User:Anomie/Sandbox

This page provides recommendations for naming and disambiguation of Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games articles.

General naming

Use the original official English title of the game. See below for guidance when the "original official English title" is ambiguous, and remember that we can always create redirects from any alternative names so long drawn-out fights often resemble arguments over the color of the bikeshed. Redirects should be created for the possible alternate names in all cases where it makes sense.

• Subtitles may be included, separated from the title by a colon when possible. Taglines should not be included.
• Avoid retroactive renaming, unless the original name is only used in situations like "Super Fighters, originally known as Super Foo Fighters". For example, the article is at Final Fantasy (video game) rather than Final Fantasy I.
• For sequels, follow the lead of the publisher in choosing Arabic numerals, Roman, or English number names. For example, the articles are at Final Fantasy III and Seiken Densetsu 3 rather than Final Fantasy 3 and Seiken Densetsu III.
• If the game has no official English title, consider whether the foreign-language name or an unofficial English translation is greatly more recognized.
  • When both names are commonly used, this issue often causes major disagreements between Japanophiles and those who want to use English. The issue is usually only resolved by one side or the other giving up, so there is no consensus on which to base a recommendation.
  • Don't be bold in renaming an article that has no official English title, as it will almost always be controversial. Start a discussion, post it at Wikipedia:Requested moves, and wait for consensus. Be wary of renaming such an article based on the official name of a remake, unless the existing article has been rewritten so the focus is on the remake rather than the original.
• If the game has multiple official English titles in different regions, the issue is often resolved by one side or the other giving up, so there is no consensus on which to base a recommendation. However, some cases are relatively clear-cut:
  • If the U.S., Canada, and Britain all use the same name, that name should almost certainly be used.
  • If the game is named differently in only one region and was changed in that one region for external regions, prefer the more widely used name. For example, Sega's 16-bit console is known as Mega Drive everywhere in the world except in the U.S. and was renamed in the U.S. only because the name "Mega Drive" was already trademarked there, so the article is there instead of at Sega Genesis.
  • Do not rely on a search engine test in an attempt to determine name popularity. A disproportionate number of sites (both news and fansites) are based in the U.S. and will therefore use the U.S. name.
  • Do not argue based on populations of various countries. It has never even reached a consensus over which countries should be counted or what proportion of the population of each country should be counted (not everyone plays games, and many countries have an unknown but significant proportion of English speakers), much less over whether it's a valid point or not.
  • Do not argue sales, either absolute or as a percentage of console sales. A commercial failure may still be very well known, and unless the difference at least one order of magnitude it wouldn't be a convincing indicator anyway. Sales per capita is even worse, as you combine the worst of both arguing sales and arguing population.
  • Do not rely on a difference in release dates of only a few months. Several years would be a good threshold.
    • Yes, any new game will probably get named with the title used in the region with the earliest release date (or the earliest announced "official" name) per Wikipedia:Manual of Style#National varieties of English; this suggestion is not an excuse to ignore that guideline.
  • NEVER be bold in renaming an article that has multiple official English titles in different regions from one official name to another, as it will always be controversial. Start a discussion, post it at Wikipedia:Requested moves, and wait for consensus.
    • If a move is done without consensus, the consensus for the subsequent discussion will probably be "move it back because there was no consensus for the original rename".
    • When creating redirects for the "other" names of game that has multiple official English titles in different regions, it would not be a bad idea to perform a second edit on the redirect page (take the opportunity to add {{R from alternative name}} to the redirect) to help stop newbies from innocently triggering a flamewar.

As a counterexample to the above, the article is at Final Fantasy VI even though it was titled "Final Fantasy III" in the original English release. In this case, the conflict with Final Fantasy III, the historical reasons for the original naming, and common usage in most discussions that recognize the existence of the NES Final Fantasy III trump the above recommendations that would otherwise lead to the opposite choice.

Disambiguation

Do not disambiguate unless there is a naming conflict, as recommended by Wikipedia:Disambiguation. If any one use is the primary topic for the name, that article should get the non-disambiguated version with a redirect from the disambiguated name. Remember to consider Wikipedia:Naming conventions (precision); for example, the Fire Emblem series games may be mostly disambiguated by including each game's subtitle in its article name.

In many cases, multiple possible disambiguations are given. The method of disambiguation used should be chosen in the same way the most common name for an article is determined.

The preferred disambiguation strings are:

Video games

Use "Title (video game)". If there are multiple video games with the same title, use "Title (COMPANY)", "Title (PLATFORM)", or "Title (YEAR video game)".

Video game remakes

In general, the original will get "Title" or "Title (video game)", and remakes will be named "Title (PLATFORM)". For example, Final Fantasy IV refers to the original and the remake is located at Final Fantasy IV (Nintendo DS).

Video game mods

Prefer "Title (video game)" or "Title (video game mod)". If there are mods of multiple games with the same title, use "Title (GAME mod)".

Video game series and franchises

If the article when complete enough to meet featured article criterion 1b would only discuss video games, use "Title (series)" (or "Title (video game series)" if that is ambiguous; an example could be Pokémon (video game series), as just "series" could also refer to the television series). If it would include notable other media, such as movies, books, television shows, non-video games, or toys, use "Title (franchise)" instead and provide a redirect from "Title (series)". Alternatively, "Title series" or "Title franchise" could be used if these names are common.

Consoles

Use "Title (video game console)".

Characters

Use "Title (GAME)", "Title (SERIES)", or "Title (character)". If the conflict is with the game/series or something from the game/series, "Title (character)", "Title (video game character)", or "Title (GAME/SERIES character)" should be preferred.

Fictional objects, places, and other subarticles

Use "Title (GAME)" or "Title (SERIES)". If the conflict is with the game/series or something from the game/series, "Title (object/place/etc)", "Title (video game object/place/etc)", or "Title (GAME/SERIES object/place/etc)" should be preferred.

A common situation is that either the series or a game in the series would be the primary topic for a name were it not for the other, for example Final Fantasy or Fire Emblem. In that case, prefer placing the series article at the non-disambiguated name and the game article at "Title (video game)". Note that this does not extend to a case where the series is not in contention for the primary topic, nor to the case when a non-VG article is in contention.

In a similar situation between the name of the game and the name of a character or object within the game, prefer placing the game at the non-disambiguated name and the character or object at "Title (character)" or "Title (object)".