Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of video game soundtracks considered the best


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. While some editors have suggested a redirect, a significant majority simply argued to delete: furthermore, nobody has discussed the issue of a plausible search term. If anyone is keen on preserving the history, I would be willing to restore this to userspace. Vanamonde (talk) 05:32, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

List of video game soundtracks considered the best

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The page has only 15 entries after culling the others that did not have at least three separate sources. Previous discussion on the talk page was to delete the page if it could not be improved, and it's been over three months with no attempt to do so. Other suggestions than being outright deleted are to merge with List of video games considered the best (unpopular on the talk page) or just redirect to video game music. ~ Dissident93 (talk) 21:50, 17 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete. I've debated nominating this before; it's honestly just a really trivial page and its information could easily just be discussed in the articles of the games listed here. ("considered" is also a weasel word—considered by whom?) However, I wouldn't oppose redirecting to video game music. JOE BRO  64  22:08, 17 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Considered by a few publications, but not to the extinct of the List of video games considered the best list. ~ Dissident93 (talk) 09:11, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * redirect to save history.Thanks,L3X1 ◊distænt write◊  22:40, 17 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Meh, but sure, redirect to video game music. Part of the reason there are few sources is because some perfectly decent sources originally in the article were thrown out on loose grounds.  That said, nom's rationale is somewhat off: a short list is perfectly fine (Honorary citizenship of the United States is a list of 8 people; AFD'ing it for being too short would be silly though).  The better reason to redirect is that the sourcing is still weak, at least with some sources contested.  There are good, proper, published sources that aren't listicles out there on video game music (e.g. the book  "Understanding Video Game Music"), so I don't think it'd take TOO much work to bring the article back if, say, 1 or 2 really solid sources could be found. SnowFire (talk) 03:39, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Honorary citizenship of the United States is not a subjective list though, so I wouldn't compare their situations. ~ Dissident93 (talk) 09:12, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * What does that have to do with anything? Maybe only a small number of video games really have highly esteemed scores.  Maybe a better version of this article really only talks about 5 games.  Besides, this betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what these articles are.  The list itself is not supposed to be subjective, but rather an objective combination of notable opinions - think Metacritic.  And such lists can and will be short sometimes.  A musician who is a one-hit wonder is going to have a very short list of critically praised songs, no?  Anyway, I believe that there's enough valid content for a decent section in video game music here, which would not be true if it was "subjective" (then we'd just delete it if it was Some Wikipedia Editor's Favorite Music).  SnowFire (talk) 15:55, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Because objective facts like that are easy to source and can't be debated unlike some random author who says a soundtrack is cool and that somehow make it a definite source for calling it one of the best of all time? There has to be a lower limit to citing subjective lists like this. I don't mind a small section on the video game music article, but I'd object to including a table there. We could just list the more notable games in prose instead. ~ Dissident93 (<b style="color: #D18719;">talk</b>) 20:44, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete - this comes across as original research. Vorbee (talk) 06:55, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * How? Sources are promiently listed showing sources that made the claim. Which part do you feel is OR exactly? Sergecross73   msg me  15:14, 18 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Keep - I guess I'm not quite sure I understand where we're drawing the line here. List of video games considered the best and List of music considered the worst are considered acceptable, but a combination of the two, somehow isn't? (Keep in mind I'm not violating WP:OSE here - we're talking about a precedent here. These two examples have collectively survived 6 AFDs. There's a consensus they should exist.) Sourcing clearly exists - check the article, which is heavily sourced. The nomination isn't helping me understand either. Why is 15 entries not sufficient? Why is 2 sources not enough to warrant inclusion? (Usually 1 is fine honestly.) No relevant guideline or policy was cited either. Sergecross73   msg me  15:14, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Really? A single source (usually by a non-notable author) somehow makes it consensus that a soundtrack is considered one of the best of all time? That's silly to even consider. The List of video games considered the best article went through a major rework last year, and now games have to have five separate reliable sources to be included on the list, so I don't see how they really compare here. Some of the sources in use are questionable too, such as "23 Of The