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Revision as of 15:22, 1 July 2009 editXenobot (talk | contribs)197,501 edits Bot) Delivering WikiProject Video games newsletter (Q2 2009) (report errors?← Previous edit Revision as of 02:19, 16 September 2009 edit undoFusionmix (talk | contribs)Rollbackers5,489 editsm Reverted to revision 262623057 by Xenobot; A vandal exploded my pitiful formatting. .Next edit →
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This is the place for complaints, advice, chatter, or whatever else. If somebody makes a rant/vandalism comment here, leave it be unless it removes content.
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== Headline text ==
'''<nowiki>]g'''ggg'''the place for complaints, advice, chatter, or whatever else. If somebody makes a''' gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggrant/vandalism comment here, leave it be unless it removes content.


I normally archive this page after around 35 to 40 messages (or if it gets to be over 30 kb), but if comments are made in continuation of a discussion I have archived, I will add them to the archive. I normally archive this page after around 35 to 40 messages (or if it gets to be over 30 kb), but if comments are made in continuation of a discussion I have archived, I will add them to the archive.
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{{Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter/20090107}} {{Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter/20090107}}
::*<small>Newsletter delivery by <font face="Verdana">]</font> 22:11, 7 January 2009 (UTC)</small> ::*<small>Newsletter delivery by <font face="Verdana">]</font> 22:11, 7 January 2009 (UTC)</small>

==The ] Newsletter (January 2009)==
{{Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Video_games/Newsletter/20090204}}
::*<small>Newsletter delivery by <font face="Verdana">]</font> 00:10, 4 February 2009 (UTC)</small>

== Progress report: Country outlines ==

Development has been slow but continuous:

] has done a fantastic job on the images for the awards we'll be using for our project's collaborations and contests. We now have 3 awards: a medal, a trophy, and a race ribbon. They all look ''tight''. The trophy needs a small adjustment, but other than that, all 3 award images are complete and ready to use to create awards with.

Spartaz has warned us of (threatened to take) G4 (speedy delete) action if we run a competition that resembles the previously deleted Awards Center page. So whatever we do, any contests we run must differ substantially from the methods used there.

One type of competition I've been exploring is edit racing. I'm in the process of working the bugs out of this concept - the first race didn't work as expected - you see, because we only had an award for first place, the opponent didn't think it worthwhile to continue once it was clear who the winner would be. And since editors are in different time zones and usually need to start the race at different times, we need to base winning on personal start times - he who completes his assigned edits in the least time (rather than first), wins. And last but not least is quality control. What good is winning if your edits are ripe with errors? So I'll be exploring possibilities such as using a referee (whoever is overseeing a particular race), having participants watching each other for errors to knock them back, etc. I'm not sure yet.

] has been applying his bot expertise to filling in blanks in the country outlines (the population and area entries). I'm amazed at the number of edits he pumps out each day on a myriad of projects - ours makes up but a small time slice of his activity, and yet he has saved us many hours of manual work. Perhaps we should look into how he gets so much done. :)

] has chosen to work on one outline at a time, and is taking on ], ], ], and ]. He also has been keen on noticing and reporting design issues pertaining to the whole set of country outlines. Keep up the good work!

] has been filling in the names of capitals, and is our first race winner. Check out the award on his user pages.

As you probably know, this project has expanded to include working on any and all sets of pages that are linked to from the country outlines. Once the set of country outlines go live (in article space), traffic will likely increase for all the links included on them. The quality and usefulness of those pages will reflect heavily on the country outlines (the outlines, which are essentially lists of links, are only as good as the links they present), and therefore we've branched out to solve the biggest problems with those as well. So far, we've taken on:
* The creation of disambiguation pages for country adjectivals ("]", "]", "]", etc. About half done.)
* The clean-up of the ] statistics on the "demographics of" country pages. We've been renaming those sections to provide a key string that AWB can use for targetting (for skipping and filtering). Once that's done, we'll be able to break the clean-up down into simple AWB search/replace tasks, because we'll be able to target just those pages that include the CIA stuff.
* Renaming the "Cuisine of" articles to their adjectival forms ("Chinese cuisine", "Italian cuisine", etc.)

] and ] have been helping out with the "demographics of" pages mentioned above.

And we have a couple speed addicts (addicted to wiki-velocity, not drugs)...

Both ] and ] prefer (and excel at) simple AWB search/replaces. Robert hasn't actually joined our team yet, but he has been helping out quite a bit from the sidelines (via the ] page. Unfortunately, there has recently been a non-AWB chore that has been holding things up on the AWB front - an edit to all the the headings which had to be reverted before too many new edits were made, because any new edits would make the reversion more difficult. The headings have been restored, so now the way is clear for AWB operations, and there are many search/replace tasks in the queue. AWB assignments have started again!

