Editing SmashWiki:Character Project

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The '''Character Project''' on [[SmashWiki]] is an attempt to improve all [[character]] and character match-up articles.  Character articles are at the very heart of SmashWiki, so it is important that each of these articles be comprehensive and well-written.  Following are some guidelines on how to improve these articles.

==Current goals==
Here are the goals this project is currently trying to achieve.  You may propose new goals by editing this section.  We recommend you suggest any ''big'' goals on the [[SmashWiki talk:Character Project|talk page]].

==Character Awards==
Just an idea. Along with the Pros and Cons, a list of more specific awards given to each character. Examples: Most powerful Nair, Shorest Pose, longest range etc. Try to keep it technical, use http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30064 for reference.

===Redirects and links===
Try to turn character pages such as "Luigi" into disambiguations, instead of redirects.  Most of them right now are redirects to the Melee article.

===Eliminate "smasher bias"===
While SmashWiki needs to include information useful to competitive players, remember that most of our readers are casual players that don't want to be swamped by technical jargon and advanced strategy.  Thus, we need to revise each character page so that it is ''as accessible as possible''.  The focus of character articles should be ''first'' general aspects about the character, like weight and special attacks, and only ''afterwards'' competitive aspects. If there is staple info, try to sum it up as easily as possible. Demonstration clips may help.

====Pro/Cons====
The pro/con section in each article is useless to casual gamers, who don't understand or agree with most of the points, and don't know that the pro/cons apply only to tournament play.  We should attempt to turn each pro/con into a paragraph form, and move it to the back of each article under the heading "Pikachu in tournament play" or something of that ilk.

===Match-up pages===

Match-up pages have inherent "smasher bias," but at least we can inform the reader that the descriptions of each match-up only apply to tournament play.

Also, most of the information on these pages is taken from various character guides.  While the information is excellent, it is almost always written in a way that is inappropriate for SmashWiki.  Match-up pages are not ''guides'' to beating a particular character, but rather they ''inform'' the reader of how the match-up goes.  Thus, explain that [[Marth]] matches [[Falco]] because of his maneuverability and his up throw chain, despite Falco's pressuring lasers and pillars. But don't ''tell'' the reader to use these things.  In short, we need to vigorously edit every match-up page to meet SmashWiki standards.

==Guidelines==
Below are some general editing guidelines that can help make character articles as good as they can be.

===Character articles are not guides===
SmashWiki's character articles are meant to be a source of information about the character - they should discuss the character's moves, attributes, and high-level strategy.  ''They are not, however, guides''.  Guides directly instruct the reader how to use a character.  They freely reflect the author's opinions and include a lot of information inappropriate for a SmashWiki article.  When you revise an article, you need to avoid these pitfalls.  Always ask yourself "am I writing objectively about the character, or am I infusing my own opinion and directly addressing the reader?"  If you lean towards the latter, reconsider your edit.

One way to follow this guideline is to avoid using the word "you."   If you use the word "you," it is likely that you are guiding the reader instead of writing an objective article.

With regards to character strategy, never make judgments like "[[Luigi]] has the best [[aerial attack]]s in the game," or "it is always best to [[approach]] by [[SHFFL]]ing when using [[Fox]]." Instead, report professional strategies objectively, and let the reader evaluate.

===Write so a novice smasher can understand===
It is better to gear character articles towards a non-competitive audience, and avoid "[[smasher]] bias."  While it is a good idea to include some competitive information (how a character ranks on the [[tier list]], advanced strategy), a novice should be able to read and understand every article.  Thus, write them to be as accessible to a wide audience as possible, and expand the article beyond information useful to competitive smashers.

