GameFAQs

GameFAQs' main page in September 2004.

GameFAQs is a popular website that has provided video game resources free of charge to visitors since November 5, 1995. The site includes FAQs, walkthroughs, images, cheat codes, game saves, reviews, credits and release information for games.

It was started and is maintained by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey, and has one of the largest databases of video games available on the Internet. The site covers a wide range of systems, with many obscure consoles and titles. Registration with the site allows access to message boards (which has posted over 280 million messages in over 26 million topics by over 3.4 million users) and the ability to contribute game content. Since 2003, the site has been a wholly owned subsidiary of CNET Networks.

Any registered user may submit information to GameFAQs; almost all of GameFAQs' content was created by its users. Typically, the information is reviewed before being put up. Submitted guides may be rejected if they are of low quality, or if several other similar guides on the same game already exist.

History

GameFAQs was started on November 5, 1995 by CJayC. At that time it was called the Video Game FAQs Archive, and was hosted on AOL. It originally served as a clone/spin-off of a popular FTP FAQ Archive.

By December 1996 [1], the site was still young, as both appearance and lack of content demonstrated. The site contained less than 1000 FAQs and guides, combined over all systems. The site focused primarily on the seven popular systems of the time: arcade games, the Sony PlayStation, the Sega Saturn, the Nintendo 64, the 3DO, the Sega Genesis, and the SNES - although other systems were also listed. The site was very basic to every degree of the word, and was not updated on a regular basis.

By early 1997, GameFAQs had two different designs. One was customized for web browsers that supported tables [2], and the other was made specifically for browsers with no support of tables (or text-only) [3]. Despite these changes, the color scheme consisted of only white, black and blue, and looked somewhat amateurish. The content, however, was beginning to grow. By April, the site had 1301 files and codes for over 800 games. New features were introduced by CJayC that would shape GameFAQs' future - such as user requests for information; a search engine; recognition for contributors; and more.

IGN affiliation

By late 1997, GameFAQs had moved off of the AOL servers and was partnered with then titled Imagine Games Network (IGN). During this period of time, CJayC was working on GameFAQs more than ever before. It is assumed that this is when GameFAQs became his full-time job. Until this time, he had been working in either the radio field (unconfirmed report) or with computer/web programming (evidence taken from a later radio interview). GameFAQs had made it through two years and a new aspect of the site began; user contests. There were only two winners of the GameFAQs Second Birthday Contest out of 1000 entries, but it was a start.

Throughout 1998 [4], CJayC continued to work on the site and post new user-submitted FAQs and codes. In late 1998, the site received another design overhaul. Still operating as an affiliate of IGN, GameFAQs added links to other Snowball partners to its menu bar, and had a number of aesthetic changes applied to it. The actual content of the site hadn't changed much, but CJayC always kept the users informed about the latest events and news. There were frequent updates to the site, even if they weren't always contribution-related. This continued for some time.

In early 1999 [5], GameFAQs had yet another new layout. The sidebar and tables on the homepage which showed the top games were added. The color scheme was also changed from blue and white to pink and red. GameFAQs was still under the flag of IGN.

In November 1999 [6], several things happened very quickly. On the fifth, a Quick Search box was added to all pages, at which time the site was also celebrating its fourth birthday. On the seventh, the message boards opened as Beta and a Poll of the Day would be implemented by the end of that week.

Between December 1999 and late 2000, GameFAQs slowed down in terms of the addition of new features. The GameFAQs chat went beta on June 21, 1999, but did not last long due to administrative issues - it was simply too hard to control. The IRC server, however, definitely brought a rise in the site's activity, with more people visiting the domain at different times of the day. The GameFAQs chat was initially revolved around a minor number of administrator-owned channels, but eventually allowed users to create their own (such as #trivia, #lobby and #console_war) through a petitioning system involving an accumulation system whereby as each new channel was created, the number of users required to sign a petition (each user was limited to one sign at any time) increased by one. Rooms which had been created but had low usage were also closed down later on.

Post-IGN

2001 [7] was the next year of major change for GameFAQs. Firstly, CJayC decided to dissociate the site with IGN. To continue generating revenue, a banner was placed on the top of each page that was sold to non-profit organizations. This changed by May 2001, when CNET Networks became an official affiliate of GameFAQs. In this month, the chat feature was completely shut down due to the issues mentioned previously: while full details weren't revealed and no official precise reason was given, it is believed that this was due mainly to the chat's main administrator (who went by the nickname "Wroth") and his continuous conflicts with other popular users such as Wise Old Gamer, Vegeth (Manchester City X), and Dettronen Spy. This is disputed by some.