There's a similar bottleneck on the "Demographics of" pages (the "keying" mentioned above), but that's almost cleared too. :)

With my internet access somewhat crippled, I've been finding it difficult to keep up with you guys. However, I expect to be accessing a Linky-capable workstation on a faster server (I'm on it right now, as you can probably tell from my contributions list for today), and so I should really pick up speed. Feels goooooood. :)

Recruiting has been a bit slow (but steady), due in part to my crippled access, and because we've been waiting for the images for the awards to be completed. I expect the team to grow more rapidly as the bottlenecks are removed.

Well that's what's been happenin', and here's what's in the pipeline...

I'm about to begin work on a set of lists that corresponds to all the standard links on the country outlines, and these will be presented on the ] which will be organized exactly like the country outlines. Aside from being an extremely useful navigation aid, it will allow editors to easily see the state of country coverage on Misplaced Pages. I'll provide you with a link once I get up to speed on this.

In the meantime, keep up the good work!

Cheers,

''''']''''' 05:51, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

==Orphaned non-free media (File:Forest troll fight.png)==
] Thanks for uploading ''']'''. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Misplaced Pages under a ]. However, it is currently ], meaning that it is not used in any articles on Misplaced Pages. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. ] if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Misplaced Pages (see ]).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "]" link (it is located at the very top of any Misplaced Pages page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any '''articles''' will be deleted after seven days, as described on ]. Thank you.<!-- Template:Orphaned --> ] (]) 05:09, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

==The ] Newsletter (February 2009)==
{{Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Video_games/Newsletter/20090304}}
::*<small>Newsletter delivery by <font face="Verdana">]</font> 00:14, 4 March 2009 (UTC)</small>

==Orphaned non-free media (File:Labrynth Balrog fight.jpg)==
] Thanks for uploading ''']'''. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Misplaced Pages under a ]. However, it is currently ], meaning that it is not used in any articles on Misplaced Pages. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. ] if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Misplaced Pages (see ]).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "]" link (it is located at the very top of any Misplaced Pages page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any '''articles''' will be deleted after seven days, as described on ]. Thank you.<!-- Template:Orphaned --> ] (]) 05:06, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== Country outlines project update - 2009/03/08 ==

Remember "Around the World"?

Well, we've been around the World, and around again (virtually speaking, on Misplaced Pages), on this project.

Things have been slowing down again, so it's time for a big push...

=== We've gone live ===

This project needed a shot in the arm. Also, its draft pages have been littering Misplaced Pages's categories for months. The time seemed right to move all the country outline drafts to article space.

WHAT???

Well, the drafts had been sitting in Misplaced Pages space for a year.

WHAT???

Development has been moving at a snail's pace and we could use the help of the Misplaced Pages community at large (who are more likely to find these if they are in article space).

WHAT???

Yes, we've gone live. :)

This puts pressure on us to get the blatantly incomplete elements of these outlines done. The only glaring problem is the government branches sections. These need to be corrected ASAP.

I've mentioned THE GOVERNMENT BRANCHES SECTIONS many times to many people over the past year, but the problem just doesn't seem to have been taken seriously. So let me put it another way:

HELP!!! ''I need your help on this now.'' Almost all the countries have a government with an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. The links for these branches need to be completed for each country outline:

:''''']''''' you can use ] on to access and edit these quickly. Please copy the list's link to the top of your talk page so that you can access it easily.

If you spot any standardization in links, and ways we can automate parts of this process, or for groups of countries that have links in common, please let me know!

=== Administrative support for outlines ===

There has been growing pressure on me to write up the administrative pages for outlines - their instructions, guidelines, etc. Therefore, I'm now in the process of composing these. Fortunately, it is mostly a matter of gathering material from messages I've written to you guys over the past year. Still, this is taking up most of my time, and I will be buried in these for the foreseeable future.

=== Traffic control ===

The next big task after the government branches sections are cleaned up is link support for the outlines.

There's quite a list of links and notices that need to be put in place around Misplaced Pages, providing access to them to readers, and alerting editors to the need to develop and maintain these pages. This will keep our bot people very busy (and happy).

But the most important thing right now is to get the government branches sections completed. So please, put your bots aside, roll up your shirt sleeves, and start typing.

Thank you.

''''']''''' 03:15, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

==The ] Newsletter (March 2009)==
{{Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter/20090401}}
::*<small>Newsletter delivery by <font face="Verdana">]</font> 16:45, 1 April 2009 (UTC)</small>

==A note regarding the ] Newsletter==
Due to an apparent lack of interest, the ] will be switching from a monthly publication schedule to a quarterly one. The next issue be delivered on July 1, 2009, and will pertain to the second quarter of the calendar year. If you have any comments regarding this, or suggestions to improve the newsletter, please post at ].
:—VG Newsletter Contributors
::*<small>Notice delivery by –<font face="verdana" color="black">]</font> ] 14:56, 7 May 2009 (UTC)</small>

== Contest proposal ==

]. We need to know how this contest should be run, and what problems to look out for. And we're looking for judges, coordinators, ideas, and feedback.

(And we have some really cool awards for the contest).

