Wikipedia:WikiProject Games/Cleanup

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Welcome to the cleanup department of the WikiProject Games! This department focuses on improving the overall quality of Wikipedia's game articles and complying with the policies and guidelines of Wikipedia. The cleanup effort is meant to reduce the amount of unnecessary content and articles with the WikiProject Video games. It also aims to help in the progression of articles that require work to climb up the assessment scale.

FAQ[edit]

1: What is the purpose of cleaning up articles?

The main purpose is to comply with the policies and guidelines set forth by Wikipedia. Cleaning up articles improves the overall quality of an article. By removing unnecessary and trivial content from articles, it allows them to progress up the rating scale in a smoother manner. Other benefits include improved readability and reduced article size.

2. Who can clean up articles?

Any member of the Games WikiProject is free to clean up article content. Editors who are not participants in the project are also welcome to clean up content, but should defer to consensus within the project in the case of procedural disputes.

3. Can I request that someone else clean up an article?

Of course; to do so, please list it in the section for cleanup requests below.

4. Why was a lot of game content removed from [insert article name]?

If a large chunk of game content was removed by an editor following the article advice of this wikiproject, it is more than likely that it did not meet Wikipedia's guidelines and policies.
Per WP:NOT#PLOT - "Wikipedia articles on published works (such as fictional stories) should cover their real-world context and sourced analysis, offering detail on a work's development, impact or historical significance, not solely a detailed summary of that work's plot."
An overly detailed plot section can unnecessarily increase the article length and provide excessive amounts of information that is generally not considered encyclopedic.
Per Category:Articles containing how-to sections - "Wikipedia articles should not include instructions, advice (legal, medical, or otherwise) or suggestions, or contain "how-to"s. This includes tutorials, walkthroughs, instruction manuals, video game guides, and recipes."
In-depth game information that provide a reader with specific information on how to play a game or how to accomplish certain goals in the game are just like plot details. They can unnecessarily increase article length and provide excessive amounts of information that is generally not considered encyclopedic.

5. What if I have a question not listed here?

If your question concerns the article clean up process specifically, please refer to the discussion page for this department; for any other issues, you can go to the main project discussion page.

What this department is not[edit]

Though the department focuses on improving the overall quality of video game articles, there are some functions that it is not meant to perform.

  • The cleanup department is not a fact checker. The burden of proof lies on the editor that adds content. Unsourced content is subject to scrutiny, and can be deleted if it considered to be original research. Questionable content is at the very least subject to being tagged with {{fact}} or {{or}}. The department also does not check to see if content is current and up-to-date.
  • The cleanup department is not a copy-edit department. While there is overlap in the functions performed for clean up and copy editing, cleanup is meant to make sure that content meets general guidelines of the Manual of Style, complies with notability guidelines, and does not violate copyright.
  • The cleanup department is not a deletion department. Cleanup is an alternative to deletion and is meant to improve the quality of articles with the scope of this project.

Cleanup guidance[edit]

Articles on Wikipedia must comply with various policies and guidelines to stay on Wikipedia. While these must not be complied with immediately, leaving an article in disarray can lead to it being deleted from Wikipedia or merged into an article of related topic.

Some of the more important rules that must be taken into account are:

Violation of certain rules, such as copyright, is grounds for immediate removal of content or an article. Not satisfying the notability criteria can lead to either the deletion of the article, selectively merging content into another article, a parent article or related topic, or the selective merging of multiple related articles into a new consolidated article or list.

Notability[edit]

According to Wikipedia:Notability, "notability is an inclusion criterion based on encyclopedic suitability of a topic. The topic of an article should be notable, or 'worthy of notice'. This concept is distinct from 'fame', 'importance', or 'popularity'. A subject is presumed to be sufficiently notable if it meets the general notability guideline below, or if it meets an accepted subject specific standard listed in the table to the right."

Notability requires multiple instances of in-depth coverage in independent (third-party), secondary, reliable sources. Primary (first-party) sources are acceptable for certain kinds of citations, but do nothing to help establish a topic's notability. As primary sources tend to be biased, care must taken when using them at all, per WP:SELFPUB. The are most often of use for establishing non-controversial facts about the subject that only the subject would known, per WP:ABOUTSELF (e.g. who a company's VP of marketing is, or why a game designer chose to make a particular character one-eyed and green), per WP:ABOUTSELF.

