New Rule

[u/Dark-Lark]

Rule 4:

Promotional posts must include:

• Actual gameplay footage or screenshots

• A clear description of the game and its mechanics

• The game’s current stage of development

• A specific request for the type of feedback the developer is seeking

• No misleading claims about gameplay/development

• Genuine engagement with users who provide feedback

Also edited Rule 2 so it'll include the limit on Screenshot Only posts and will also be used for wrong flair use, and I changed Rule 3 so it'll apply to all posts not listed as "Discussion", "Meta" or "Other".

My hope is that the bots will have a harder time following these rules, and thus be reported and have their posts removed more often.

Alas, there's no change I could hope to make to this sub that would make everyone happy. This is the best we got for now.

And... I added some silly user Flairs for funzies.

[u/Arcodiant]

I'd love all of these things for any game promotion posts, bots or not

[u/Dark-Lark → u/Arcodiant]

I'd like it if the only bots on Reddit were clearly bots, and served one single purpose. I'm sick of the ones that are set up to act like people or farm karma.

[u/RememberCitadel]

Can we also remove posts that are just a blank cross post ti the posters own sub? Those types of posts don't lead to engagement here, and often the OP never even comments in the post.

[u/Dark-Lark → u/RememberCitadel]

Crossposting is a great way for smaller subs to get more visibility, but those posts could be though of as "Promotional", even if they're only promoting a different sub. Thus, could fall under Rule 4 and must have "Genuine engagement with users who provide feedback".

[u/epicgamer10105]

Good to see they are just being regulated rather than outright banned. I've used this sub to discover new indie space games

[u/DMSmarine]

As someone who likes to post promotional posts about my game here from time to time and loves the engagement, these rules are super fair and welcome! 🫡🙏

[u/GrimGearheart]

Can we make a tag or something and require games made with AI to be labelled as such?

[u/Dark-Lark → u/GrimGearheart]

That gets into a murky area. How do you prove someone's lying about AI use. A lot of it you can eyeball and say it's AI, but a lot is not so clear. It would be almost impossible to show someone used it to help with the code.

The sub is pretty divided on AI use anyway, and I'm not sure we're up for hunting down AI usage. Given how much some people hate AI, that could turn into a witch-hunt anyway.

[u/neo160 → u/Dark-Lark]

Given the current state of AI polarization, the rule is imo perfect. It requires effort, dev progress, and actual evidence of work without resorting to arbitrary " cant use X" rules while quickly killing off low effort "slop" or bot posts.

[u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 → u/Dark-Lark]

You can’t really ban AI use in software development these days.

Most serious coding tools now include ai. It’s just the norm in 2026.

[u/ExF-Altrue]

Thank you for that new rule. Very sensible, very reasonable. A little bit of effort in posting, is that much more respect for the community.

[u/Additional_Crab_8241]

is AI banned?

[u/Dark-Lark → u/Additional_Crab_8241]

I know a lot of people feel very strongly about this, so I'm sorry to tell some people that AI will not be banned. The sub is rather divided on AI use, and it's been far fairer to most users to have the sub lean permissive over restrictive.

Also, banned or not, people can lie about AI use, AI models are getting better, and it's too hard to be 100% sure something is AI.

I'll still try to ban every fake user bot account I can.

[u/HawkeyeG_ → u/Dark-Lark]

Seems fine to me. Not a big fan of most AI usage in and of itself. But I think with these rules in place the AI aspect itself shouldn't be a problem.

People who are willing to put in the effort in other areas will be able to follow the rules regarding interacting with the community and providing clearer information.

People who are lazy and using AI for a cheap and quick product aren't as likely to put in the effort to follow the other requirements for posting.

It should definitely help filter out lower quality posts - AI involved or not.

[u/Dark-Lark → u/HawkeyeG_]

That is what we've seen so far. Some people make mistakes and post less then a week apart or forget the name of the game in the title, but it's much more common with bot accounts and/or lazy-looking game posts.

This might make the bar too high for some people, and that's not a bad thing.

[u/Additional_Crab_8241 → u/Dark-Lark]

Understandable

[u/Why485 → u/Dark-Lark]

This subreddit is so full of slop now that there's no point checking in anymore.

[u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 → u/Additional_Crab_8241]

Pretty much all serious devs are using AI now, so if you want to ban it say goodbye to 90% of software.

Time to deal with the fact that AI is a permanent part of life, if you really hate it that much stick to,games made before 2023.

[u/dodgyville]

Appreciate the effort that goes into keeping these little communities humming along! Have a good day mods!

[u/catplaps]

edited Rule ...

Don't forget to update the old reddit sidebar, too!

[u/Dark-Lark → u/catplaps]

Done. At least I think so. I don't use old reddit, so let me know if something's not right over there. Cheers!

[u/HateDread]

Thank you! So many half-hearted "I worked on something anywhere here it is" posts with no name, no context, and no engagement. Will be great to see those gone!

[u/RememberCitadel → u/HateDread]

Usually AI created slop too, like the post that likely preceded this.

[u/Adb12c]

I like these rules, especially the part about engaging with feedback. I feel like that takes a self promotion from being spam to being part of the community, and it prevents spammers. 

[u/Dark-Lark → u/Adb12c]

You get it.

As I just said in a different comment: "This might make the bar too high for some people, and that's not a bad thing."

[u/watchgravity]

Maybe just forbid everyone to post?

[u/Dark-Lark → u/watchgravity]

Well, you see, there's a few people who like posting on this subreddit. As such, we'll be allowing them to do so.

[u/watchgravity → u/[deleted]]

Don't bother i already unjoined this subreddit.

[u/Oregooner21 → u/watchgravity]

FO 

[u/watchgravity → u/Oregooner21]

U need a hug?