''''']''''' 17:56, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

==The ] Newsletter (Q2 2009)==
{{Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter/20090701}}
::*<small>Newsletter delivery by <font face="Verdana">]</font> 15:22, 1 July 2009 (UTC)</small>

Revision as of 02:19, 16 September 2009

This is the place for complaints, advice, chatter, or whatever else. If somebody makes a rant/vandalism comment here, leave it be unless it removes content.

I normally archive this page after around 35 to 40 messages (or if it gets to be over 30 kb), but if comments are made in continuation of a discussion I have archived, I will add them to the archive.

Oh, and remember to leave new messages below previous ones. Thanks.

Archiving icon
Archives
December 2, 2007 - March 7, 2008
March 8, 2008 - April 8, 2008
April 9, 2008 - June 9, 2008

Irfanview

Hey

thank you really much it works really well! Mallerd (talk) 20:43, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Award Center Newsletter

Misplaced Pages:AWC/newsletter/archive/4 - Newsletter Bot Talk 02:08, 21 June 2008 (UTC) If you would not like to receive this newsletter, please add your name here.

WikiProject Homeschooling newsletter for June 2008

The Homeschooling WikiProject
News
Issue Five • June 2008 • About the Newsletter

News

Recent Project News
Archives • Newsroom
Newsletter written by User:RC-0722.
Newsletter delivered by User:RC-0722

Just a heads up

I thought you might like to know that the Awards Center page has been deleted, along with its newsletter.  :(

So, where do we go from here?

To new and even more interesting projects, of course!

As announced in the newsletter, I've been preparing to co-coordinate a large collaboration/competition called Around the World. It was going to be run at the Awards Center, but since that no longer exists, the collaboration will be hosted somewhere else.

Around the World will begin July 15th as planned - it's location will be announced soon.

It'll be a blast. In the competition, participants will be helping to develop over 200 pages (drafts, which will be moved to article space once they are ready), using advanced tools to edit every single one of them!

This is going to be interesting.

And the event shall have awards which are being created specifically for it as we speak!

If you would like me to keep you informed of this and other interesting collaborations I'll be working on and/or organizing in the future, please drop me a note on my talk page, and I'll be happy to keep you in the know.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

The Transhumanist    21:44, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I need your feedback...

Which of the following medals looks better. This one:

Or this one:

Which one do you like better?

Please let me know on my talk page.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist    21:16, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

What is Around the World?

It's a collaboration!

A collaboration using advanced wiki-tools!

The event is being co-sponsored by Wikiproject Lists of basic topics and WikiProject Geography, and participants will be "traveling" all around "the World" visiting each country online (here on Misplaced Pages and perhaps beyond) as they apply advanced wiki-tools to improve pieces of the profiles of each and every country on Earth!. Each pass through these pages is a "trip around the World..."

The set of pages we are working on is currently located at Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Lists of basic topics.

Each page presents essential information on each country in a topic outline format, for ease of overviewing and navigating. Most of the topics presented are linkified, which turns these pages into a hypertextual map to material about each country on Misplaced Pages. When completed, they shall all become part of Misplaced Pages's contents system.

The pages share a standard format, with the information on each country presented in the same general order. So rather than getting stuck on a single country trying to complete it, each participant works on all 200+ political entities, completing a single data item or detail across all of the pages!

For this they use advanced tools like WP:AWB, Linky, etc. It goes fast, and since others are doing this at the same time, it makes "the World" feel like a beehive, and the participants are its bees.  :) The energy is contagious.

And since you are moving from country to country, the tasks make it feel like you are traveling around the world, and you get to learn a little about every country as you do so. This approach also allows for greater efficiency, because by the time you've done 30 or so of a particular item, you've figured out how to finish it faster and more effectively (such as where to find the data or how to make adjustments), and this specialization speeds up development - but more importantly it reduces errors.

The tasks are varied, which adds even more variety to the project. Some tasks are look-ups-and-fill-ins, some are copy and paste, some are image hunts, some are maintenance adjustments, some are link fixing, some are blue-linking (creating an underlying redirect so a link turns blue), some are fact checking, etc.

For an example of what a nearly complete page looks like, see these:

List of basic Albania topics • List of basic Argentina topics • List of basic Australia topics • List of basic Canada topics • List of basic Ecuador topics • List of basic Egypt topics • List of basic France topics • List of basic Germany topics • List of basic Iceland topics • List of basic India topics • List of basic Indonesia topics • List of basic Iraq topics • List of basic Republic of Ireland topics • List of basic Italy topics • List of basic Isle of Man topics • List of basic Israel topics • List of basic Japan topics • List of basic Macau topics • List of basic Mexico topics • List of basic Russia topics • List of basic Taiwan topics • List of basic United Kingdom topics • List of basic United States topics

There are only about 200 more pages to go!

Standing by to help are co-coordinators, who can lend a helping hand to participants, provide instruction and tips on how to use the tools, and help them find what they are looking for. Co-coordinators also use advanced tools to inspect the work of participants, and touch it up as needed, or if a task was done wrong throughout, point this out to the participant so he or she can make the necessary corrections.

