The Manual of Style is a guide on how articles are written on Dungeon Keeper Wiki. It documents the rules and best practices for the consistency, comprehensibility, and mood of articles of Dungeon Keeper Wiki.
Articles[]
The subject's name and all alternative names[Note 1] should be bolded when mentioned in the lead section.
Naming[]
Where there exist multiple names, the title of an article should be the most common one, and redirects should be made for the others. If the name could refer to different subjects (e.g. different subjects of the same name in different games, or a Keeper spell vs a creature spell), the title should be disambiguated, unless one subject is overwhelmingly preëminent.
Sections and headings[]
Structure[]
The general structure of an article should be as follows:
- Top
- Hatnotes and disambiguation(s) (if applicable). Template:Hatnote, Template:About, Template:Redirect Notice, and Template:For can be used for these purposes.
- Deletion tags (if applicable)
- Maintenance tags (if applicable)
- Infobox
- Content
- Lead section
- Table of contents
- Article body
- Appendices
- See also
- References/notes
- External links
- Bottom
- Navigation box(es)
- Categories
- Stub template(s)
Vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and punctuation[]
Spelling[]
UK spelling
As Bullfrog Productions were a British company, and the Dungeon Keeper series and its first two instalments are consequently British and use British spelling, this wiki uses British spelling to match.
Any accepted spelling is valid; the word itself it much more important than how it is spelt (edit warring over something that, at the end of the day, does not matter is counterproductive). However, if a spelling may aid readers more than another, it may be preferable to use that spelling: for example, co-ordinates or coördinates may be preferable to coordinates. This also means that diacritical marks should be retained in loanwords; they are there to aid the reader. Consistency is also important, as inconsistency gives an impression of poor editorial oversight.
Terminology and tone[]
Although Dungeon Keeper Wiki is an encyclopaedia, it is not Wikipedia; an article does not necessarily have to be as formal and neutral as a Wikipedia article would be. Dungeon Keeper Wiki is really a hybrid of encyclopaedia and game guide: articles on in-game things, such as rooms, creatures, and levels, tend to be written more like the manuals and strategy guides. This allows a certain amount of leeway in how they are written; for example, it may be acceptable to refer to the reader as 'you' rather than 'the player'. True to the Bullfrog spirit, a certain amount of (appropriate) humour may be found in articles. However, articles should not be too informal, and there are other limits: vulgar, derogatory, and offensive language is unacceptable, full stop. Slang should be avoided, too.[Note 2] Articles on games, series, and people are written in a more encyclopaedic style.
If discussing Dungeon Keeper Online or Dungeon Keeper Mobile, past tense should be used, as those games are no longer available. If discussing Dungeon Keeper or Dungeon Keeper 2, present tense should be used, as these games are still available and playable.
Capitalisation[]
All in-game entities are treated as proper nouns; they are capitalised at all times. This includes (but is not necessarily limited to) specific creatures, heroes, rooms, traps, doors, spells (whether Keeper or creature), and the Mentor. Words that do not refer to a specific entity (e.g. words that refer to multiple entities or a branch of entities) are treated as common nouns; they are not capitalised unless they begin a sentence. Terrain types are not entities; they are treated as common nouns. Dungeon Keeper Wiki tries to be consistent with the manuals and game strings in this regard.
Italicisation[]
Video games (including expansions and remakes) and video game series should be italicised.
Quotes[]
When quoting within a paragraph, Straight quote marks (') are preferred to curly quote marks (’). Template:Quote is recommended for block quotations. British English convention is to use single quote marks; double quote marks should be used for quotes within a quote.
Quotes should not be altered, except to add notes such as sic or recte. Punctuation that is not part of the quote goes outside the quotation marks.
Use scare quotes with care; overuse can come across as rude or nasty.
Apostrophes[]
Use straight apostrophes (') rather than curly apostrophes (’).
Dates[]
Dates should be written in day-month-year format, and should not contain ordinals. Months and years should be written in full, with months in word form and years in number form. Days should not be zero-padded.
Numbers[]
Whole numbers from zero to nine should be written as words. Numbers taking three or fewer words can be written either words or numerals. Numbers taking four or more words should be written as numerals.
- Exceptions:
- Numbers in infoboxes or lists (for example, when listing a Creature Pool).
- Quantities of uncountable in-game currency (such as gold or mana).
Numerals with four or more digits can be Western thousands-based comma-separated.
Colours[]
Text should only be coloured to aid the reader in some fashion; see Carnage for a good example. Colours of other elements (such as tables and navigation boxes) should be in contrast with the wiki's background colour so as not to impair readability. Text and other elements should not be gaily coloured just to make it look pretty or stand out; what is pretty to you may be ugly to someone else, and there's also the impact on readability and accessibility to consider.
Icons[]
Where appropriate, icons may be used to visually identify a creature, room, spell, etc. They are useful in tables and lists, but are not recommended for use in a body of text, as they can look jarring and interfere with the visual flow of the text.
Links[]
It is important to adequately link to other articles. This means that articles should link to articles on creatures, rooms, spells, etc, where mentioned. Links should be included at the first mention of the subject in an article. Excessive linking (linking where it would not benefit the reader, or linking to the same article many times) can cause distractions and adversely affect search engine optimisation.
Notes[]
- ↑ A name is considered 'official' if it appears at least once in an official or reputable source, or is in common use by players.
- ↑ Some confusion can arise as to what it meant by 'slang'; the word can be summarised as colloquial jargon: language that is informal (usually very informal) and only understood by a certain group of people. Informal language that is not jargon may be acceptable.