Pikipedia:Policies

This page details the policy for the wiki in general, as decided by Pikipedia's community. Most points do not apply to user, forum and talk pages, which are considerably less strict. Ideally, we want all of these guidelines to be followed, but we give higher priority to the inclusion of information, with the attention to quality being secondary (but nevertheless important).

To suggest or discuss policies, use the proposals page.

This page details the general policy. The following policies also exist: Template:Policy

Content

Game modifications

No modifications, unless they help unearth hidden content.

Articles should not contain information about any Pikmin game running in a way other than intended. This includes the use of Action Replay and similar devices, as well as modifications to the game's internal files. This is because modifications are arbitrary: there is no clear line between those that make little difference and those that change the game entirely.

Information that can only be obtained through these means but holds true in normal gameplay, however, is welcome on articles. Whether it is important to document how exactly the information is known may vary from case to case.

Speculation

Do not speculate, but keep commonly accepted thoughts, and mark them as such.

Pikipedia covers objective information, not speculation or lies. Any speculative content that is written as truth shall be deleted or reworded. That said, it is possible to keep information that most fans believe to be true, as long as it's not written as truth. For instance, saying how X is a reference to Y and explaining the reasons behind it, or even stating that, given some well-explained circumstances and details, it is possible that X is the way it is because Y.

Videos

Only use videos when necessary.

Video embedding should be used sparingly, only in cases where understanding is more easily understood through watching a video than through images or text. This covers, for example, television adverts and glitches.

Trivia

Trivia is for loose, but still interesting facts.

Unlike Wikipedia, this wiki accepts the existence of "trivia" sections on articles, provided that, in general, the bullet points follow these characteristics:

• Noteworthy: Bland or common pieces of information aren't very interesting to have around, and likely fit in the article's body.
• Objective: Trivia should be factual. Any unconfirmed or speculative information should not be included in an article, much less in the trivia section.
• Short: In order to be considered a tidbit, it should be possible to explain it in one to three sentences. Anything that has a lot of detail is probably better off being elaborated in a section somewhere.
• Isolated: Trivia facts should be unattached to most other aspects of the subject. If a fact is related to an existing section of information in the article, it likely belongs there.

Sections should be named "Trivia", and should be placed according to the order for common sections. The tidbits within should be listed with bullet points, created by placing an asterisk (*) before each line.

The did you know section of the main page is not directly related to trivia sections, instead listing interesting facts that newcomers to the series might not know. Spoilers should not exist here, as a reader has the right to read on interesting tidbits without getting the experience from a game they haven't played spoiled.

Format

General

Articles should have the first occurrence of the subject's name in bold, some categories, a "See also" section, images, and game icons, with few exceptions.

Articles must have at least one category that is not added by a template. The bottom-most category in a tree is preferred; for instance, instead of Pikmin 2, 2-Player Battle is preferred.

Articles must have a "See also" section. In extreme cases where no relevant pages exist, link to the category the page is in.

In the opening paragraph, the name of the article's subject should be in bold.

Articles should ideally have at least one image and the {{game icons}} template at the top. Although discouraged, an article may go without images if its subject cannot easily be depicted. The game icons may be missing from a page if it does not directly relate to any Pikmin game (e.g. a Super Smash Bros. game article).

Language

Be formal, use US English, and avoid needlessly advanced words.

In all cases where spellings differ between variations of English, the USA spelling is preferred. This is the spelling used in the Pikmin games in all English-speaking regions (with the exception of treasures not in the USA version of Pikmin 2), as well as the spelling used by the majority of readers and editors. If you are unsure, a chart is provided below.

We prefer to keep our language formal, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everything has to be said using only advanced words. If you have the choice between using complex terms, and simple words, go for the latter, provided that the text is still formal. This way, readers that have a harder time with English can still understand the text, without compromising the formality of the encyclopedia. For instance, we prefer "The plant-life in this part is mostly consisted of bushes, which serve as walls." over "The flora in this segment is constituted in large part of common shrubbery, acting as delimiters."