Coolest Ever Video Game Soundtracks" and "Nine Legitimately Awesome Video Game Soundtracks", as both are just opinion pieces by authors with neither claiming the soundtracks to be among the best of all time. If you remove them two, then you are left with just 10 entries, making this even less notable to have an entire article on. The remaining games can just be mentioned in a section on the video game music article. ~ <b style="color: #660000;">Dissident93</b> (<b style="color: #D18719;">talk</b>) 20:47, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * You misunderstand, my point was just that usually one source is usually sufficient inclusion criteria. I'm fine with the notion that more than 1 is neccessary here, but I don't see why 2 isn't sufficient. Reading through the talk page, it just seemed like an arbitrarily set number chosen by a 2 or 3 editors. Sergecross73   msg me  14:22, 19 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I just defaulted to three because that seems to be the standard for the type of lists; 2 is fine if that's the consensus. We should just never be including games with only a single source for these type of lists, which was my issue with what you said and I apparently misunderstood. ~ <b style="color: #660000;">Dissident93</b> (<b style="color: #D18719;">talk</b>) 09:19, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Pinging, who helped with the recent List of video games considered the best list overhaul, for additional discussion and opinions. ~ <b style="color: #660000;">Dissident93</b> (<b style="color: #D18719;">talk</b>) 21:10, 18 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Redirect to video game music I am going to put my WP:BESTSOURCES hat on here. Right off the bat, I'd say NME, Rolling Stone, and Toms Guide should be removed. The first two are opinion pieces and the last is quite shit quality. That leaves just five sources, but I don't believe the sources are quite authoritative enough in the subject for it really establish a rock solid critical consensus. What I mean is, we only have two respectable music critic sources (CoS and Clash) and just one sole gaming source (GR+). The other two sources (Digital Trends and Fact Mag) seem to me like pop culture/general tech news sites. We should require several video game centric publications with strong reliability to support this article for it to make sense. Sources like IGN, GameSpot, Eurogamer, etc. Until then, a section on notable video game soundtracks on the video game music page (written in prose, not a table) would be most appropriate. TarkusAB talk 00:26, 19 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm all for removing Tom's Guide, but both NME and Rolling Stone are considered reliable sources per WP:RSMUSIC, and long running print magazines in the music world. Sergecross73   msg me  13:31, 19 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I agree they are reliable, it has nothing to do with reliability. My concern is they are not "the best soundtracks ever made" lists but rather "23 of the coolest" and "Nine legitimately awesome" soundtracks. TarkusAB talk 13:57, 19 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I see your concern with the NME list, but not the Rolling Stone one, which clearly sets up the article's scope in the opening paragraph, as covering nine of the best soundtracks in gaming history. That fits the scope of the article. Sergecross73   msg me  14:22, 19 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Redirect per others; the reason I didn't ever put much work into the page is because the available sources are almost all pretty lousy, or are just short opinion pieces of a single editor (i.e. not collaborative), and the like. There are very few lists with actual rigor or effort put into them like the ones on List of video games considered the best. If there's ever an influx of better sources, I'll support restoring the page, though. Phediuk (talk) 00:59, 19 July 2018 (UTC)
 * <small class="delsort-notice">Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions. Ajf773 (talk) 08:37, 20 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete per the others arguments. Not enough RS to have a list like this. Page would need a major overhaul to stay in my opinion. QueerFilmNerd  talk 17:16, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete As a game music aficionado, I can see that this article is woefully incomplete, lacking a massive amount of critically acclaimed soundtracks, and the sources are dubious. I would say delete without prejudice to draftification if someone is willing to put in the effort to make the article up to snuff.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 16:42, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete Title of article is subjective. Calm Omaha (talk) 23:54, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete per nomination. And what about "List of video game soundtracks considered not bad"? I mean, considered by me. Oh, you know what I mean. -The Gnome (talk) 11:12, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete This whole article is like one big Peacock Term. Its opinionated and does not contain notability. AmericanAir88 (talk) 15:14, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
 * All critical lists like this are opinions, that's not what's generally being argued here. I think you guys voting for "subjectivity" are missing the point. ~ <b style="color: #660000;">Dissident93</b> (<b style="color: #D18719;">talk</b>) 16:20, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete Offers no details as to how soundtracks are ranked and appears to be based on editor opinion. Gameinfirmary (talk) 21:07, 24 July 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.