Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Article guidelines/Naming

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This page documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should follow, though it should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

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This page is a complement to Wikipedia's naming conventions, not a replacement. Always consider Wikipedia:Naming conventions when naming a page.

Contents 1 Naming convention 1.1 General 1.2 Games 1.3 Lists 1.4 Disambiguation

[edit] Naming convention

[edit] General

1. If conventions conflict, prefer the most specific convention (e.g., WikiProject Final Fantasy's naming convention for articles related to the Final Fantasy universe).
2. Do not capitalize second and subsequent words unless the title is a proper noun (such as a name) or is otherwise almost always capitalized (e.g. "Cloud Strife", but "Buster sword").
3. In general, use page names with singular nouns (e.g., "Key item", not "Key items").
4. Except for titles of works or official names, avoid the definite ("the") and indefinite ("a"/"an") articles at the beginning of a page name. This applies even if the subject of the page is usually preceded by the definite article "the" in speech or writing (e.g. "City of the Ancients" is preferred over "The City of the Ancients").
5. Use standard English for titles, even if trademarks encourage otherwise (e.g. "Invader Zim" is preferred over "Invader ZIM").
6. Consider creating redirects to the correct page from pages with names similar to the correct one and from pages with names which are discouraged per this convention. Also consider adding hatnotes linking between articles with similar names.

[edit] Games

1. Always use the original official title of the game, English titles are preferred over foreign ones except in cases where an official English title does not exist. Unofficial titles (e.g. "Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn") are not acceptable. Subtitles and pre-titles are allowed if deemed appropriate but are not necessary. Usage of taglines in titles is not permitted.
2. For the purpose of naming, modifications (mods) are considered stand-alone video games (e.g., "Counter-Strike" is preferred over "Half-life Counter-Strike").
3. For series that use either Arabic numerals or Roman numerals to denote the order of games in the series, use the numerals in the official titles for the games, even if their types vary from game to game. For example, Final Fantasy IV instead of "Final Fantasy 4", and Quake 4 instead of "Quake IV". When Roman numerals are used, consider providing a redirect that uses Arabic numerals (for example, "Final Fantasy 4" should redirect to Final Fantasy IV); a similar redirect is not necessary for Roman numeral equivalents.

[edit] Lists

1. A list article's title should accurately describe its content.
2. Lists should be named "List of..." (e.g. "List of Final Fantasy titles").

[edit] Disambiguation

1. Do not disambiguate unless a naming conflict exists.
2. Never make a disambiguation tag longer than necessary.
3. For original video games: If not unambiguous already, disambiguate using numerics and subtitles when part of the official title (e.g. "Need for Speed: ProStreet"). Further disambiguation can be made by appending "(video game)" or "(YEAR video game)". The former is preferable. Using "(video game)" is prefered over "(computer game)", "(arcade game)" or similar. Using only "(game)" is discouraged.
4. For platform-specific remakes: Disambiguate by appending "([platform])" to the title (e.g. "Final Fantasy IV (Nintendo DS)").
5. For modifications: Disambiguate by appending "(video game)", or, if necessary, "(video game mod") or "([Title of original game] mod)". The former is preferable.
6. For video game series: Disambiguate by appending "(series)", or, if necessary, "(video game series)". The former is preferable.
7. For characters: Disambiguate by appending "([Title of the game])" after the character's name (e.g. "Lulu (Final Fantasy X)"). If the subject appears across several titles in a series, then use "([Title of the series])" (e.g., "Cid (Final Fantasy)"). If the subject's name is the same as of the game, then use "(character)" (e.g. "Rayman (character)").

Use hatnotes and disambiguation pages when disambiguation in naming is used. Disambiguation pages are not required if the only disambiguation exists between similarly named articles related to the same video game series, but hatnotes are strongly encouraged to point between these items on their individual pages. Hatnotes should always be used to provide pointers to a disambiguation page or article if the other topics are not directly to the video game, series, or other related topics.