Code of Conduct Scope
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Original Link: https://retroachievements.org/forums/topic/32644
October 3, 2025
Dear RetroAchievements community,
We’d like to make a policy clarification regarding the User Code of Conduct’s scope and our stance on content archival.
Recent discussions in our community have raised important questions about the scope of our Code of Conduct and our approach to game content. We want to address these questions publicly so the entire community has clarity on our policies and practices.
On the scope of our Code of Conduct
Our Code of Conduct governs user behavior within RetroAchievements community spaces: how members interact with each other in comments, forums, and Discord.
It does not govern the content of games or ROM hacks for which we provide achievement sets.
RetroAchievements functions as an archival platform. We provide achievement sets for games and ROM hacks as they exist, without curating based on their themes, content, or messages. This includes commercial games, from various eras and regions, homebrew projects, and community-created ROM hacks. The presence of an achievement set on our platform does not constitute endorsement for a game’s content, nor does it reflect the personal views of our volunteer developers, moderators, engineers, or administration.
We understand this distinction was not clearly communicated in our Code of Conduct, creating reasonable confusion about the scope of our content policies. This is something we intend to clarify in our documentation.
On reporting mechanisms
Our platform currently lacks a clear, intuitive mechanism for users to report concerns about game or set offensive content. Users must know to contact RAdmin, which isn’t well-documented or easily discoverable. This is a structural gap we should address, regardless of whether we ultimately take action on content reports. We’ll add improvements to our reporting systems to our engineering priorities.
Our position on archival vs. curation
We recognize the tension between archival preservation and community safety. Different platforms resolve this tension differently. Some curate heavily based on content, while others preserve more broadly.
RetroAchievements has chosen a preservation-focused approach, prioritizing archival completeness over content curation.
This means we host achievement sets for games and hacks that contain content some community members find deeply offensive.
We don’t expect everyone to agree with this approach, and we respect that some users may decide this platform isn’t for them based on this policy. We’re committed to being transparent about our approach so users can make informed decisions about participation on RA.
Moving forward
We welcome discussion about our policies in community spaces, provided discussions remain focused on policy rather than personal attacks. Civil, constructive criticism is encouraged as outlined in our Code of Conduct.
We also expect respect between community members regarding game choices.
Harassing or calling out users for playing games you find offensive violates our Code of Conduct. Conversely, deliberately provoking others by taunting them about offensive content or bringing it up in unrelated discussions is equally unacceptable. Our community spaces should remain focused on achievement hunting and retro gaming.
If you have questions about our policies, you can reach us by DMing this account (RAdmin) directly.
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