Forum:What other wikis have style guides?

There's this section I've been meaning to include in the style guide for a while now about how to improve article flow and such, and I thought it'd be a good idea to build on the wisdom of other more mature wikis with better developed style guides. This means not just any wiki, but those with something to teach us. I noticed a few other editors here also edit other wikis. Can anyone name some wikis with well-developed style guides? Ideally these would be ones which have the same needs as an Ultima wiki, such as one about a very plot-driven game. The Ultra-Mind 11:14, 11 January 2011 (PST)

Even though I'm not sure it is in a very well developed state, you may want to take a look at the DB Manual of Style.--Sega381 19:43, 11 January 2011 (PST)

Well, it's not bad, but it's not quite what I was thinking of. It doesn't seem all that more developed than ours (although, perhaps we should have more stuff in our guide in bullet form, rather than essay form) What is Dragon Ball? How does it compare to Ultima in terms of needs and style?

What I had in mind, Dragon Ball's guide touches on, but doesn't go deeply into. I had some ideas that I thought should be made into a section of the style guide of how to keep the immersion and purity of in-game articles. The idea is that a blinkered reader would be fooled into thinking that the text is not about a game, but perhaps a novel or a movie:

1. Out-game references out-of-the-way: Sega touched on this when dealing w/structure but I think it should be repeated here. Out-game material is often very relevant to an in-game article's subject matter, but I feel that it should not be part of the main body. This would usually amount to putting that in the Trivia section.
2. Only one contingency in gameplay: Unfortunately, no one had anything to say on this issue so maybe making it policy would attract attention. I think we should go with my #2 proposal, in that only one contingency ever be specified in the main body. I wouldn't be sure what to do about reconciling situations where two contingencies seem equal.
3. Tense: This one, someone else would have to write. Masochists start here. I didn't quite follow what everyone else had to say about this, but it is important.

Now perhaps these issues have already been tacked by some other wiki about a computer game that's heavily plot-driven.

The Ultra-Mind 14:40, 12 January 2011 (PST)

Now, as I think, 1) is in some cases difficult to do. And what counts as in-game? Only the game itself, or also the manual and all other in-universe stuff that came with it? What about hintbooks with narrative? As for 2), that's in some cases completely impossible with a game like Ultima where a lot of times all the possible ways to solve a problem can be considered true, as the canon does not say in retrospect, which solution was used (like with how to deal with Dorstag, but not linke the situation with Sprellic, which has a canon way).--Tribun 15:37, 12 January 2011 (PST)

1. "In-game" means pretty well anything within the context of the game's story. It could be gameplay, but it can also be things extracted from a manual, a canonical hintbook, or even an interview with Garriott. However, the point is that in these in-game-only texts, there is not to be any acknowledgement of these manuals, hintbooks, or Richard Garriott. So mention of the forms would be inappropriate, but the content wouldn't. Other s/w events, like installation, character creation and bugs are also out-game forms. In what situations do you foresee this being difficult?
2. That's what I meant when I said "reconciling situations where two contingencies seem equal". I have reservations about this, but maybe the lesser of the two evils is just flipping a coin, and pretending that only one contingency is possible. Mind you, I'm not saying that the other contingency should be outlawed--just that it should be put out of the way, and in a later section. I'm hoping someone else will come up w/a better solution. I'm hoping another wiki has come up w/a better solution.

The Ultra-Mind 19:35, 12 January 2011 (PST)