Co-coordinators are working on the set of pages right now, to familiarize themselves with "the World" so they can help more effectively by the time the main event starts. But there's still lots of preparation left to be done, and we are looking for editors experienced in advanced wikitools who would like to become co-coordinators.

The Transhumanist    03:38, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

The WPVG Newsletter (July 2008)

The Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video games Newsletter

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter
Volume I, No. 4 - July 9, 2008

Archive before | Archive after

To receive future editions of this newsletter, click here to sign up on the distribution list.
Project At a Glance

As of 2008-07-08, the project has:

Changes to Featured and Good articles, lists, and topics

Promoted FA/FL:

Crackdown, Myst III: Exile, List of Sega 32X games, List on songs in Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s, List of WWE SmackDown video game titles

Topic:

Video game consoles (seventh generation)

Demoted FA/FL:

3D Monster Maze

Demoted FT:

Final Fantasy titles

Promoted GA:

Alleyway, Chrono Resurrection, Club Penguin, Conan (2007 video game), Day of Defeat: Source, Final Fantasy VII (Famicom), King Arthur & the Knights of Justice (video game), Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Mario Power Tennis, Midtown Madness, Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume, Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Red and Blue, Super Smash Bros., The World Ends with You, Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory, WWE SmackDown (video game series), Ayu Tsukimiya, Music of the Final Fantasy Tactics series, Nobuo Uematsu, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo Original Soundtrack, Jack Thompson (attorney), Key (company), The Myst Reader

Demoted GA:

World of Warcraft

News

There were 236 new articles in June 2008

Current proposals and discussions

  • Well, gee, thanks 1up!
    1UP.com has recently changed their rating scale. A list of affected articles can be found here. See discussion for details.
    • About 32% of the articles on the list have been checked and updated.
  • Inactive project cleanup
    Proposal to consolidate inactive projects and taskforces. Project page can be found here.
    • Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Massively multiplayer online games redirected to WP:VG. See MfD.
      • MU* taskforce moved to page under WP:VG. See new MU* task force page.
      • Neopets and RuneScape taskforces deleted. See MfD.
      • All talk pages moved to archives under WT:VG
    • Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Dynasty Warriors deleted.
Feature: Writing the Reception

In many video game articles, the Reception section is the last main section of prose. As its name suggests, within the section you should summarize the critical reaction to the game. The section should provide a high-level overview of what the critics liked and didn’t like about the game; it is a summary, not a repetition of what publications thought. Therefore, don’t put in excessive, long winded quotes or have a paragraph detailing IGN’s thoughts on the game. To prevent cluttering of the prose with scores, reviews table such as {{VG Reviews}} can be used to organize this kind of information.

A good way to lead off the section is a by-the-numbers or at a glance snapshot of the game’s reception; you can use aggregate scores to suggest an overall critical response to the game, and can provide sales figures (if you have them) for the game’s release. Commonly, the rest of the reception is broken into positive and negative paragraphs. Entirely separate ‘Praise’ and ‘Controversy’ or ‘Negative comments’ or the like are strongly discouraged as troll magnets. If the game has won any awards, then listing them at the bottom of the reception section is an option.

Other things to remember:

  • Don’t list every single review in the reviews table; likewise, don’t mention every award the game has ever gotten.
  • Generally, talk about what the reviewers say rather than speaking for them; for example, “Reviewer X of Publication Y took issue with elements of the game such as X, Y, and Z” instead of “Review X said that “I took issue with elements of the game such as X, Y, and Z.” If a reviewer has a good comment which sums up the positive/negative/overall reaction, or a particular sentiment common in many reviews, it might be more appropriate to use.
  • If adding sales data, make sure to provide context; did it sell those 4.2 million units within three months of release or three years? If possible, break down the sales by region; did the Japanese like the game, but Americans not buy it?
  • Use reviews whose scores are outliers from the average ratings to find key points that were liked or disliked about a game. If all reviews except for one average around a 9 out of 10, and the one is a 7 out of 10, there is probably some clear negative points to be found in it; the same works with very positive reviews.
  • Perhaps most importantly, give proper weight and keep a neutral point of view. If the game received mostly negative scores, having three paragraphs on positive aspects and glossing over the bad parts in a sentence or two conveys the wrong impression to readers.
Things you can help with:
Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks
AfDs Merge discussions Other discussions No major discussions Featured content candidates Good article nominations DYK nominations Reviews and reassessments
Articles that need...
Project Navigation
VG Project Main pages
VG Project Departments
 

Thank you


Thank you very much indeed for your help with and commitment to Tag & Assess 2008. May I please trouble you to comment at the post-drive workshop? Your feedback will help us to improve the next drive. Thanks in advance, --ROGER DAVIES  10:08, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

The WPVG Newsletter (August 2008)

The Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video Games Newsletter

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter
Volume I, No. 5 - July 2008

