Final Fantasy Wiki
Register
m (Bot: Replacing category Policies and Guidelines with Policies and guidelines)
Tag: apiedit
m (Bot: Automated text replacement (-{{Policies and Guidelines}} +{{policies and guidelines}}))
Tag: apiedit
Line 73: Line 73:
 
When adding a date to an article, such as a release date, the standard practice is to omit ordinal suffixes (-st, -rd, -nd) and to use the MDY format with a comma following the day e.g. December 26, 2013. If a specific day has not been confirmed, a comma need not be used e.g. December 2013. This should be followed both in info tables and general article information.
 
When adding a date to an article, such as a release date, the standard practice is to omit ordinal suffixes (-st, -rd, -nd) and to use the MDY format with a comma following the day e.g. December 26, 2013. If a specific day has not been confirmed, a comma need not be used e.g. December 2013. This should be followed both in info tables and general article information.
   
{{Policies and Guidelines}}
+
{{policies and guidelines}}
   
 
[[Category:Policies and guidelines]]
 
[[Category:Policies and guidelines]]

Revision as of 21:40, 22 December 2015

The Manual of Style of the Final Fantasy Wiki is used to give the uniform ideas of how to write articles, serving as a style and content guideline to establish clarity and consistency across the project. It concerns the context of the Final Fantasy series specifically and the out-of-universe articles.

The Manual of Style only covers content guidelines and writing styles; for an explanation on article structure and usage of tags in pages, please see Article Layout Guide. It is not a detailed manual of the English language, only its use within the Final Fantasy series; for a more detailed guide on that, please see Wikipedia's Manual of Style. For general editing help, please see Editing.

Formatting

The only kinds of wikitext formatting to be used within articles are bold thickened text and italics slanted text. These are used in two specific purposes.

Bold

Bold text ('''bolded''') is used for the first mention of an article's name on the article, and the atlernate names it uses.

For an average article, an example would be:

Fira (ファイラ, Faira?), also known as Fire2 and Fire 2

In this case, "Fira" was the first time the article name was used. "Fire2" and "Fire 2" are both alternate names, in this case since they both used the same Japanese translation as "Fira", but were different in-game translations of the term. Both "Fire2" and "Fire 2" would also redirect, or their parent page or dismabiguation page would point to the "Fira" article.

For an MMO, an example would be:

Synthesis (colloquially referred to as crafting)

This is because many players use "crafting" to refer to the term more often than they use "Synthesis" to refer to it. Redirects would be used similarly here.

Italics

Italic text (''italicized) is always used when referring to the titles of any published media. Any time Final Fantasy XII is referred to, it is italicized. Similarly, in-universe ship names are often italicized, such as the Highwind from Final Fantasy VII. Foreign phrases are also often italicized within their etymology section, or Japanese template.

Linking

Linking ([[link]] or [[page link|link text]])) should be used the first time a term is referred to on the page. When referring to the term within a specific context, the specific link should be use; when referring to it in a general context, the recurring link can be used. As such, when referring to the recurring Fire spell, "Fire (ability)" is linked to. When referring to the Fire spell in Final Fantasy VI, Magic (Final Fantasy VI command)#Fire is linked to instead.

Links and italics will often be used in conjunction with one another, such as when linking to releases. This is often a case of placing the italics outside of the link, though other times, it is more complicated. When discussing cases such as Final Fantasy XIV/Legacy, only the Final Fantasy XIV part will be italicized, as "Legacy" is not part of its title. As such, legacy Final Fantasy XIV will be used; italics can be used within links.

Emphasis

It may be tempting to use wikitext formatting to add emphasis to a specific word. Emphasis on words within articles should not use italics, underlined text, or bold text. Although this is allowed in project space, in documentation of templates and other areas that do not adhere to typical policies and guidelines such as walkthroughs, wikitext formatting should not be used to add emphasis to words, nor should capitalization.

Grammar

Spelling

English language rules vary per region, but American English is the accepted language used on the Wiki for all article content. Users are asked to change UK English into American English on pages, unless it describes a particular regional difference featured in one of the games.

