MediaWiki:Community-corner

Hey all,

This is mostly just a formality, since it's already basically been an unspoken set of guidelines, but I'd like to set up a more concrete format for how articles should be written. Most of this was talked about in a chat I had with Follow SRwikiAnon Example a while back, and a lot of it could be inferred through common sense that you can probably get the gist of immediately, but I figured I might as well post them anyway since the wiki has seen a spike in viewership and there might be some unregistered users who'd like to/would be willing to contribute.

With all of that out of the way, here we go:

About

This is the primary section of any article, regardless of the subject matter. It consists of a general summary of the subject of the article. For characters, it should consist of a brief introduction for who they are and, for more minor characters or characters who only appear in a few games of a series, a summary of their role in each game they appear in.

For non-character articles, such as locations, organizations, or items, the "About" section will be the meat of the article where most, if not all of the information about the subject should be placed.

An example of a strong non-character page can be found in the Pentagon, which provides a clear and concise summary of the organization and its role in Rance VI.

Personality and Appearance

This section is obviously only used for characters. It should begin with a description of the character's physical appearance, such as their clothing, body type, hairstyle, and any other distinct parts of their appearance. If the character's personal measurements such as their height and weight are known and are a notable feature of theirs (such as a character being unusually tall or short), it should be mentioned here. If a character is noted to be especially attractive or ugly by other characters within the game, it should also be mentioned.

Following the character's physical description, their personality should be described. Generally, it is best to designate a small paragraph to every major personality trait that character possesses, with specific examples cited from the games displaying them.

Besides the character's personality, any important relationships they share with other characters should be described here. Be sure to only note relationships that receive a significant amount of focus. While almost every character in a game may interact with the protagonist, that does not necessarily mean their relationship with them is worth noting.

Several articles that otherwise follow this format lack a "Personality and Appearance" section, though this is generally a quick fix as the information used for it tends to already be a part of the "About" section and can simply be moved into it.

Abilities

This section lists any and all special skills that a character may possess, and is once again exclusive to character pages.

Many characters from the Rance series have Level Caps and Skill Levels, which are useful for writing this section and should be noted within them whenever possible. This section is not simply a summary of a character's stat screen, however, as almost every character displays skills that aren't immediately suggested by either their cap or skill levels. An example would be Yulang Mirage, who is noted for her amazing fighting ability despite her unimpressive stats. Additionally, several characters engage in activities which they don't possess a skill for, such as Sill Plain and her skill at cooking, which should be included in this section. While it is important to list a character's stats, it is equally as important to describe their abilities based off of what they are shown to be capable of within the games.

This section is not limited exclusively to characters who engage in combat, as most non-combatants are shown to possess some sort of skill that is worth noting and, in the cases where they don't, their lack of notable skills is a notable skill in and of itself.

'''Personal History ''' This one is once again exclusive to character pages and is additionally even more exclusive to major recurring characters. It is a detailed summary of a character's background and role in each game they appear in. While most characters have a limited enough role within a series for these to be covered in their "About" sections, major characters such as Shizuka Masou, Kentou Kanami, and Rance himself have all had such a substantial role across multiple games that they require an entire section to detail them. Naturally, this is a very daunting tasks, and several pages are either lacking them, or have incredibly short and insufficient ones. I would recommend only attempting to cover a "Personal History" section if you are confident that you are capable of writing an extensive essay every single one of a character's appearances in a clear, moderately eloquent manner. While we hope to be able to write these sections for every character that requires them, a sufficient placeholder would be to forego a "Personal History" section entirely and instead write a more abbreviated summary in that character's "About" section.

An example of a strong "Personal History" section can be found on the Hubert Lipton page, but even that is substantially lacking in its summary of Hubert's role in Rance IX.

Trivia

This section is used for listing any notable trivia about the subject of an article in a small, bulleted list. Generally, this section is best left for behind the scenes development information provided by blog posts or the staff corner of various games. Another use for this section is for describing the meaning of a character's name, as Alicesoft frequently use puns or references when naming characters. Besides this, any and all pop culture references to other materials done by the subject of the article should also be put here.

Another potential use for the "Trivia" section is for listing any sort of oddities about the subject, such as possessing a quality only a small number of others also possess. However, it is advised that you use caution when doing something like this, as it frequently isn't actually trivia.

Finally, a character's performance on popularity polls should be posted here. If a character is distinct for frequently scoring highly, it should be noted.

Gallery

This section is used for posting pictures of the subject of an article. It should consist of the character's appearance in each game they appear in, including both sprites and portraits. Any and all special artwork of a character should also be featured here. If any of these pictures appear in an earlier section in the page, they should not be placed in the gallery.

It's all really self-explanatory, but having a consistent layout for articles is a major part in making the wiki look better. It would be hugely appreciated if anyone assisted in properly reformatting articles that are missing parts of these guidelines. It's great that we're getting more traffic, but it'd be even better if we could have more people helping out with articles. What better way to satiate your Alicesoft cravings while waiting for the next game announcement then by contributing to the wiki?

Thanks for reading, and fingers crossed we'll get more X info soon,

-Wiki Restoration Committee