Talk:List of video game mascots

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Sources?[edit]

Hi, I was wondering what qualified these characters to be company mascots. Can anyone elaborate on the criteria that was taken into account when making these lists? Dkpat (talk) 14:56, 16 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Please, stop the links from being misleading! I had to make this page empty, so as to let you all fill it in, and not redirect it to "Mascot", as "Mascot" doesn't say anything about video game mascots! Yusheng02 (talk) 05:29, 15 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Restoration[edit]

Just pinging everyone in the RfD - @NotCory, Steel1943, Tavix, AngusWOOF, Lee Vilenski, Ne0Freedom, Scott, and CoffeeWithMarkets: if they may wish to do more with the article. Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:51, 27 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@NotCory, Steel1943, Tavix, AngusWOOF, Lee Vilenski, Ne0Freedom, Scott, and CoffeeWithMarkets: sorry if this is an overping, or equivilent, but I'd like some opinions on removing all entries in this list that are not a Wikipedia Article. I feel like it's hard to argue notability to be in this list, if they aren't notable for a stand alone topic. Lee Vilenski(talk) 13:39, 27 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
By entries, do you mean the game, the mascot, or both? AngusWOOF (barksniff) 17:03, 27 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Hi @AngusWOOF: - Both. I feel as though if a game series is not notable enough to have a page, then that's a completely pointless thing to add to this list. The same is true for the mascots, as just stating that the game series has a mascot isn't exactly helpful. Lee Vilenski(talk) 09:44, 29 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I'd like to second Lee Vilenski's proposition. Mascots shouldn't be listed if the series isn't particularly notable. The mascot himself/herself/itself/etc is a different story, though, and I think that there's reason to mention those even if the specific characters are more borderline in terms of notability. CoffeeWithMarkets (talk) 00:54, 3 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
If either the 'mascot' OR 'game series' has an article on Wikipedia, then it should be listed. Note that some games are less prominent than their mascots. Example: "Hatsune Miku concerts"[1] are more prominent than MikuMikuDance or Project DIVA. --Ne0 (talk) 10:32, 8 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Qualifications for video game mascot[edit]

For the mascot to be listed in this article, they must meet the following requirements:

  • Must be named a video game mascot by a secondary source independent of the subject.
  • Must apply to more than just a single video game title or versions/platform variants
    • Q*Bert is a borderline video game mascot [2] but only really appears as representing the video game itself.
  • For company mascots, the character should represent the company or developer as their mascot.
  • Must be primarily a video game mascot, not a general mascot for the media
    • Mickey Mouse for Disney-related video games is not a video game mascot.
    • Barbie for Barbie-related video games is not a video game mascot.
    • Batman for Batman-related video games is not a video game mascot.
    • Microsoft Paperclip is a mascot for Office Assistant, but not a video game mascot.
    • Hatsune Miku is a mascot for a computer app. She may appear in some related video games, but is not primarily a video game mascot.
    • Leap is a mascot for LeapFrog Enterprises, but they made primarily educational toys and videos, not video games.
  • Not just a video game cover character that is put on the covers for the titles.
  • Not just a mascot-like character within a video game.
    • Moogle from Final Fantasy is a character that acts like a mascot but is debatable whether they mascot represent the game.
  • Previous company mascot characters are okay to list, provided they meet the above requirements.

Any other criteria? Please discuss. AngusWOOF (barksniff) 03:09, 29 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I'd like to remove the second one down. Obviously, a mascot would be prefable to have appeared in multiple games, I don't think it could be considered a requirement. It's much more important to have been listed as a mascot in a secondary source. Best example I can give is Morgana from Persona 5. Although will be in a few games when released (Persona 5 Dancing Sun Night, for example), the character has been mentioned to be a mascot. It makes more sense to have them mentioned in the article, rather than having to wait for a second game in the series for this point. Lee Vilenski(talk) 09:50, 29 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I was trying to minimize the ones that are just the video game title characters like Frogger or Ecco the Dolphin, but if they're trying to promote the game by acting as the mascot at events and stuff, and as you said, coverage in secondary sources, then that would be better. The main one is someone calling them a video game mascot. AngusWOOF (barksniff) 16:30, 29 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Misinfo[edit]

There's a lot of misinformation on what constitutes a "gaming mascot" - a lot of the articles listed simply use mascot as a shorthand for "cartoony game character" or "popular game character", without considering if they are actually representatives of the company - one character listed, Mega Man, has been explicitly stated to not be an official mascot, while the list also almost completely lacks mascots who exist for that sole purpose such as Hudson Honey and the Neversoft Eyeball. Additionally, the "series specific mascots" lists a ton of main protagonists, instead of just Slime/Pikachu sorts.

Ideally, the sources listed should be from the companies themselves - something like Namco having a giant Pac-Man statue or Crystal Dynamics plastering Gex next to their logo on non-Gex games, not some random article on cut SFXT characters claiming that Ratchet is a mascot in passing. 2A00:23C4:526D:6501:3014:E6F8:9D42:502D (talk) 09:52, 15 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]