During the middle of 2001 came about strife and unrest between the popular Final Fantasy VII and Star Ocean: the Second Story gaming boards. At the time, the overall list of the most popular boards was determined by the amount of posts. Star Ocean: the Second Story (more commonly referred to as SO2) had multiple users posting hundreds of useless topics. CJayC intervened eventually and created what was the first Social Board on SO2 (which has since been removed). Final Fantasy VII soon had a board and other popular games had one installed as well. This also marked the start of board rankings being determined by individual server hits instead of by posts.

In September 2002, CNET's advertising policy changed, prompting more changes to GameFAQs. The ad was moved from the top of the page (horizontally) to a vertical position in the sidebar. This also led to the navigation of systems at the top of the screen. Changes were consequently made to the links on the side, namely minimizing them and creating subsections in "index" pages. In terms of contributions, GameFAQs continued to grow larger and larger, and CJayC - who was still the sole operator and administrator of the site - dedicated hours upon hours of his time to ensure that GameFAQs remained up-to-date, popular, and above all, successful.

On April 1, 2002, CJayC changed GameFAQs to "GameFAX" [8] as an April Fool's joke. The site's layout was changed to green and black to imitate those of the Xbox. The intention was to make users believe that GameFAQs was now dedicated to only the Xbox, since it is "the only system that matters." However, after clicking on any links on the main page, you were immediately directed to the real GameFAQs's page. Despite that, CJayC later reported [9] getting "flames, threats, and the like" over the joke.

CNET acquisition

On June 3, 2003 [10], CJayC announced to general GameFAQs users (moderators of the boards had previously been alerted) that its long-standing affiliate and sponsor, CNET, had acquired the site and all of its assets (minus user-submitted guides/FAQs, as the copyright remains to the authors). CJayC collected a reported $2.5 million and agreed to a 2 year no compete clause.

He assured worried users that GameFAQs would undergo no major change in terms of administration, and that the 'GameFAQs the users saw today would be the one they saw tomorrow'. This was true to a certain extent, as the only visible change was a discreet CNET footer. Other minor changes included moving the servers to California (thus changing the board's time to GMT -8), rolling all the server names into one (previously, it was s1/s2/s3; it simply became cgi.gamefaqs), and server upgrades.

In July 2003, CJayC completely overhauled GameFAQs' security in light of an alarming rise in account hackings and stealings. For log-in, he encrypted the cookies and un-checked the auto-login box. He also instituted "account lockdowns." If the private email or password was changed, an email would be sent to the last known private address (in case a hacker had taken over the account). The user could then suspend it (Level 2: User Suspended) and send an email to CJayC to to get it unsuspended. This process, however, was long and cumbersome, eventually leading to its discontinuation. However, some hacked users have recently become Level 2, which indicates that it is still possible to have your account set to Level 2 if you are hacked, likely by contacting CJayC or another admin. Security Settings were also implemented; Users could lock out other login attempts from other IPs for a set period of time. To top it off, he required everyone to read and acknowledge the changes (the next time anyone would log in, he or she would see the page).

In April and May 2004, GameFAQs underwent its biggest visual and administrative change yet. At the demand of CNET (and to the disdain of many GameFAQs users), it partially merged its game boards with those of GameSpot and radically changed the graphics to those seen today. The site's web pages are now styled by CSS instead of tables. GameFAQs also converted from Microsoft ASP to a PHP-powered system. However, because the HTML markup is invalid and the CSS classes are inflexible, web designers (and CSS authors) have been forced to create elaborate hacks to modify the site to their liking. Even though almost two years have passed, the problems still persist.

On December 1, 2004, a site-wide login button was introduced and a "Universal Account" system was introduced, meaning that not only GameFAQs users would have to login using an email address (rather than a username), but could also use their usernames on MP3.com, TV.com, and GameSpot (all of which are owned by CNET).

Today, GameFAQs is fully owned by CNET Networks. CJayC still maintains responsibility for working on the site - e-mails, codes, FAQs, reviews, saves, game data, coding, updating the homepage, and administrating the message boards. CNET has supplied newer (and a little faster) servers for the entire site. Although the changeover from being a one-person-administrator to being owned by a big company, as well as the transition from old to new servers and boards, was rough, GameFAQs appears to have settled into its new status. With the addition of long-time message board moderator Sailor Bacon to the administration team, GameFAQs has regained a level of stability after initial fears, criticisms and doubts.

FAQs

The FAQs cover various aspect of games, including walkthroughs, item lists, maps, character/plot analysis, etc.

When someone contributes a guide to GameFAQs, the author retains the copyright of the material. GameFAQs agrees to only host the guide on their servers, but allows a few other affiliates to link directly to the guides (GameSpot, Yahoo!, AOL, etc).

Message boards

GameFAQs is noteworthy for its active message boards community, partially because it maintains a board for every game in its database, as well as numerous "social" boards.

Spinoff websites

Due to the high popularity of GameFAQs' forums, many users have created their own forums based on the layout and general functioning of those of GameFAQs. They are commonly referred to as spinoffs. Most contained additional features not present in GameFAQs' forums, some original and others culled from popular forum software. While many had a contribution system mimicking GameFAQs', they were generally seldom used.

