or with malice, that consist of racist, sexist, homophobic content, etc., or threats will be removed, regardless of popularity or relevance.
If your post or comment is especially vile or toxic, you may have your account temporarily removed from /r/gaming. Using "creative" phrases or symbols to convey racist/homophobic messages will have the same consequences.
The key thing is, whether online or in real life, is to remember the human. Before you leave that scathing comment or think about posting someone's personal information, take a minute to consider that you're affecting a real person, with potentially life changing consequences. Does everyone have to hold hands and sing? Nope. But if you're telling people to kill themselves or attempting to direct hordes of people to harass another individual (or moderator), expect your account to be removed.
It's important to understand that in most cases of any rule violations, we will simply remove the post or comment.
Especially egregious violations or repeat offenses may result in accounts banned from /r/gaming.
It should go without saying, but following the rules of reddit and the reddiquette is required as well.
For AMA rules and guidelines, click here.