Archive before | Archive After

To receive future editions of this newsletter, click here to sign up on the distribution list.
Project At a Glance

As of July 2008, the project has:

Changes to Featured and Good articles, lists, and topics

Promoted FA/FL:

Flood (Halo), List of songs in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, List of voice actors in the Grand Theft Auto series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Topic:

Devil May Cry (series), Super Smash Bros. (series)

Demoted FA/FL:

None


Promoted GA:

Devil May Cry 4, Final Fantasy III, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Halo 2 Original Soundtrack, Halo: The Flood, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, WWE SmackDown (video game series)

Demoted GA:

RuneScape

News
Feature: Reliable Sources

A common issue with writing video games articles is that it's often natural for editors to turn to the internet for all their information. However, using only online sources can be problematic, especially if editors are not familiar with Misplaced Pages's sources guidelines. First off, for every notable, reliable web site about gaming that exists on the web, there are twenty-five fan sites or personal blogs. As per Misplaced Pages's, content guideline about reliable sources, a proper source that should be used in an article must meet the following criteria:

  • Articles should be based on reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.

How do you determine if website X meets the criteria? Look around for information on who owns the website or if the website has a staff and established editorial processes; if the site doesn't have information posted online, send an email to the webmaster or editor. It can be hard to definitely prove the a website has a "reputation" for accuracy. Thus, it's probably easier to go with established sites to begin with, such as IGN or GameSpot. If you use a source with borderline qualifications, be prepared to justify the site at content review or to other editors. WikiProject Video Games has a partially-complete listing of vetted sources in print or online at Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video games/Sources, as well as more detailed information on what constitutes a reliable source.

To find sources on the internet, checking Google News as well as simple web searches can help spot references you might have missed. Often, however, older news articles are locked behind pay gates or subscription services. A workaround is using a service like ProQuest or LexisNexis, although unless you have access to these through a college or education institution it will likely cost you money regardless. Libraries can have old newspapers and copies of magazines; to assist in finding print sources online, WikiProject Video Games has a Magazines Department where you can contact users to get copies of certain reviews, previews, or features from old magazines. If you have gaming magazines of your own, add yourself to the list!

Things you can help with:
Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks
AfDs Merge discussions Other discussions No major discussions Featured content candidates Good article nominations DYK nominations Reviews and reassessments
Articles that need...
Project Navigation
VG Project Main pages
VG Project Departments
 

Thanks

The WikiProject Barnstar
For your help with improving future Milhist drives at the 2008 Tag & Assess workshop, please accept this WikiProject Barnstar. --ROGER DAVIES  07:36, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Incidentally, if you're keen to keep your assessing skills honed, we are currently very short of reviewers for Milhist A-Class reviews. Broadly, the five A-Class criteria are just beefed up versions of the B-Class criteria and anyone with B-Class experience should have no trouble with them. Also, as a reminder, in the wide-ranging A-Class review, it is not necessary to comment on all five criteria: if you're short of time, you can simply focus on the aspects that interest you most (sources, comprehensiveness, prose, graphic content or whatever). You can track which articles are up for A-Class using this template: {{WPMILHIST A-Class Review alerts}}

All the best, --ROGER DAVIES  07:36, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

The WPVG Newsletter for August 2008

The Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video Games Newsletter

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter
Volume I, No. 6 - August 2008

Archive before | Archive after

To receive future editions of this newsletter, click here to sign up on the distribution list.
Project At a Glance

As of August 2008, the project has:

Changes to Featured and Good articles, lists, and topics

Promoted FA/FL:

4X, Alleyway, Conan (2007 video game), List of songs in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Midtown Madness, Wipeout 3

Topic:

None

Demoted FA/FL:

None


Promoted GA:

Chocolatier, Cloud Strife, Discography of Final Fantasy I and II, Discography of Final Fantasy VII, The Guardian Legend, Guitar Hero III Mobile, Halo: First Strike, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Key Sounds Label, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Necrid, Paper Mario, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Secret of Evermore, StarCraft: Brood War, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Xenogears Original Soundtrack

Demoted GA:

GoldenEye 007

News
Feature: Departments

Assessment Department: This department focuses on assessing the quality of Misplaced Pages's video games articles. The resulting article ratings are used within the project to aid in recognizing excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work, and are also expected to play a role in the WP:1.0 program, and more specifically in the Video games essential articles page.

Two new quality ratings have been implemented into the Assessment Department's scale. The new Misplaced Pages-wide C-Class rating (see category) has been added to the scale between Start-Class and B-Class. Because of this, the criteria of the B-Class has been tweaked to better illustrate the difference between a B-Class and C-Class article. An older rating, List-Class (see category), has been added to the scale as well. It is mainly used on pages that have very little prose and are primarily tables and lists of information.

Editors are encouraged to submit articles for assessment if they feel an article has made significant progress up the assessment scale or has gained importance within video game articles. Assessed articles generally receive some feedback to further improve the article. Experienced editors are also encouraged to help with assessment of articles when the number of requests gets too large.

