Forum:CT:Expansion Packs: Gotta keep 'em separated.

Forums > Consensus track archive > CT:Expansion Packs: Gotta keep 'em separated.

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The result of the debate was to separate information on game expansion packs into their own articles and create articles covering any collector's editions. Green Tentacle (Talk) 16:29, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

OK, I'd like to establish right away here that I'm talking about expansion packs for videogames, such as Defenders of the Empire, Clone Campaigns, and Forces of Corruption. At the moment, we don't seem to have a consistent policy on whether or not these products should have their own article. Most expansion packs seem to have been merged with the articles on the products that they are "expanding" but, for instance, we have a separate article on Forces of Corruption. Personally, I think having the separate article is clearly the way to go, for a number of reasons.

  1. With a separate article, we can clearly and easily distinguish what elements of canon are featured in that expansion's storyline. Most, if not all of these expansion packs have their own self-contained storylines, but the three expansions to Star Wars Galaxies, might be slightly different. In any case, those particular games don't have a linear plot, but we would concern ourselves then with elements featured exclusively in that expansion.
  2. We can make our sourcing more specific, and therefore, far more accurate. At the moment, for instance, we would source information from either of the two expansion packs for Star Wars: TIE Fighter to that article, which is actually inaccurate and potentially wildly misleading. We can always link to a specific subsection, but I feel that this can become messy and generally inconsistent with the way we conduct the rest of our sourcing for any other type of product.
  3. We are given more room to develop information on these expansion packs. Since these packs are pretty much always developed independently from the main game...and usually after the main game, they have totally unique development histories. At the moment, they basically get a subsection. Now, none of our game articles at the moment are particularly good, really, at least not as far as I know, but I feel this would end up being better in the organizational department.

Essentially, we would treat each individual expansion pack as a separate entity. Now, if something from the original game appears in the expansion pack as well as the original game, of course, we would list both, but if it's only in the expansion pack, we would have the luxury of a whole new article to work with. Also, in cases like the Star Wars: TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM, which introduced yet another expansion to that game while collecting the original and the first expansion, I feel it would be suitable to source information from all three sources to that one product. On the other hand though, to make things clearer for the reader, we could still make the clear distinction on the TIE Fighter page (and the same applies for X-wing, I believe) of which parts of the game are from the original, which are from the first expansion, and the parts from the collectors edition. All in all, I think this boils down to the fact that Wookieepedia is not paper. And while that's no excuse to go completely barmy and silly with what we do, I don't think we need to restrict ourselves when covering these products. I mean, we list individual comic issues, don't we? Thefourdotelipsis 10:08, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Support

  1. Thefourdotelipsis 10:08, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
  2. With the understanding that the Galaxies expansion packs will also be separated.--Goodwood Redstarbird (Alliance Intelligence) 20:29, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
  3. Graestan(Talk) 02:45, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  4. There should be some way to simplify sourcing of Galaxies articles, if only to break it down by expansion or release. -- Riffsyphon1024 09:09, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  5. With the understanding that eye-rollers will shut up about things they clearly know nothing about. -- Darth Culator (Talk) 15:24, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  6. —Xwing328(Talk) 22:57, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  7. Chack Jadson (Talk) 23:01, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  8. Sure. Even though it'll mean redlinks aplenty for Lawrence Holland. Green Tentacle (Talk) 23:16, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  9. Per all above. Unit 8311 12:33, 5 July 2008 (UTC)
  10. I need a name (Complain here) 12:47, 5 July 2008 (UTC)
  11. I've been wondering about this for a long while now, but no one ever answered. Better to get this decision made. JorrelWiki-shrinkableFraajic 05:16, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
  12. Did anyone else think "Come out and Play" when seeing this thread? Darth Xadún(Consult the Holocron) 11:36, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
  13. Soresumakashi 11:45, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
  14. Gonk (Gonk!) 11:56, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Oppose

Comments

  • It's not really going to be feasible to separate the Galaxies expansions, since the program is updated on a regular basis regardless of which expansions you subscribe to and the whole thing is treated as one continuous game. -- Darth Culator (Talk) 20:40, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
    • Lovely, if my eyes were rolling any faster they could be used for wheels for cars in the Indianapolis 500. But meh, still a support voter here.--Goodwood Redstarbird (Alliance Intelligence) 20:45, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
    • I think in the case of Galaxies it would be prudent to have five separate articles. One for An Empire Divided, three for the expansion packs (which could potentially include the individual development history, etc, and anything that we know comes from that expansion pack), and one for The Complete Saga, which we could source Galaxies information to if we are unsure of which particular expansion pack it stems from. Thefourdotelipsis 07:57, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
      • Now that isn't a bad idea. Just as long as we aren't anal about enforcement. Since Galaxies isn't episodic like a game with discrete releases on portable media, most things credited to Star Wars Galaxies are just going to be credited to Star Wars Galaxies unless we happen to have some really hardcore MMORPGers here. Even the usual gaming sites like swg.wikia and Allahkazam don't distinguish by expansion because in most cases it's just not possible. -- Darth Culator (Talk) 15:24, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

So just to make sure, we would have the following sources:

Is this correct? -- Riffsyphon1024 07:30, 4 July 2008 (UTC)