Wikipedia:WikiProject Board and table games/Style guide

Style guide

Structure

Game articles under this project's jurisdiction should at least have the following information:

History of the game (release date and publisher info for commercial games).
A brief synopsis of the rules, sufficient only to show what is notable about the game or to distinguish it from other similar games. Lengthy sections and separate rules articles should be avoided -- after all, Wikipedia is not an instruction manual.
If the game is notable for its strategies, a brief strategy section relying on reliable sources. The focus should be on the game's most noted features (such as a particular game mechanic, or the way the game makes the players interact) and the published strategic uses of those game features.
Major awards won by the game (e.g. Deutscher Spiele Preis) are points of notability and should be listed in the article.
Where appropriate, an infobox created using Template:Infobox_Game

Images

While images to illustrate a subject generally enhance the article's utility and appeal, remain aware that the components of all packaged games are subject to copyright protection. A fair use rationale is needed for any copy of such.

Note that cover art is considered fair use for the purposes of identification of and critical commentary on the thing depicted. Therefore, do not use game cover art for identification purposes only. Keep in mind that commentary must (as usual) cite verifiable sources. Assuming these criteria can be satisfied, there exists a fair use tag, {{Boardgamecover}}, specifically for this purpose.

Components and Rules

It is best to avoid listing out the game's parts or other specifications (such as the distribution of number tokens in Settlers of Catan). Such exacting detail is rarely necessary to give the reader a good general idea of how the game works. In most cases, detailed "Rules" or "Components" sections would violate WP:GAMEGUIDE.

A good general style guideline is to give only the detail that is necessary to understand the context of any descriptions of gameplay and strategy elsewhere in the article.

Gameplay

Wikipedia is not an instruction manual. For this reason and for copyright reasons, please do not include:

The complete rules of a proprietary game.
Detailed phase-by-phase instructions.

There are many board games, but most of them follow the same sets of basic principles with only slight variation inside the particular genres. Therefore, it is often sufficient to include:

A brief synopsis of the rules that highlights the notable aspects of the game that distinguish it from other similar games.
Links to verifiable sources where appropriate.

Expansions

When writing about expansions, consider covering the general changes in the game mechanics rather than providing detailed change logs. If there are several expansions that merely add "7 new landscapes" or "50 new cards" each, they probably deserve one sentence along the lines of "Expansion1 and Expansion2 were subsequently released, adding more cards and a variety of landscapes to the original game."

An expansion warrants a separate section in the article if it introduced significant new game mechanics that were covered in verifiable sources (e.g., Catan's Cities & Knights).

Strategy

Observations on game strategy must not be drawn simply from the analysis or experience of the editor. To do so constitutes a clear-cut case of original research. In particular, it "introduces a theory or method of solution" to the problem of effective play. Exposition on strategy is admissible only where it provides a verifiable source. Unless the game instructions provide a strategy section, they do not constitute a verifiable source for such material.

Editors are encouraged to be diligent in correcting violations of Wikipedia's No Original Research policy with respect to game strategy. If such a section seems to be simply the conclusions of particular editors, it is proper to tag it with the {{OriginalResearch}} template. Even better, if possible, is to either provide citations to support the section or rewrite it based on such sources.

Further, despite the fact that this material may be of interest to the reader, Wikipedia is not an instruction manual. Discussion of game strategy should serve to illustrate why the subject is of interest, and not be included simply for its own sake.

If you would like to share more extensive information, consider Wikiversity, which hosts the Simulations and Gaming Archive and has a Portal called Game design for people who want to develop open educational resources outside the scope of Wikipedia.

External links

Consider adding these links to games articles:

For board games, a link to its BoardGameGeek entry when it meets the criteria of WP:EL.
For commercially released games, a link to the official site of the game from its publisher(s), or the publisher's website in lieu of an official game site.
Links to any official full descriptions of the rules.
Links to the website(s) of any governing bodies of the game.