Articles on fictional game elements[edit]

Fictional game elements refer to various in-game elements that are part of a game's story and plot. Examples include but are not limited to the world or universe they take place in, the characters in the story, and specific in-game items, vehicles or abilities. While there are many notable fictional elements in video games, there are many more that do not satisfy the notability guidelines of Wikipedia. What this means is that though many game elements are often popular among gamers, they sometimes do not have the available real world information necessary to qualify as an "encyclopedic article". Such articles begin as a stub or start article and sometimes progress to a B-class article. However, without out-of-universe content, the article could be a candidate for deletion or merging, and furthermore, it will not become a Good article or a Featured article.

Examples of sections for real world content include:

  • "Development", "Creation and influence", "Concept and design", etc.
A section like this should contain information related to the "why" and/or "how" behind the fictional element(s). Information like why the creators designed the element the way they did, any inspiration behind the inception, and how it was created (like the process and/or programs used to create them).
  • "Cultural impact" and "Reception"
A section like this should contain information related to "how" the fictional element(s) was received by critics. What did they think of them? Did they like or dislike them? Did they spawn copycats. Did other creators mimic the design, style, or some other aspect of them?
  • "Merchandise" and "Marketing"
A section like this should contain information related to "how" and in "what" capacity the fictional element(s) is portrayed on real life merchandise and/or marketing related to the game it appears in. Is a character, vehicle, or item's likeness used on posters, food packaging, and/or to make actions figures or figurines? Were they featured heavily in or a major component to a game's marketing campaign?

One solution to meeting notability of fictional elements is to merge separate articles into a single consolidated list or article. Both have their own pros and cons; lists require less real world content but are stricter on the use of images, articles require more real world content but have more leeway with image use. The plus to both is that available resources for citations are pooled together into one page, normally making it easier to establish notability.

In addition to containing real-world content, the articles and lists should be written in an objective, out-of-universe style. What that means is that an average reader should not feel like they are reading a story or a magazine article/review on the subject. Avoiding subjective and/or fictional writing styles is meant comply with Wikipedia's guidelines for encyclopedic articles.

Examples
Here are some examples of quality articles that feature sections of real world content.

Articles
Lists

Trivia[edit]

According to Wikipedia:Trivia sections, "Such sections should not be categorically removed: it may be possible to integrate some items into the article text. Some facts may belong in existing sections; others can be grouped into a new section of related material. Convert bullet points to prose or narrowly-focused lists (such as "Cameos" or "Continuity errors"), as seems most appropriate."

Because Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information, trivia sections are normally frowned upon. While they may contain some pertinent information, the manner in which they are often organized and displayed can lead to excessive detail and general clutter. Trivia sections should be evaluated for useful relevant content, have trivial content removed, and have the remaining content integrated into the an appropriate section within the article.

Participants[edit]

Anyone is allowed to assist and be a part of Clean up department, provided that the participant will work to improve articles within the Wikipedia policies and guidelines and the article advice of this wikiproject. Simply add your name below by signing your name with three tidles, ~~~.

Please list your user name below:

Current cleanup projects[edit]

Requests for cleanup[edit]

If you would like assistance in cleaning up an article and/or would like an outside opinion regarding clean up, please feel free to list it below. If you are interested in more extensive comments on an article, please use the peer review department instead. When adding a request here, please add the |cleanup=yes parameter to the {{WikiProject Games}} template. Also, please add the {{todo}} template to the article talk page, and fill it out with what you feel the cleanup should focus on.

YaHero[edit]

I recently declined a speedy deletion tag on this article, feeling that there was barely sufficient notability and citations to warrant retention; however, I believe it could use some cleanup and attention from someone interested in the topic of a Christian game and hope it will find a champion here. Accounting4Taste:talk 17:54, 11 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Chopsticks[edit]

Some cleanup for this game article may be helpful. One of its references (#6) provides instructions for the game, and says it is a solved game in which the second player can always force a win. But the article contradicts this. It might be that the article's main section is about a variation of Chopsticks? Another reference (#5) is a "WikiHow" article, which leads back to Wikipedia as its reference. The Talk page also has two "Huh?" comments.—LithiumFlash (talk) 15:08, 14 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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