Peer Review Department: The Peer review process for WikiProject Video games exposes video-game-related articles to closer scrutiny from a broader group of editors, and is intended for high-quality articles that have already undergone extensive work, often as a way of preparing a Featured article candidate. It is not a academic peer review by a group of experts in a particular subject, and articles that undergo this process should not be assumed to have greater authority than any other.

Editors are encouraged to use the Video game peer review process, as well as the regular Misplaced Pages-wide process, to improve the quality of articles. While a peer review can be done at any time, it strongly suggested to use this process before an article goes up for Good article nomination and Featured article or Feature list candidacy as articles cannot be a candidate for GA or FA while at peer review.

Editors are also encouraged to leave feedback for articles undergoing peer review. A process such as this will not work if editors do not give as well as take. Feedback can range from brief comments after skimming through a page to a full blown dissection of grammar, structure, and references. Either way, every bit helps.

Things you can help with:
Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks
AfDs Merge discussions Other discussions No major discussions Featured content candidates Good article nominations DYK nominations Reviews and reassessments
Articles that need...
Project Navigation
VG Project Main pages
VG Project Departments
 

Thank you

Hi Fusionmix. I would like to thank you for your support in my RfA and the confidence expressed thereby. It is very much appreciated. :) The RfA was closed as successful with 73 supports, 3 opposes and 4 neutral. I would especially like to thank WBOSITG for nominating me. Best wishes and thanks again, —αἰτίας •discussion• 22:50, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

The WPVG Newsletter (September 2008)

The Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video Games Newsletter

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter
Volume I, No. 7 - September 2008

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Project At a Glance

As of September 2008, the project has:

Changes to Featured and Good articles, lists, and topics

Promoted FA/FL:

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario Power Tennis, Myst IV: Revelation, Space Invaders, The World Ends with You

Promoted FT:

Guitar Hero series

Demoted FA/FL/FT:

None


Promoted GA:

Anarchy Online, Codename: Gordon, Concerned, Hotel Mario, I Love Bees, Kyo Kusanagi, Species of StarCraft, StarCraft (series), Super Mario Strikers

Promoted GT:

Final Fantasy XII, StarCraft titles

Demoted GA/GT:

None

News
Feature: Misplaced Pages 0.7

Misplaced Pages 0.7 is a collection of articles taken from the English version of Misplaced Pages, compiled by the Misplaced Pages:Version 1.0 Editorial Team. It is designed for a DVD release, and the selection was put together using a Selection Bot, based on the quality and importance assigned by WikiProjects.

The Video games Project and its daughter projects have multiple articles among the selection and are currently working on cleaning up the articles to improve their presentation. A workshop page has been set up that is designed to assist and coordinate the effort. The status of and recommendations for articles is listed on the table. Discussion about which articles should be kept and removed from the list have been taking place on the talk page.

If you have assisted in working on and improving a current Featured article, Good article, or A-Class article, please check the workshop page to see if the article is recommended for inclusion.

Articles will need an id version submitted to ensure it is included. They will also need to be cleaned up if maintenance tags and other issues are present. Participation is not restricted, and if you can assist with the preparation effort, it would be greatly appreciated.

Things to remember for preparation
  • The workshop page has a notes section for each article. Clean up suggestions have been left for some articles.
  • Do a light sweep of the article to address any vandalism andclean up tags: citation needed, more references, lengthy plot, etc.
  • If you need help with an article, post on the talk page.
  • Because some articles were promoted over a year ago, they may need to undergo Featured article review or Good article review.
  • Be sure to list the oldid on the workshop page and User:SelectionBot/0.7/V-3.
  • Articles need to be prepared by October 20.
  • Articles that do not have an id submitted may not be included in the release.


See original notification on WT:VG for more details.

Things you can help with:
Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks
AfDs Merge discussions Other discussions No major discussions Featured content candidates Good article nominations DYK nominations Reviews and reassessments
Articles that need...
Project Navigation
VG Project Main pages
VG Project Departments
 

RE:Vandalism reverts

I'm using a school computer at the moment, so I don't know the exact specs for my operating system. However, I'm also using an older version of Huggle as the most recent one is marked as broken. DARTH PANDA 14:22, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

The file is called huggle_0.7.12.exe, so I'm guessing version 0.7.12? DARTH PANDA 14:26, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
Good luck! I bet you can go here if you have any further problems. DARTH PANDA 14:31, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Status report on the Country outlines (Around the World) project

Penubag has been hard at work developing awards for this project. He has completed a very professional looking medal, and is almost done with a trophy that is truly awesome - both of these awards are visually stunning.

I and a few others have been working steadily on the country outlines - one for every country of the world! They're shaping up nicely. So far, 28 of them have been moved to article space - these aren't complete, but they are complete enough to be made available for readers to benefit from them. The rest of the set still includes temporary data that was generated by template (because it matched most but not all of the countries), and before the lists can be moved to article space, all the temporary data needs to be checked for accuracy, and if incorrect it needs to be replaced with correct information.

