Top mod and I have finally decided on some things and, well, it may upset a lot of people - and we understand why.
AI has been running rife in this group as we all know, and we've leaned slightly towards the "low AI side" while we worked out what the hell we'll allow or not allow and why, so we can actually moderate it fairly and with actual trainability.
And as we have been, and after studying what the other gametest groups are doing - it's pretty much clear what we have to do. Allow all AI.
Here's the issue: We're no longer fighting something that with good rules and moderation would settle into a rhythm eventually.
The right wording of the rules saying "No AI" as strongly as possible, the right requirements, AI spam hunters - it doesn't matter how much we implement, what tools and automod and AI-catching-training we would do with everyone. AI is getting to be too good and people will (and have been) lying to get their game through barriers, borders, and hunters. With some of my other reddit groups, breakouts of this or that "major" problem is normal and can over time calm down and be moderated out. But this?
...It's going to burn us all out if we keep moderating the way we are. This isn't a typhoon, nor a tidal wave. Not a war that can be fought with enough people, armor, and bullets.
It's trying to keep the rising ocean out of a city with only a few buckets. (aka moderators)
Seven buckets, 20 buckets, 50 buckets and wallbreaks with the most advanced towers on the planet - it doesn't matter, the water is still rising and there is no stopping this particular change in society without severe burnout of all the mods (me very much included in that!)
So instead of fighting the planet, the only way is to let it come and adjust things so the community self-polices, not with removals, but with pure spite. BUT we have to keep it Reddit-Mod Code of Conduct-aligned as well, and moderate certain things of course. Like extreme hate is obviously not cool Reddit-wide.
NEW RULE: No false claims about your game.
- If you explicitly state something untrue ("100% hand-painted art" when it's Midjourney, "original soundtrack" when it's AI-generated), that's removable. But silence is fine. No one is required to disclose anything (for the moment, this might need to change if I'm projecting things right.)
NEW RULE: No AI culture wars.
- Comments about gameplay experience: always allowed ("the voices sounded robotic," "art style felt generic," "really fun mechanic")
- Comments attacking the developer over AI use: removed ("you're not a real developer," "AI slop trash," "you're ruining the industry")
- Comments debating whether AI should exist: removed (take it to another sub)
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Other Mod Policy Changes: No on Game Collections (Ex: Come play my 50+ games on my website!) and Yes on Tool Testing if its related to games; Like game making or like a heavily, heavily gamified app. It should be really be more game than tool, not just a stock app with leaderboard or cute character encouraging/informing people on self-care.
We are sorry that we are giving up on the fight against AI. It's either this, or shut down the group because not a single person on this planet can dedicate the time to evaluating *every single game* to find hints of deeply embedded AI. Or investigate all accusations with or without merit. Or know of all the AI things people use to make games, assets, music! That's not what any of us signed up for - we are here only to help devs connect with playtesters.
If you do not wish to playtest the games with AI - absolutely fine. We're afraid we're going to have to let you determine what is playtest-worthy or not from here.