Headings

Headings are meant to be simple, and not Title Cased.

In all headings (page titles and sections) only proper nouns should be capitalized, excepting brand names that start with a lowercase letter in normal usage. Note that the first letter in a heading will always be capitalized by MediaWiki. Italics may be used when they would be in body text, but headers should have no links, color or any other formatting. Links can often be replaced with {{main}} or a relevant link near the start of the section. Example: instead of "Pikmin-Exclusive Enemies", call it "Pikmin-exclusive enemies". If you want to add italics to a page's title, ask another user, or look at how other pages do it: Pikmin, Pikmin 2.

Italicizing

Italicize media names.

All titled media should be italicized in articles. At Pikipedia, this is mainly video games, including Pikmin, Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3, but also covers series, music, books and films, for example. Pikmin Adventure is also included, because for the sake of being a compendium of Pikmin information, Pikipedia treats Pikmin Adventure as a game (instead of an mini-game).

"Pikmin 1"

Italicize the first game's name, and only call it "Pikmin 1" when that's not possible.

Where ambiguous, the first Pikmin game, Pikmin, should be referred to as "Pikmin 1". In article text, game names are italicized, so this is not a problem, but in page titles, for example, it could easily refer to the species or series, without the "1".

Capitalization

Some subjects in the Pikmin series have ambiguous official capitalization, commonly because subjects whose names aren't in title case are forced to be as such because of the way they're presented (Piklopedia file, lock-on screen, etc.). This, combined with different games being inconsistent about the capitalization of some names has lead to the following community-created policy:

Proper nouns

Title case. Proper nouns are to always be written in title case. It should be clear what things are given proper names, like areas, caves, characters, and important objects (ship parts, treasures, fruits).

Species

Title case. This applies to Pikmin type names, enemy species names and plant names (e.g. "Yellow Pikmin", "Beady Long Legs", "Pellet Posy"). These names are of the most glaring examples of inconsistency in the series. Although in the real world, species names are commonly written in lowercase, fans of the series are accustomed to seeing them written in title case; specially considering it's common in video games for enemy type names to be in title case.

Families

Lowercase. The names of families should be written in lowercase, as is the case in the real world. This capitalization is normally seen in the games as well.

Objects

Lowercase. For objects that are common throughout a game and do not have a major impact on gameplay, their names should be in lowercase. This mirrors the way it is in the real world – humans don't capitalize the word "egg" or gate" for no reason. This includes, but is not limited to: hazards, obstacles, sprays, nectar eggs, nectar, rubble, bomb rocks, pellets, and geysers.

Simple words

Lowercase. For words that do not deserve or need any specific capitalization, they should be written in lowercase like any normal text. This means that words like leader (and captain), day, area, cave, sublevel, etc. should not be needlessly written in title case.

Special cases

• The words "Onion" and "Pikmin", whether it's referring to a game or the Pikmin family, must always be written in title case.
• The President's "name" should be written as "the President", for consistency's sake.

For the purpose of clarity, "title case" refers to names in which the first letter of each "non-minor" word is capitalized (e.g. "This Text is Written in Title Case Style"), and "lowercase" means that the words all start with a lowercase letter. Naturally, the names of subjects at the start of sentences, headers, etc. always start with an uppercase letter, with very few exceptions. Although the rules above exist for cases where the games cannot clearly label whether something should be written in title case or not, the community may create exception cases. These exceptions and their reasoning can normally be found in the subject's talk page.

Frames and galleries

Example of a picture with a frame and caption.

Always add a caption to images, and finish it with a period. Organize galleries so that the most in-game-related content comes first.

All images with frames (see example on the right) and images on galleries should have a caption on it. If the image ties in with the content shown in the previous image, add a caption anyway, even if it's just "Follow-up to the previous image." Captions should be treated like an article's body, with links and italicizations, ending in periods, etc.