The effort on the lists has been on 3 fronts:

  1. Working on the lists in article space to complete them so they will be good examples for editors working on the rest of the set.
  2. Adding or correcting other data (fixing redlinks, filling in blanks, etc.). The main type of work participants in "the contest" will be doing. The reason we're doing this is to get a feel for it, to develop the fastest methods for each type of task, etc.
  3. Improving the overall design and implenting changes on all 247 pages, whether in article space or not.

There has been some opposition to us running the contest based on edit counts or iterations. The concern is that we should reward quality work and not quantity, for fear of crappy edits done quickly without thought. I pointed out that the collection of pages are drafts in the Misplaced Pages namespace (therefore posing no danger to article space) and that most of the work needs to be done with power tools like AWB and Linky (which are specifically designed for repetitive work), but the reply was that we shouldn't set the precedent of rewarding barnstars for numerically-based tasks, and implied the threat of continuously MfD'ing the contest if we attempted to do so (like they did with the Awards Center - I was very surprised and disappointed that participants didn't step up to defend it). So we need to be careful in determining what exactly the awards will represent, and how they will be awarded.

Since rewarding iterations (passes with AWB on all of the pages in the set) are out, we really don't need the globe in stand anymore. Two awards should suffice.

Once we get started with the contest, I'd like to kick the whole thing off with a round of medals for those dedicated few who have worked hard on the project so far.

What do you think of all of this?

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

The Transhumanist    23:20, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

The WPVG Newsletter (October 2008)

The Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video Games Newsletter

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter
Volume I, No. 8 - October 2008

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Project At a Glance

As of October 2008, the project has:

Changes to Featured and Good articles, lists, and topics

Promoted FA/FL:

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, Crush (video game), Half-Life 2: Episode One, StarCraft: Ghost

Promoted FT:

StarCraft titles

Demoted FA/FL/FT:

None


Promoted GA:

Aether (video game), Chris Metzen, Doom 3, Final Fantasy VII, Half-Life 2: Survivor, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Mega Man 2, Silent Hill 3

Promoted GT:

Key visual novels

Demoted GA/GT:

Final Fantasy (video game)

News
Feature: Partnered reviews

For some time now, the Video games project and the Military history project have been cross listing their articles undergoing peer review in an effort to improve the quality of articles, as well as the copy editing skills of editors. The idea was first proposed by User:Krator as a way to better prepare articles for Featured article candidacy. After being approved by both projects, the idea was implemented under a trial period, and eventually approved as a standard practice.

New, cross listed military history articles are announced on the Video games project talk page, and listed on the Video games Peer review page under a special section. Video game editors are encouraged to leave any type of comments that come to mind. If you don't know anything about military history, that's perfectly fine because that's the point. An editor lacking knowledge about the particular topic can provide a helpful point of view as a general reader—the intended audience.

If you have a video game article undergoing peer review that you think would benefit from an outside view, post the following boilerplate at WT:MILHIST: {{subst:Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Military history/Coordinators/Toolbox/Partner peer review notice|Name of article|Raw link to review|Video games}} ~~~~

Things to remember
  • A peer review process such as this will not work if editors do not give as well as take.
  • Peer reviews are meant to examine not just the prose, but the sources and images used in the article.
  • Feedback can range from brief comments after skimming through a page to a full blown dissection of grammar, structure, and references. Either way, every bit helps.
  • Reviewing another editor's article can help sharpen your writing skills, which in turn can improve the articles you write.

See past discussions for details: VG discussion and MilHist discussion

Things you can help with:
Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks
AfDs Merge discussions Other discussions No major discussions Featured content candidates Good article nominations DYK nominations Reviews and reassessments
Articles that need...
Project Navigation
VG Project Main pages
VG Project Departments
 

The WPVG Newsletter (November 2008)

The Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Video games Newsletter

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter
Volume I, No. 9 - November 2008

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Project At a Glance

As of November 2008, the project has:

Changes to Featured and Good articles, lists, and topics

Promoted FA/FL:

Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game, Ico, List of One Piece video games, List of songs in Guitar Hero World Tour, List of StarCraft media, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Myst V: End of Ages

Promoted FT:

None

Demoted FA/FL/FT:

None


Promoted GA:

Characters of Myst, Combine (Half-Life), Crash: Mind over Mutant, F-Zero, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life: Decay, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, Halo 3 marketing, Ico, Iori Yagami, Jim Raynor, LittleBigPlanet, Marble Madness, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Myst (series), Sam & Max Hit the Road, Silent Hill Homecoming, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

Promoted GT:

None

Demoted GA/GT:

Call of Duty 2, Fate/stay night, Make Love, Not Warcraft

News
Feature: Article Importance

Article importance is an assessment of a topic's importance in understanding a specific higher level topic. Assessments are maintained by WikiProjects and reflect the project's view of what is essential to understanding their scope. In the VG Project's case, all importance scales are in terms of understanding video games.

