Meta:Style Guide

This page documents rules, styles, and conventions for the Game Detectives wiki. Please try your best to adhere to them when creating new pages, writing new content, or editing existing content.

Wikipedia Manual of Style

This wiki adheres to the Wikipedia Manual of Style. This is the definitive style guide for wiki content and should be followed unless otherwise noted.

Overview

General Guidelines

• Proofread your edits! If you see a typo on a page, don't hesitate to correct it!
• Write with the newbie's perspective in mind - try to make each page accessible to newcomers.
• Take advantage of Mediawiki's formatting when appropriate. Images and videos can be embedded in the page to maximize readability.
• When embedding images, it's preferable to upload them to our wiki, then embed (instead of embedding from an external source).
• A full formatting guide can be found here.

Language

Tips:

• Avoid ambiguity, jargon, and vague or unnecessarily complex wording.
• Use words your audience will understand, and use just enough words to convey your message.
• Define terms that may not be obvious to individuals who are new to what you are writing about.
• Keep paragraphs and sentences short and concise.
• Use contractions or don't. Just be consistent.

Tense

Always write in the past tense.

This rule is particularly important when writing about puzzle solutions. This rule applies even when writing about something that is presently occurring. If events are initially described in present tense, then the description needs to be altered later on to reflect that it happened in the past.

This also goes for future tense - talk about what information was revealed rather than where the investigation is today.

Example:

The website will be updated on the 12th of this month, according to the tweet by the PM.

Should be written as:

The PM tweeted that the website would be updated on the 12th of December.

Side note: As above, don't refer to dates relatively. Reference exact dates in the past tense to preserve readability even after the event concludes.

Example 2:

Discord user imnotgoats found the solution to puzzle one is: 27

Should be written as:

Players discovered puzzle one's solution was: 27

Side note: Reference participants as "player(s)" (as opposed to users, etc) to maintain congruence with other wiki articles.

Readability

As mentioned above, write with the newbie's perspective in mind. This means embedding the most pertinent media directly onto the page, and linking to relevant sources where necessary. When in doubt, more links and embedded media are better (but not to the point where you can't read any of the words on the page, of course).

Additionally, be wary of writing run-on sentences when describing what occurred in an ARG. ARGs can get really complex, really quickly, so it's easy for a newcomer to feel overwhelmed. When in doubt, step back and think about how to break down your explanation.

Point of View

The wiki should have a consistent, neutral voice, and should not read as though it was written by one or two solvers. Avoid using the word "we" at all costs! Instead, consider replacing it with something like "players" or "participants", depending on the context.

Example:

Through the use of clever lateral thinking, we solved the puzzle.

Should be written as:

Through the use of clever lateral thinking, players were able to solve the puzzle.

Mentioning Players

Players may be mentioned by name if:

• They were the only person present at a live event
• They were a prevalent player during a live event (eg. streamed the event)

Players should not be mentioned by name if:

• They solved a single ARG puzzle
• They solved multiple ARG puzzles
• They were one of many players who attended a live event

Generally speaking, mentioning players by name in the body of the wiki has a negative impact on readability and detracts from an otherwise informational format. Separate credits pages, especially as demanded by the community, are encouraged, and the above rules need not apply to them.

Dates and Times

All dates written using solely numbers on the wiki should abide by the ISO 8601 standard:

YYYY-MM-DD

When writing dates inline, any of the following formats can be used:

MON. DD, YYYY
Month DD, YYYY
Month DD
DD MON. YYYY

Note: Please try to keep inline date styles consistent for any given page.

Times should be in written in 24-hour time, and should use the UTC timezone.

Page Structure

The main page for an ARG should use the ARGBox template, set to float to the right. At the top of the page, above the table of contents, there should be a brief summary of the ARG, including links to any related media.

Page Sections

Defining sections for a wiki page is often a judgement call for wiki editors. However, if an ARG is explicitly broken up into distinct segments, it may make sense to define the sections accordingly. For instance, Waking Titan is explicitly broken up into 3 "phases". Wiki editors mirrored this structure by breaking the ARG up into 3 sub-pages: one for Phase 1, one for Phase 2, and one for Phase 3. The first of these phases is broken up into 5 "sequences", so its wiki page is structured accordingly.

Subpages

The main page for an ARG can host whatever information is deemed necessary by wiki editors. If the ARG is small, the main page may suffice to contain the full documentation of the ARG. However, as ARGs become more sprawling and complex, more pages may be required to track them. Articles about high-level subjects can be created, named sensibly, in the main namespace. For all articles pertaining solely to a specific ARG, subpages should be used.

Example:

This_ARG                         <- this is a page as well as the namespace
This_ARG/Timeline
This_ARG/Summary
This_ARG/Characters

Additionally, when creating subpages, ensure you categorize them properly!

Disambiguation

Where there is a requirement for two articles with the same name in the same namespace, disambiguation should be used in the form of parenthesis after the article name. An example of this is Project 11 (the ARG) and Project 11 (puppetmaster) (the name of the puppetmaster).

Non-ARG articles

Articles that do not pertain solely to a specific ARG should be in the main namespace. This is because puppetmasters could potentially create more than a single ARG.

Nomenclature

This section outlines some naming conventions to promote consistency across the wiki. This section is not intended to comment on a phrase's 'correctness' in the real world - rather, these guidelines outline an approved style for this wiki.

• "ARG" always appears in caps ("Arg" and "arg" are incorrect).
• "Puppetmaster" is a single word ("puppet master" and "puppet-master" are incorrect).
• "Easter egg" only has a capital on 'Easter' ("Easter Egg" and "easter egg" are incorrect).

Wiki Templates

ARGBox

Use {{argbox}} on the main page of an ARG, with parameters as shown below.

Sample output

Example ARG
Completed on yyyy-mm-dd
This is the description
Type	Official ARG
Creator	Valve
Discovered	"yyyy-mm-dd" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.
Completed	"yyyy-mm-dd" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.

{{argbox
| float       = right
| name        = Example ARG
| image       = File:Example.png
| imagewidth  = 150
| description = This is the description
| creator     = Valve
| type        = Official ARG
| status      = Completed
| discovered  = yyyy-mm-dd
| completed   = yyyy-mm-dd
}}

For more info, check out Template:Argbox.

ArgHeader

Use {{ArgHeader}} at the top of the main page of an ARG immediately after {{argbox}}, with parameters as shown below.

Sample output

{{ArgHeader
| arg = Meta:Style Guide
}}

Main Page > List of Investigations > Meta:Style Guide

For more info, check out Template:ArgHeader.

Outdated

Use {{outdated}} at the top of any outdated page.

Sample output

{{outdated}}

For more info, check out Template:Outdated.

Stub

Use {{stub}} at the top of any page in need of additional outside information or revision (for incomplete pages not in need of outside information or revision, use {{WIP}} instead.

Sample output

{{stub}}

For more info, check out Template:Stub.

Work In Progress

Use {{WIP}} at the bottom of any page which is incomplete or being updated on an on-going basis.

Sample output

{{WIP}}

For more info, check out Template:WIP.