Capitalization

Section headers and article names*(For more information on article naming, please see the Naming Policy) always use sentence case, rather than title case.

Throughout the rest of the article, capitalization is dependent on the capitalization used in-game, and on the latest translation. This varies on a game-to-game basis. Generally, Square Enix often capitalize terms fully, as is particularly the case gameplay terms such as ability and enemy names. Even in cases where the game's capitalization may appear to be incorrect and not following English rules, the capitalization on the wiki will use those of the game; the in-game capitalizations are canon, and they are the official terms, and are often consistent within games, with any errors being the fault of Square Enix and not of the wiki.

Capitalizations will often differ, and it is important to note when they do. For instance, when referring to the recurring "Black Mage" job generally, "Black Mage" is used. When referring to the specific "Black Mage" job in Final Fantasy V, "Black Mage" is also used, as it was the official translated term. However, when referring to the black mage race within Final Fantasy IX, "black mage" is used, as that is the official translated term. Bare in mind that this does not always apply to races; Lunarian in Final Fantasy IV, as an example, is translated within lore.

As an example of when to capitalize which terms, when saying:

"Vivi Ornitier is a black mage."

The term "black mage" was not capitalized, as it referred to his race. When saying:

"Vivi Ornitier's abilities are similar to those of the Black Mage job in the series."

The term "Black Mage" was capitalized, as it referred to a different term, and one that is capitalized.

Sometimes capitalization even within games and within the same contexts may be inconsistent. Though translation of the word "Black Mage" can be used within lore and gameplay contexts differently the same way, some words which refer to the same terms within the same contexts may be capitalized differently in different places. In these cases, the more commonly recurring capitalization of the term is used instead.

For out-of-universe articles, this is much simpler, and English can be used as normal.

Style

Japanese name

The Japanese name should always be used at the start of an article right next to the bold text where its name is first mentioned, using {{j}}, with exceptions when the Japanese name is featured in an infobox. This contains the Japanese kana, romaji and literal text, though the literal text is only required when it differs from the translated name. Japanese text does not need to be used in other cases, other than on translations pages, and for terms used in untranslated content not officially released outside of Japan. In these cases, the wiki will always use an unofficial translation based on assumptions and on common translations, and as such, may differ from a translation that may be released by Square Enix if the game is translated and released in the West.

Verb tense

To determine which tense to use in articles, it is logical to describe events happening in-game in the present tense; even if a game was released decades ago, it still performs the same today as it did on release. Therefore, to simplify:

  • Use present tense to describe plot and events as it happens in-game, including gameplay.
  • Use past tense to describe flashbacks and events that happen prior to the game's plot.

The same applies to describing real world events. When talking about game development, releases and/or promotions, use a tense appropriate for the time period in which the event occurred e.g "The PlayStation was launched in 1994" or . When describing the product itself, use present tense e.g. "Final Fantasy XI uses the concept of changing Jobs in a similar fashion to Final Fantasy III." Exceptions are for unreleased products that use future tense, and unfinished products that use past tense.

Point of view

A neutral point of view" (NPOV) should be given when writing articles. The only exception to this rule is when writing story sections of specific articles, wherein the point of view must instead reflect how the events unfold from the article's subject's perspective. Aside from this, all mainspace content must be written NPOV. An example of following NPOV is that users cannot place bias for gameplay strategies they add over others listed, and must instead list all gameplay strategies as equally valid depending on different circumstances/player choices.

Active voice

As active voice is much stronger than the passive voice, it is preferred when used in articles. The following is an example of a sentence in the passive voice:

"Cecil was removed from his post as Captain of the Red Wings by the King of Baron."

Below is an example of that same sentence, except written in the active voice:

"The King of Baron removed Cecil from his post as Captain of the Red Wings."

Here, the person performing the action is the subject of the sentence, instead of the person or thing the action is performed on. Action is better than being.

Dates

When adding a date to an article, such as a release date, the standard practice is to omit ordinal suffixes (-st, -rd, -nd) and to use the MDY format with a comma following the day e.g. December 26, 2013. If a specific day has not been confirmed, a comma need not be used e.g. December 2013. This should be followed both in info tables and general article information.

Template:Policies and guidelines