A video game article's importance is listed and set in the {{WikiProject Video games}} template on its talk page. An assessment of importance can be done by the Assessment Department by submitting a request.

Recent discussions at the VG Project's talk page have called for revisions to the practice of assigning article importance. The discussion began in mid-November with the goal of clarifying what level of importance should be assigned to certain type of articles. It eventually expanded to creating a standardized table of importance to serve as a guide for current and future editors.

The discussion has focused on and shifted to several topics including flaws of previous practices, new ways to view assessment, other project practices to emulate, and specific articles which are exceptions to proposed guidelines. A brief pole and discussion determined most editors felt that the bulk of some topics—specifically individual video game, series, and character articles—were not essential to understanding video games, making them ineligible for top importance. The discussion then shifted to tweaking the wording and layout of the table.

The current proposed table is being discussed on the project's talk page, and the issue of whether some topics—specifically character articles—should be allowed to be rated importance has also been brought up. As always, member are encouraged to voice their opinions and engage in discussion to determine consensus so the new assessment scale can be implemented.


See past newsletter feature for more information about the Assessment Department.

Things you can help with:
Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks
AfDs Merge discussions Other discussions No major discussions Featured content candidates Good article nominations DYK nominations Reviews and reassessments
Articles that need...
Project Navigation
VG Project Main pages
VG Project Departments
 

Merry Christmas from Promethean

O'Hai there Fusionmix, Merry Christmas!

Fusionmix,
I wish you and your family all the best this Christmas and that you also have a Happy and safe new year.
Thankyou for all your contributions to Misplaced Pages this year and I look forward to seeing many more from you in the future.
Your work around Misplaced Pages has not gone un-noticed, this notice is testimony to that
Please feel free to drop by my talkpage any time to say Hi, as I will probably say Hi back :)

All the Best.   «l| Ψrometheăn ™|l»  (talk)

The WPVG Newsletter (December 2008)

The WikiProject Video games Newsletter

The WikiProject Video games Newsletter
Volume I, No. 10 - December 2008

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Project At a Glance

As of December 2008, the project has:

Changes to Featured and Good content

Promoted FA/FL:

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, List of Kirby media, Marble Madness, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Promoted FT:

Half-Life 2 titles

Demoted FA/FL/FT:

None

Promoted AA:

None

Promoted GA:

Guitar Hero World Tour, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros., Sam & Max: Freelance Police, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

Promoted GT:

None

Demoted GA/GT:

Final Fantasy II, Resident Evil, Super Mario Land

News
  • There were 182 new articles in December 2008
  • Inactive project cleanup: Proposal to consolidate inactive projects and taskforces. Project page can be found here.
    • WikiProject Sports video games has been deleted.
    • WikiProject The Legend of Zelda series has been merged into the VG project's Nintendo task force.
  • Importance scale has been added to Assessment page.
  • A search bar has been added to the archive box on the VG project talk page. Searching the discussion archives is now much easier.
Feature: Video game notability

Video game related articles fall under niche categories on Misplaced Pages: "Culture and the arts" and "Everyday life". Because of this, they are often required to demonstrate notability more than other topics. Misplaced Pages defines notability as "worthy of notice", and considers it distinct from fame, importance, and popularity. Though it is acknowledge to be related to fame and the like, it is important understand that being famous, important, or popular does not mean a video game article should be on Misplaced Pages.

Being notable means that a topic has "received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." Misplaced Pages's policy also stipulates that this only presumes to "satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article." This means that though an article may meet the criteria on paper, it is up to the community to decide if a topic truly is notable and/or violates other policies such as WP:NOT. In short, just because a video game, character, or related topic exists, does not mean it should also exist as a Misplaced Pages article.

Dealing with non-notable topics

Articles that do not meet the criteria are either deleted or merged into a relevant topic.

  • WP:Articles for deletion (AfD) handles the deletion of non-notable articles, among other types, and has an established process to begin discussions about reasons for deletion.
  • If an article is a subarticle of a larger topic, merging it into the larger topic article is a more desirable action. For example, the main character of a video may not be notable, but has received some mentions in reviews. It would benefit both topics, the character and its video game, to include the content into the article of the video game; essentially using a small, weaker article to strengthen a larger more notable article.
Things to remember
  • The best way to show notability is to provide reliable sources about the topic.
  • Notability is less about keeping articles out of Misplaced Pages and more about making sure readers are provided articles about significant, quality topics.
  • While you may think a topic is notable, others may disagree. Try to keep a clear perspective when assessing notability so discussions can reach a consensus.
  • AfD is more of a last resort and is not always the best course of action to take.
  • Consider starting a merger discussion first, as some editors may not fully understand why an article they started is not suitable for Misplaced Pages.
Things you can help with:
Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks
AfDs Merge discussions Other discussions No major discussions Featured content candidates Good article nominations DYK nominations Reviews and reassessments
Articles that need...
Project Navigation
VG Project Main pages
VG Project Departments
 
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