How To Wiki Guide

Format and Presentation

IGN has an internal style guide for its editorial division; however, to train all wiki contributors would be impractical, so we've opted to focus on just the most important things for the wikis.

1. SINGULAR VS PLURAL[edit]

When naming a page, the singular instance of something generally takes precedence over the plural for IGN's Style. For example, Treasure (for fantasy games) or League (sports games) would often have precedence over Treasures or Leagues.

Unless the topic of the page occurs in plural (e.g., Heart Pieces for Legend of Zelda, or Skulls for Halo), use the singular noun for the wiki page. The plural page may then be redirected to the page using the page with the singular form.

2. LINKING AND TOPICAL SENTENCES[edit]

The title of the page should be mentioned and double-bracketed (see above); this does two things: this gives a brief introduction of what the page is about, and, if a page is renamed accidentally, you have an inkling of the original title of the page.

Example[edit]

These are the Format and Presentation page for wikis on IGN. They are designed to give you an introduction on how the staff views and manages knowledge on IGN's network ...

3. HEADERS BEFORE SUB-HEADERS[edit]

Headers are always the first choice for a topical divider on a page, follow by a sub-header.

3A. Common Header and Bolding Errors[edit]

People commonly create sub-headings by simply bolding a line. The proper way to make sub-headings is to use (1) the sub-heading pull-down in the rich text editor or (2) wrapping sub-heading text with sub-heading tag in the wiki-code editor, like so.

=== Sub-header ===

You can tell an incorrect sub-heading from a proper one because the incorrect sub-heading will not display the "edit" button when hovering over the sub-heading.

4. COLOR BOX AND HIGHLIGHT USAGE[edit]

Color boxes and highlights are reserved for certain cases --- for example, to draw one's attention to a critical piece of information. Over-usage invites editorial scrutiny, as does under-usage or abuse.

Blue box
Red Box

Highlighted text in red, yellow, blue or green. Additionally, there is a...

... tag used for plot spoilers. This is generally reserved for exceptions, rather than a rule.

Red boxes are preferred to Blue boxes (which behaves more as a whisper, or for non-critical, but important text). Similarly, red highlights are preferred over all other colors (yellow tends to behave as a secondary highlight).

4A. Headers within Colored Boxes[edit]

Headers in Boxes[edit]

Headers in boxes are used for the highest visibility, and created in the wiki-code editor only.

5. USING FIRST-PERSON[edit]

IGN's wikis are a creation of the community and uses of first-person voice is forbidden. That said, the usage of "I" is disallowed on the wikis. Additionally, the usage of "you" and "we" should be reduced, if not eliminated. Neutral third-person substitutes (e.g., oneself, one's, character, the player, etc.) should be used when and where grammatically correct. The following example is taken from the Dark Souls wiki.

5A. Incorrect voice[edit]

My method was simply using bonfire to replenish my magic. I would run out of the hall, parry the zombie, dash down the hall, kill the second zombie, turn around, and use fireball on the 6 slimes. My humanity is level 16 and it seems just about every run I get 1 green shard and 1 large titanite shard.

5B. Correct voice[edit]

One method to farm Titanite Shards uses the bonfire to replenish magic. From there, venture out into the hall, parry the first zombie, defeat the second zombie, then turn and use the Fireball spell on the six slimes. With a Humanity rating of 16, each foray will yield an estimated total of 1 green shard and 1 Titanite shard.

Providing quality content on IGN is our main goal; if you feel you are overwhelmed by this amount of work, you are always welcome to drop a hint or give a summary of your tip to the staff or write on our wall.

5C. Second Person[edit]

The use of "you" is allowed, in certain cases, to represent the player in a situation. Excessive usage of "you" is frowned upon, and all efforts should be made to infer the subject is "you" with well written sentences.

6. USE PRESENT TENSE[edit]

Use present tense (e.g., is, go to, save your game, load a game, shoot the boss, run to the next room, etc.). Past tense is more for decisions or events made before a particular point in a game (e.g., if you married Morrigan, when John Marston shot the bandit king, etc.). Future tense is often used for planning or preparing for an upcoming event or decision, although generally speaking, present tense may be used most of the time.

7. CITING SOURCES[edit]

IGN's wikis uses Chicago Style for citations. Source articles, charts, tables, videos, etc. should be hyperlinked next to the content that references them. The code should look like:

[https://www.ign.com]

Which will create a footnote link that looks like this: [1]

Editorial Note[edit]

You should try avoiding sourcing a wiki page, as anyone can change it. For game strategies, it is far better to embed a video readily demonstrating tactics or strategies as opposed to simply putting in an unreliable source. This is where a static FAQ may be handy.

8. CONTROLLER NOTATIONS[edit]

Most wikis cover multi-platform games. Referencing specific controller buttons (such as CIRCLE, A, and X) may lead to confusion if the reader isn't playing that particular version of the game. Hence, reference controller buttons by actions (or game functions), not their labels, with the exception of Quick Time Events (QTEs). For QTEs, it is possible to extrapolate some button inputs; if this is impossible, the system or game version needs to precede the QTE button display.

Button Description Example[edit]

Instead of instructing a player to hit the SQUARE button, instruct the player to hit the Attack button. It is acceptable to use button labels for single-platform games that have no chance of being ported to other platforms (e.g., Mario Galaxy).

9. MISCELLANEOUS[edit]

Other errata that may not concern all wiki contributors, only staff and wiki-moderators.

9A. Hub Page Icons[edit]

Section Iconography no longer applies to the general public, as it is maintained by IGN staff.

9B. Erroneous Coding[edit]

Most users don't edit in the wiki markup version of the editor, and this frequently results in messy wiki markup code. Empty spaces create the Code Box if left at the start of any string of text. Spaces and underscores are treated interchangeably by wiki -- careful use of spaces on wiki is mandatory.
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