When creating a gallery for an article, organize the images so that the most in-game related content is placed first. For example, suppose you have a strategy guide picture, a texture ripped from the game, a concept art picture, a gameplay screenshot and a photo of a relevant real-world item.

• Have the screenshot first, as that's related directly to the game.
• Then the texture, as it comes from the game, but is not presented directly in the gameplay in that format.
• Then the strategy guide or concept art image, as they're not in the game, but are still related directly to it.
• Finally, the photo of the real-life item which, by itself, is not related to the game.

Perspective

Use "the player" instead of "you", except in walkthroughs. Refer to the player's gender as "they".

In articles, avoid using the second person ('you', 'your'); either talk about the player, or where directly applicable, a leader. When referring to the player, use the term "they" when you need a personal pronoun. For instance, the following sentence: "You can finish it quickly this way, if you don't lose your health." could be changed to the likes of "The player can finish it quickly this way, if their leaders don't lose their health."

Exceptions to the "you" rule are in walkthrough sections in articles, which normally refer to the player as "you", and in guides, which are written whichever way the author chooses.

For perspective regarding the canon, see Pikipedia:Canon policy.

Region

US version first, then Europe, then Japan. Don't use the words "NTSC" or "PAL".

When the information on a subject changes according to the game's region, the US version's info should come first on the page, then the European version, and finally the Japanese version.

When naming a region, avoid using the term "NTSC" or "PAL", as explained here. Instead, use "US", "Europe(an)" or "Japan(ese)".

Prerelease

Use "prototype", "prerelease", or "early", instead of "alpha" and "beta".

When referring to a prototypical version of a game, avoid using the terms "alpha" and "beta". It's easy to call anything that's "not final" as being "beta", but this term is wrong. The reason being because "alpha" and "beta" can mean different points in development for different developers. Unless the developers specifically brand a point in time or version as being "alpha", "beta", or "release candidate", do not use those terms, as we do not know the real version term. Instead, use "prototype", "prerelease", or "early". For instance, "3 Pikmin could carry a 1 pellet in a beta version" should be replaced with "3 Pikmin could carry a 1 pellet in an early version".

Order for common sections

Some sections are common to many pages; where present, these should be ordered as follows:

• Glitches
• In other games
• Technical information
• Naming (+Names in other languages)
• Gallery
• Trivia
• Names in other languages (if the Naming section is missing)
• See also
• External links
• References
• Navigation templates (this section has no heading)

Naming section

Most articles should have a section where they explain behind the subject's names. If applicable, the article should mention the origins, explanations or inspirations of the subject's names, as well as their meanings and translations. If there is not much to say, then simply adding the information to a bullet point on the trivia will be enough. But if the explanations span more than two lines, it's better to have a "Naming" section, and explain everything there. If such a section is created, the "Names in other languages" section should be a subsection of this one. This applies to:

• The subject's normal English name.
• Its Japanese name.
• Its scientific name.
• Its internal name.
• Its prerelease name(s).
• Differences of the names between regions.

Miscellaneous

• When an element changes notably between games, carefully weigh whether it's worth having a section for each game or not. For instance, if there's an enemy that changes slightly in Pikmin 3, compared to Pikmin 2, it might not make sense to have a section for each game, where most of the information is the same, or where one section just states the lack of changes.
• When an element has multiple names (depending on the game and region), the name of the most recent canon game's US version is used. Articles or sections with info exclusive to an older game may use an old name.
• Dates should be written with the {{date}} template.
• Instead of the <references /> tag, use the {{refs}} template.
• Reference tags (<ref>) shouldn't have spaces before them. For transcripts, use {{transcript}}, and make the second parameter follow a format similar to the following: "Olimar's notes on the Red Bulborb"; note the links and lack of period.
• To add equations, use {{equation}} and whatever recommended instructions it contains.

Social content

Social content doesn't go on the main pages. Prefer using social networks to chit-chat.

Any communication about anything other than the running of the wiki and its content should be restricted to user and user talk pages. For excessive amounts of such chat, use the NIWA forums or the chatroom to avoid filling up the recent changes.