The first generation of spinoffs started in 2001, when Chuck "Neo" Sakoda (a.k.a. NeoGenesis) created the first spinoff, GameFAQs Hell. His first attempts at cloning GameFAQs were with ASP and Microsoft Access, the same model used by GameFAQs at the time. He eventually rewrote his spinoff in PHP (paired with MySQL), releasing it under the GNU GPL. CJayC eventually helped promote Sakoda's efforts by placing a link to GameFAQs Hell in GameFAQs' help files. From the source code of GameFAQs Hell spawned several second-generation spinoffs such as The Outboards and Twisted Legacy that still exist to this day.

After Sakoda closed down GameFAQs Hell, the spinoff world began to evolve in what is called the second-generation of spinoffs. Dark Cobra was the first to expand upon the source code of GameFAQs Hell and create a website using it, GameFAQs Refuge. After that too failed, The Outboards was formed on August 1 2002. Bugs carried over from the original code it was based on required the site to be taken down twice within its first month. However, after being reopened in late August, it has remained the longest lasting spinoff. Other spinoffs that opened at the time included whiteFyre (administrated by ultimategamer00 and initially named "GameFAQs Clone βeta") and Twisted Legacy.

GameFAQs spinoffs also arose after the closure of the GameFAQs IRC server. With many users being banned in the past, and current users left without an IRC server, many users took it upon themselves to run Chatspace servers on their Home computers which were nearly identical to the system which was previously running on the GameFAQs IRC server. Most of these servers closed down shortly after due to low patronage, but showed how important the chat feature of GameFAQs was to the community.

The next milestone in the history of GameFAQs spinoffs came when developers "Jay" and "Waffles" worked together to create a new spinoff free of the numerous bugs that plagued GameFAQs Hell. Although the outcome of their efforts initially appeared to be substantial, the rushed source, later leaked by "Counteray", was found to be filled with bloat, bugs, and other symptoms of rushed development. Jay continued working on his source code and joined with Zach "Outbreakorn" Getz to develop for his site. The resulting code eventually got an official release under the GPLv2, but fell victim to the common side effects of rushed development, with many quick hacks implemented to fix previous problems.

Due to the ease of setting up and running Mediarchive and other sources, the spinoff world evolved into the third-generation: Numerous clone sites. Many people with little or no PHP knowledge were establishing their own Mediarchive-based spinoffs on free webhosts such as lycos.co.uk. Some spinoff coders took a dislike to these generic spinoffs and resorted to exploiting SQL injection exploits in the Mediarchive code to bring many of them down. Those that survived fixed security holes or wrote their own original code instead of using already well-established code. This era is marked by spinoffs such as CABLE (Magician Type 0), Farside Blues (Endless Nightmares), gg's (girlgamer44), Junkieznat (Junkieznat), and LUE2 (Tsi) and its spinoffs.

The fourth generation is generally considered to be from January 2004 to the present day. Some spinoffs have started up, but the popularity of spinoffs has substantially declined. All have a niche audience, but few new people have came in, while many veterans have left. Notable spinoffs started in this era include Archetype 0 (Onion) and FrozenOven (Shuzo). The majority of existing spinoffs today use premade code, such as the whiteFyre boards source. Often these sites are run by people with little or no programming knowledge and as such tend to get exploited as the Mediarchive-based boards did.

Contests

Summer 2002 - Character Battle - Link defeats Mario in the final round
Summer 2003 - Character Battle II - Cloud Strife defeats Sephiroth in the final round
Spring 2004 - Best. Game. Ever. - Final Fantasy VII defeats Chrono Trigger in the final round.
Summer 2004 - Character Battle III - Link defeats Cloud Strife in the final round.
Spring 2005 - Got Villains? - Sephiroth defeats Ganondorf in the final round.
Summer 2005 - Character Battle IV - Mario defeats Crono in the final round.
Summer 2005 - Tournament of Champions - Link defeats Sephiroth in the final round.

There is also an active community on the Summer 2005 Contest board (which changes its name with each new contest) that discusses and debates the stats and strengths of characters. It is commonly known as Board 8, or sometimes simply 'B8', after the board number in its URL. When there's no contest, it really becomes a social board. For that matter, it has the elements of a social board even during the contest. However, as evidenced by the "contest" in its title, the board is filled with tournaments and elimination-style contests year-round.

Top 100 Games

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, GameFAQs users chose the 100 best games of all time [11]. The top 10 were:

Final Fantasy VII - PS
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - N64
Chrono Trigger - SNES
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - SNES
Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES
Super Smash Bros. Melee - GC
GoldenEye 007 - N64
Metal Gear Solid - PS
Halo: Combat Evolved - Xbox
Final Fantasy III - SNES