PCGamingWiki:Editing guide/Introduction

This is a draft and work in progress and should not be implemented onto articles at this time.

The aim of Introduction is to provide:

• More relevant qualitative information for gamers researching a new PC game that is not constrained to single bullet points.
• Information about the history and current state of the game.
• Additional natural content for improving search engine ranking.
• See discussion in these threads: 1 2 3 4

Guidelines:

• This is the first free text area on PCGamingWiki and our aim is to describe the game in a neutral manner constrained by facts and not driven by criticism, outrage or bias.
• Every claim should be individually referenced, ideally with a snippet e.g. <ref>{{Refurl|url=|title=|date=2020-05-09|snippet=}}</ref>
• It is important to consider 'undue weight' and only include issues that has affected/will affect a significant number of players.
• Any issues (e.g. platform issues) mentioned must be proven with multiple original sources otherwise they will be removed.
• Issues that are fixed within a 48 hour period after launch are not to be included.
• Avoid platform 'exclusivity', instead refer to concrete release dates.
• Delays should be mentioned but only if longer than one month. Multiple delays can be grouped together in a single sentence.
• Avoid speculation about release dates, only use direct references from developers/publishers.
• It is allowed to space out the |intro-sentence, release-history and current-state parameters for clarity, it will not affect viewability on the page.

Introduction structure

Introduction - this section has no header, it is simply prose separated by paragraphs in this {{Introduction}} template:

Syntax

{{Introduction
|intro-sentence    =
|release-history   =
|current-state     =
}}

intro-sentence

• gamename is a taxonony/perspective/mode/genre etc. featuring key/unique gameplay features made by company published by company.
• game is a sequel/prequel in the series or related series or is a spiritual successor. Start the game name with bold/italics.
• game uses engine plus any noteworthy engine information compared to other entries in the series.
• game is important/noteworthy for any other reason.
• This row has a basic structure that is autofilled, as long as the modes/perspectives/genres/series is entered into {{Infobox game}} with the relevant Taxonomy rows. It should be overridden where possible.

release-history

• game was first released on platform on date.
• pre-release information including early access, crowdfunding, closed beta, etc.
• platform changes with platform (Steam, EGS, GOG etc.) including delays, technical issues.
• launch was successful/had issues with player number milestones if noteworthy.
• history with a focus on technical issues: e.g. major bugs, inability to access the game, DRM, missing advertised features, features missing from console counterpart, missing endings, etc. and whether any of these problems were fixed.

current-state

• current major issues that have not been resolved yet.
• updates/support is the game regularly updated technically (patches etc.) or content (DLC, expansions, microtransactions or free content updates).
• multiplayer describe the scene, give an update on number of current players, is it possible for players find games?
• improvements link to anchors of essential mods or quality of life improvements further below.
• major community additions ONLY INCLUDE if there are major communities outside of 'General information' links such as already linked Steam, GOG, fan forums, e.g. substantial modding communities, Discord communities, alternative servers, hacked multiplayer etc.

Examples

• User:Andytizer/Destiny_2
• User:Andytizer/Apex Legends
• User:Andytizer/Total War: Three Kingdoms
• User:Andytizer/Dirty Bomb

Editing guide

The Disambiguation (Disambig) tag

Availability