Writing Better Articles

Basic guide to writing better articles on gameplay and player character topics (AKA game guides).

Note: This page does not apply to informal Player Guides and articles that use Page Templates (some information here such as text colors is relevant to quest guides, however).

This page contains text taken from Wikipedia's guide to Writing better articles

Tone

Articles should be written in a tone that is as formal as possible for a game guide. Formal tone means that the article should not be written using slang, colloquialisms or jargon; it means that the language should be as straight forward and clear as possible.

Articles should not be written from a first person perspective. The first person ("I" and "we") is acceptable in works of fiction, but is not suitable for the wiki as information in an article should not be your option but the opinion of many or factual.

Punctuation marks that appear in the article should be used only per generally accepted practice. Exclamation marks (!) should be used only if they occur in direct quotations.

Layout and Structure

Layout matters. Good articles start with introductions, continue with a clear structure, and end with standard appendices such as references and related articles.

Intro

Good articles start with a brief lead section introducing the topic. We discuss lead sections in greater detail below. The lead section should come above the first header; it is almost never useful to add something like ==Introduction==. Sometimes, the first section after the lead is a broad summary of the topic, and is called "Overview", although more specific section titles and structures are generally preferred.

Paragraphs

Paragraphs should be short enough to be readable, but long enough to develop an idea. Overly long paragraphs should be split up, as long as the cousin paragraphs keep the idea in focus.

One-sentence paragraphs are unusually emphatic, and should be used sparingly. Articles should rarely, if ever, consist solely of such paragraphs.

Headings and sections

Sections and subsections are introduced by headings. These headings clarify articles by breaking up text, organizing content, and populating the table of contents.

Headings

Headings help clarify articles and create a structure shown in the table of contents.

Headings are hierarchical. The article's title uses a level 1 heading, so you should start with level 2 heading (==Heading==) and follow it with lower levels: ===Subheading===, ====Subsubheading====, and so forth. Whether extensive subtopics should be kept on one page or moved to individual pages is a matter of personal judgment.

Headings should not be wikilinked. This is because headings in themselves introduce information and let the reader know what subtopics will be presented; Wikilinks should be incorporated in the text of the section.

Do not use too many pseudo-headings using bold or semicolon markup. Use the correct hierarchical heading for the level so it appears in the Table of Contents (ToC) at the top of the page.

Finally, do not use redundant subheadings in an article. For example, in a page named "combat", you would not need to use the heading "combat maneuvers" for the "maneuvers" subtopic.

Lead section

The article's title should be displayed in bold as early as possible in the first sentence. For example:

A Player Killer (PK) is a player that has converted to one of Bael'Zharon's Chosen by using an Altar of Bael'Zharon or Eye of Darkness.(Player Killer)

Images

If the article can be illustrated with pictures, find an appropriate place to position these images, where they relate closely to text they illustrate. If there might be doubt, draw attention to the image in the text (illustration right). For more information on using pictures, see How To Use Images.

Hatnotes

Hatnotes are short notes placed at the top of an article (hence the name "hat"). Hatnotes help readers locate a different article they might be seeking. Readers may have arrived at the article containing the hatnote because they were redirected, because the sought article uses a more specific, disambiguated title, or because the sought article and the article with the hatnote have similar names. Hatnotes provide links to the possibly sought article or to a disambiguation page.

The common hatnote is the created using {{Related}} template. for example, typing:

{{Related|Housing}} displays:

Related topics: Housing

Summary Sections

In articles that use summary style or have subsections covering a topic for which there is also a separate article, the following most appropriate hatnote can be used after the subheading:

• Main article: [[Page Name]]
• For further information, see: [[Page Name]]
• See also: [[Page Name]] (not to be confused with the See also section described below)

See also section

A bulleted list, preferably alphabetized, of internal links to articles related to the main topic or page title.

External links section

Similiar to the see also section but contains articles not found on the wiki.

Text Colors

See also: Color Chart

Generally, text should be default black. When writing quest guides, you can use the color red for important: notes and warnings: and green for steps that are [optional].

For in-game text colors please use the following (exact colors aren't used because AC text is on a dark background while most wiki text is on a white background):

For tells: Asheron Tells you, "Greetings."

For broadcasts, interactions, & "green text": Magical energy fills the air as Asheron casts his spell. His spell fizzles.

For spell related text: Asheron tried and failed to cast a spell on you!

For emotes: Asheron looks around.

For NPC open chat: Asheron says, "I'm too old for this."

<font color=darkgoldenrod>Asheron Tells you, "Greetings."</font>

<font color=green>Magical energy fills the air as Asheron casts his spell. His spell fizzles.</font>

<font color=cornflowerblue>Asheron tried and failed to cast a spell on you!</font>

<font color=grey>Asheron looks around.</font>

<font color=grey>Asheron says, "I'm too old for this."</font>

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