Category talk:Games

Game categories

Okay, Special:Wantedcategories and Special:Uncategorizedcategories are making me crazy. Can we talk about a format for game categories? (breaking into sections for clarity -- Mr. Flay 06:58, 15 August 2007 (MDT))

ok, using the same argument i used for changing the TRTR name, i think we need to parallelize these categories... two of them START w/ "Games", the other two end w/ "Games", and i think having them parallel will lead to cleaner organization... here are example for both:

Ending w/ "Games"

• Category:<forum> Games - Example: [Category:New York Games]
• Category:<setup> Games - Example: [Category:C9 Games]

• [Category:C9 Setup Games]

• Category:<outcome> Games - Example: [Category: Town won Games]

• [Category:Town outcome Games]

• Category:<status> Games - Example: [Category:Completed Games]
• Category:<mod>-modded Games - Example: [Category:LyingBrian-modded Games]

Beginning w/ "Games"

• Category:Games in <forum> forum - Example: [Category:Games in New York forum]
• Category:Games with <setup> setup - Example: [Category: Games with C9 setup]
• Category:Games with <outcome> outcome - [Category: Games with Town outcome]
• Category:Games with <status> status - [Category: Games with Completed status]
• Category:Games with <mod> mod - [Category: Games with LyingBrian mod]

alternately,

• [Category:Games played in New York]
• [Category:Games won by Town]
• [Category:Games modded by LyingBrian]

(i can't think of good examples that are parallel for the other two...)

also if we wanted to go a little bit more technically we could do:

• [Category:Games by Forum/New York]
• [Category:Games by Setup/C9]
• [Category:Games by Outcome/Town]
• [Category:Games by Status/Completed]
• [Category:Games by Mod/LyingBrian]

of the 4, i would have to say i think the last works best for staying parallel yet making sense both visually & vocally... what's everybody else's thoughts?.. LyingBrian 11:05, 17 August 2007 (MDT)

I don't know that there has to be complete parallelism. There should be consistency within each category (e.g., Category:New York Games mixed with Category:Games played in the Road to Rome would be bad. Category:C9 Games existing separately from Category:Games played in the Road to Rome, though, doesn't really bother me. If we went with complete consistency, I'd go for #3, with #2 where there's no gramatical way to use #3. I really don't like #4. --YYCguy 12:03, 17 August 2007 (MDT)

Assuming "#4" is the "/New York" etc options, I agree with YYCGuy. I'd much prefer to have the categories be human-readable. The only real reason to make article pages with slashes in them is because that invokes the heirarchical link to the top page (so, Newbie Game/History has an automatic link back to Newbie Game in small text at the top). I don't think categories even support subpage...errr, subcategories in that manner, so it seems superfluous. In addition, that looks like overcategorization to me - if you want to analyze Cult-won games by forum, you're better off going to Category:Games won by Cult and browsing, IMO. -- Mr. Flay 12:33, 17 August 2007 (MDT)

I actually like Category:Games won by X for that branch of categorization, though I think it could get tricky with Draws. But if we do go for completely parallel structure, #1 seems cleanest, as I really think the outcome/status thing is confusing (or maybe it's just me). -- Mr. Flay 12:33, 17 August 2007 (MDT)

---

By Forum

• Is it "Category:<Forum> Games", "Category:Games in <Forum>", or "Category:Games played in <Forum>"? I'm seeing the latter most often so far, and I think I like it.

Having dived back into {{gamebox}} I see it defines this as:

[[Category:Games played in {{{forum|MafiaScum}}}]]

I like this first one... -- Mr. Flay 21:22, 14 August 2007 (MDT)

i'm interested in why you like the latter over the other 2 since they are very similar, but since the majority are "Category:Games played in <Forum>", it would be easier to convert the others to this format... i don't really have a preference as all 3 make sense... LyingBrian 00:59, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

The majority is only that way because I made the rest of them last night, using the current state of gamebox as a guide. :) It's a matter of minutes to change to the shorter format if we think it's better... -- Mr. Flay 06:58, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

By Classification

• Is it "Category:<Variation> Games" or "Category:<Variation> games"? I see a bunch of both at present...personally, I prefer the former. -- Mr. Flay 21:22, 14 August 2007 (MDT)

i also prefer the former, but i can be a fan of capitalization... LyingBrian 00:59, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

