The Visual Novel Database (rendered as vndb or VNDB) is an

online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD). Online databases are hosted on websites, made available as s ...

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

and

Internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

for visual novels. As of 2019, the VNDB had catalogued a total of 24,000 visual novels, and its forum had reached 14,300 users. According to ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'', VNDB was responsible for helping bring visual novels to an international audience. The site's mascot is Lasty Farson from ''Angelic Serenade''.

Features

Database

VNDB contains records on approximately 24,000 different visual novels and is updated by registered members of the site. The database records information on characters in these visual novels, as well as their developers, their

publishers Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, and their translators, both professional and amateur. The site can be navigated via browsing categories, filtering by criteria such as language, and viewing random pages.

Forum

VNDB has a public forum where registered members can converse, with each specific visual novel having a discussion page, as well as a section of the site dedicated to general discussion.

Watch list

VNDB can be used as a personal watch list, allowing users to make a wishlist, whitelist, or blacklist, and to mark their progress in a game as finished, abandoned, in progress, etc.

Ratings and reviews

VNDB functions as a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

. The database aggregates ratings given to games by users, and displays score statistics and averages. Beginning on 31 August 2020, users are now able to write and submit reviews of visual novels, both "mini reviews" and full reviews.

Rating scale

API

VNDB has a real-time public

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standa ...

for developers who want to interact with the database to, for example, retrieve information or automate tasks related to a personal watch list. The API uses the

JSON JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced ; also ) is an open standard file format and data interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and arrays (or other ser ...

format.

History

VNDB was created in September 2007 by yorhel (real name Yoran Heling). After completing '' Ever 17: The Out of Infinity'', he noticed the absence of a community dedicated to visual novels, or a place to find more of them. yorhel created VNDB over the course of three weeks as a centralised place for people to find and discuss visual novels. One of the oldest games to be documented on the vndb was ''Lolita Yakyuuken'', an eroge released in 1982 for the PC-88, which is also believed to be the first visual novel, however it was later deleted due to a lack of visual novel elements. Within a year, the vndb contained 1,000 visual novels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visual Novel Database Internet forums Internet properties established in 2007 Wikis Online game databases