Does every category has to be hardcoded? Why not create them on the fly while processing?
What is a category? In the current game code (except for mine), every tag or keyword is called a category. So, currently category means the same as tag. Current tags include nude, date, profile, group, questangry and so on. These tags are created on the fly by the game by parsing filenames. Since filenames can only reasonably hold two or three tags per file, and we need more than that, we need other ways to store the tags for each image.
The goal is to have image pack creators who provide a list of tags for each image in their packs. Since the game needs to use the tags provided by non-coders in meaningful ways, I think tags must be hardcoded. If every image pack creator invents his own tags, I can't see a plausible way to make use of that information.
Now, on to the use of category to describe the concept of a keyword on an image file. I propose to use tag instead because its a shorter word and carries a similar meaning. Then, a category could be something like mood or location. To say it again: IMHO,
location should be a category, while
brothel,
stage,
market street or
bar could be tags of the
location category.
If we need the concept of categories for tags ingame remains to be seen. My proposal is about having one (and preferably only one) good name for any particular concept to avoid confusion.
For sex pics: position. For any pic: mood. For any pic: location.
I think we need a list of valid tags for each of these categories. Otherwise I don't see a way we can make use of the tags. We should also identify an ingame use for each category of tags we add.