Having dived back into {{gamebox}} I see it defines this as:

[[Category:{{{setup|Undefined}}} Setup Games]]

Is 'Setup' necessary on this one? -- Mr. Flay 21:22, 14 August 2007 (MDT)

By Mod

Do we want to add a category for "Games moderated by <Name>"? -- Mr. Flay 06:58, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

i see a problem w/ the most current coding of the gamebox... if a game has multiple mods (for example Open 3 was modded by three word name until he was replaced by Patrick), the link created becomes one long link {in the previous example, Patrick (replacing three word name)}, where it should be two separate links {Patrick (replacing three word name)}, b/c the brackets are included in the coding of the gamebox... unless there is a way of separating the usernames that i'm unaware of... i think it would be better to leave the brackets out of the coding, and have them manually inserted by whoever fills out the information... unless of course, there's an easier fix to this... LyingBrian 00:59, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

Oh, I absolutely agree that the current way is a problem. There should be a way to use #IF to allow for more than one moderator, I can hack on that later this week... I'm thinking of mod2 as a variable and probably mod2why for the text ("backed up by", "taken over by, etc" -- Mr. Flay 06:58, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

By Outcome

• Is there any way to elegantly word the categories for winners? "Category:<Faction>-won Games" maybe? These are all over the place right now...

Having dived back into {{gamebox}} I see it defines this as:

[[Category:Games with {{{outcome|no}}} outcome]]

I think this could be reworded. -- Mr. Flay 21:22, 14 August 2007 (MDT)

Mr. Flay and myself, (LyingBrian) actually had this conversation before, and i thought we had sorta agreed on Outcome, but i could be mistaken... the only problem with using a term like 'Winner(s)' is if the game ends in a Draw or another scenario w/ no winners, then the wording seems weird (for example "Category:Draw-won Games" just doesn't sound right, but "Category:Games with Draw outcome" sounds better... not perfect, it could use some work, but better... LyingBrian 00:59, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

and again the coding for the gamebox isn't perfect as multiple winners will have the same result as multiple mods... (for example, MeMeMeet Mafia)... also, when there are 2 or more Mafia families, the common way to distinguish a winner is by naming the family (for example, Mafia 2 if using the gamebox would have "Category: Games with Fibonacci Mafia outcome")... i fixed this by copying the code instead of using the template, but suggestions are welcome of how to fix the template so this is not necessary...

ok, i'm tired, more later... LyingBrian 00:59, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

Same as with mods, there are ways to hack it for weird/multiple outcomes once we know how we want to word that. There could even be a variable for what the title of this line is... more later on this topic. And you're totally right that we started this discussion somewhere before - was it in that forum thread? -- Mr. Flay 06:58, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

By Status

Having dived back into {{gamebox}} I see it defines this as:

[[Category:{{{status|Ongoing}}} games]]

I don't understand the purpose of this one, but likewise think it should be "Games". I made the categories for these last night in Category:Games by Status, check it out and see if I missed any. Ruined may be superfluous to Abandoned... -- Mr. Flay 06:58, 15 August 2007 (MDT)

this category may be overorganization of the games, but i personally like it b/c it separates the Completed Games from the Ongoing Games from the Abandoned/Ruined Games... personally i think "Upcoming Games" may be superfluous as well and also deceiving as a mod may mark a game as 'Upcoming' then never get around to actually starting the game... i guess the List Mod could give the go ahead to mark a game as 'Upcoming', but then the time period between 'Upcoming' & 'Ongoing' would be so short (in general), that it really wouldn't be useful... i also think we could combine the Abandoned/Ruined games into one category (maybe "Discontinued", "Stopped", "Suspended", or "Terminated"? {i love Thesaurus.com})... my favorite of the 4 is "Terminated:" as it doesn't give the slight implication of possibly being revived... i think if we decide to keep this, the categories should be parallel, though... (example: "The game is <Category:Status>." or "The game has been <Category:Status>.") right now, 'Upcoming' & 'Ongoing' don't make sense in the 2nd sentence, and 'Completed', 'Abandoned', & 'Ruined' make more sense in the 2nd sentence than the 1st... alternately 'Upcoming' & 'Ongoing' could be changed to 'Created' & 'Started' respectively, but i don't like those as much... i also think it should be <Category:Status> "Games", and not <Category:Status> "games"...LyingBrian 18:57, 15 August 2007 (MDT)