Some key "accessible-to-beginners" information to include in character articles:

* Special attacks (and any other notable attacks, such as [[Captain Falcon]]'s [[knee]])
* Basic attributes ([[weight]], [[jumping|jump height]]/number of jumps, [[dashing|dashing speed]])
* Basic graphical attributes ([[Mr. Game and Watch]]'s frame-by-frame movement, [[Mewtwo]]'s floating)

==Articles in this Project==

===[[Character]]s===
<center>
====[[Super Smash Bros.]]====
<small>[[Mario (SSB)|Mario]] • [[Donkey Kong (SSB)|Donkey Kong]] • [[Link (SSB)|Link]] • [[Pikachu (SSB)|Pikachu]] • [[Yoshi (SSB)|Yoshi]] • [[Fox McCloud (SSB)|Fox]] • [[Samus Aran (SSB)|Samus]] • [[Kirby (SSB)|Kirby]]</small></center>

<center><small>[[Luigi (SSB)|Luigi]] • [[Captain Falcon (SSB)|Captain Falcon]] • [[Ness (SSB)|Ness]] • [[Jigglypuff (SSB)|Jigglypuff]]</small>

====[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]====
<small>[[Mario (SSBM)|Mario]] • [[Pikachu (SSBM)|Pikachu]] • [[Bowser]] • [[Peach]] • [[Yoshi (SSBM)|Yoshi]] • [[Donkey Kong (SSBM)|Donkey Kong]] • [[Captain Falcon (SSBM)|Captain Falcon]]

[[Fox McCloud (SSBM)|Fox]] • [[Ness (SSBM)|Ness]] • [[Ice Climbers]] • [[Kirby (SSBM)|Kirby]] • [[Samus  Aran (SSBM)|Samus]] • [[Zelda]]/[[Sheik]] • [[Link (SSBM)|Link]]

[[Luigi (SSBM)|Luigi]] • [[Jigglypuff (SSBM)|Jigglypuff]] • [[Mewtwo]] • [[Mr. Game and Watch]] • [[Marth]]

[[Dr. Mario]] • [[Young Link]] • [[Ganondorf]] • [[Pichu]] • [[Falco]] • [[Roy]]</small>

====[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]====
<small>{{SSBB|Mario}} • {{SSBB|Luigi}} • {{SSBB|Peach}} • {{SSBB|Bowser}} • {{SSBB|Donkey Kong}} • {{SSBB|Diddy Kong}} • {{SSBB|Yoshi}} • {{SSBB|Wario}}

{{SSBB|Link}} • {{SSBB|Zelda}} • {{SSBB|Sheik}} • {{SSBB|Toon Link}} • {{SSBB|Ganondorf}} • {{SSBB|Samus}} • {{SSBB|Zero Suit Samus}}

{{SSBB|Pit}} • {{SSBB|Ice Climbers}} • {{SSBB|R.O.B.}} • {{SSBB|Kirby}} • {{SSBB|Meta Knight}} • {{SSBB|King Dedede}} • {{SSBB|Olimar}} • {{SSBB|Fox}}

{{SSBB|Falco}} • {{SSBB|Wolf}} • {{SSBB|Captain Falcon}} • {{SSBB|Marth}} • {{SSBB|Ike}} • {{SSBB|Ness}} • {{SSBB|Lucas}} • {{SSBB|Mr. Game and Watch}}

{{SSBB|Snake}} • {{SSBB|Sonic}}

===Match-ups===
<center>
====[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]====

<small>[[Mario Match-ups]] • [[Pikachu Match-ups]] • [[Bowser Match-ups]] • [[Peach Match-ups]] • [[Yoshi Match-ups]] • [[Donkey Kong Match-ups]] • [[Captain Falcon Match-ups]]

[[Fox Match-ups]] • [[Ness Match-ups]] • [[Ice Climbers Match-ups]] • [[Kirby Match-ups]] • [[Samus Match-ups]] • [[Zelda Match-ups]]/[[Sheik Match-ups]] • [[Link Match-ups]]

[[Luigi Match-ups]] • [[Jigglypuff Match-ups]] • [[Mewtwo Match-ups]] • [[Mr. Game and Watch Match-ups]] • [[Marth Match-ups]]

[[Dr. Mario Match-ups]] • [[Young Link Match-ups]] • [[Ganondorf Match-ups]] • [[Pichu Match-ups]] • [[Falco Match-ups]] • [[Roy Match-ups]]</small></center>

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