MarioWiki:Proposals

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r149/Deadringerforlove/dessert1.jpg A proposal section works like a discussion page: comments are brought up and replied to using indents (colons, such as : or ::::) and all edits are signed using the code.

This page observes the No-Signature Policy.

How To
 * 1) Actions that users feel are appropriate to have community approval first can be added by anyone, but they must have a strong argument.
 * 2) Users then vote and discuss on the issue during that week. The "deadline" for the proposal is one week from posting at:
 * 3) *Monday to Thursday: 17:00 (5pm)
 * 4) *Friday and Saturday: 20:00 (8pm)
 * 5) *Sunday: 15:00 (3pm)
 * 6) Every vote should have a reason accompanying it.
 * 7) Users who feel that certain votes were cast in bad faith or which truly have no merit can address the votes in the Comments section. Users can ask a voter to clarify their position, point out mistakes or flaws in their arguments, or call for the outright removal of the vote if it lacks sufficient reasoning. Users may not remove or alter the content of anyone else's votes. The voter can remove or rewrite their own vote at any time, but the final decision to remove another User's vote lies solely with the Administrators.
 * 8) " # " should be added under the last vote of each support/oppose section to show another blank line.
 * 9) All proposals that end up in a tie will be extended for another week.
 * 10) If a proposal has more than ten votes, it can only pass or fail by a margin of three votes. If a proposal reaches the deadline and the total number of votes for each option differ by two or less votes, the deadline will be extended for another week.
 * 11) Any proposal that has three votes or less at deadline will automatically be listed as "NO QUORUM." The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
 * 12) No proposal can overturn the decision of a previous proposal that is less than 4 weeks (28 days) old.
 * 13) Proposals can only be rewritten or deleted by their proposer within the first three days of their creation. However, the proposer can request that their proposal be deleted by a Sysop at any time, provided they have a valid reason for it.
 * 14) All proposals are archived. The original proposer must take action accordingly if the outcome of the proposal dictates it. If it requires the help of a Sysop, the proposer can ask for that help.
 * 15) There shouldn't be proposals about creating articles on a underrepresented or completely absent subject, unless there is major disagreement about whether the content should be included. To organize efforts about completing articles on missing subjects, try creating a PipeProject.
 * 16) Proposals can not be made about System Operator promotions and demotions. Sysops can only be promoted and demoted by the will of Bureaucrats.
 * 17) If the Sysops deem a proposal unnecessary or potentially detrimental to the upkeep of the Super Mario Wiki, they have the right to remove it at any time.
 * 18) No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters, and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.

The times are in EDT (UTC -4:00), and are set so that the user is more likely to be online at those times (after work/school, weekend nights). If a proposal is added on Saturday night at 11:59 PM EDT, the deadline is the next Saturday night at 8:00 PM. If it is a minute later, the deadline is a day plus 15 hours (Sunday), as opposed to a day minus 4 hours.

Basic Proposal and Support/Oppose Format
This is an example how your proposal should look like, if you want it to be acknowledged. If you are inexperienced or unsure how to set up this format, simply copy the following and paste it into the fitting section. Then replace the [subject] - variables with information to customize your proposal, so it says what you wish. If you insert the information, be sure to replace the whole variable including the squared brackets, so "[insert info here]" becomes "This is the inserted information", not "[This is the inserted information]". - ===[insert a title for your Proposal here]=== [describe what you want this Proposal to be like, what changes you would suggest and what this is about]

Proposer: Deadline: [insert a deadline here, f.e. "5 January, 2010, 17:00". Rule 2 above explains how to determine a deadline]

====Support====

====Oppose====

====Comments==== - Users will now be able to vote on your Proposal, until the set deadline is reached. Remember, you are a user as well, so you can vote on your own Proposal just like the others.

To support, or oppose, just insert " # at the bottom of the section of your choice. Just don't forget to add a valid reason for your vote behind that tag if you are voting on anoother user's Proposal. If you are voting on your own Proposal, you can just say "Per my Proposal".

CURRENTLY: , 27 2024 (EDT)

Talk Page Proposals
All proposals dealing with a single article or a specific group of articles are held on the talk page of one of the articles in question. Proposals dealing with massive amounts of splits, merges or deletions across the Wiki should still be held on this page.

How To

 * 1) All active talk page proposals must be listed below in alphabetical order. All pages effected must be mentioned in the brief description, with the talk page housing the discussion linked to directly via "". If the proposal involved a page that is not yet made, use to communicate its title. The Deadline must also be included in the entry. Linking to pages not directly involved in the talk page proposal is not recommended, as it clutters the list with unnecessary links.
 * 2) All rules for talk page proposals are the same as mainspace proposals (see the "How To" section above), with the exceptions made by Rules 3, 4 and 5, as follows:
 * 3) Voting in talk page proposals will be open for two weeks, not one.
 * 4) Talk page proposals may closed by the proposer if both the support and the oppose sides each have fewer than five votes.
 * 5) After two weeks, a clear majority of three votes is required. Without the majority, the talk page proposal will be listed as "NO QUORUM".
 * 6) The talk page proposal must pertain to the article it is posted on.

List of Talk Page Proposals
''NOTE: Disorganized talk page proposals created before the current system may be running much longer than the standard two week voting period. In place of a deadline, these are marked as "overtime" and require immediate attention and resolution.''


 * Merge Cobalt Shard into Cobalt Star (Discuss) Deadline: 6 January 2010, 17:00
 * Merge Crystal Bit into Crystal King (Discuss) Deadline: 1 January 2010, 20:00
 * Merge Dancing Spear Guy into Spear Guy (Discuss) Overtime
 * Merge Elevator Key (X-Naut) into Elevator Key (Discuss) Deadline: 9 January 2010, 20:00
 * Merge Fiery Bubble into Podoboo (Discuss) Deadline: 9 January 2010, 20:00
 * Merge the Luigi's Mansion elemental ghosts (Discuss) Deadline: 3 January 2010, 15:00
 * Fire Elemental Ghost
 * Water Elemental Ghost
 * Ice Elemental Ghost
 * Merge Gadd Science, Incorporated into List of Implied Organizations (Discuss) Deadline: 9 January 2010, 20:00
 * Merge Mario's Shirt into Mario, or simply delete it and ban the creation of any other page concerning clothing that does not affect affect gameplay. (Discuss) Deadline: 9 January 2010, 20:00
 * Merge Maude and Flo into a single page, . (Discuss) Overtime
 * Reorganize the "Metal" pages so that all information pertaining to the forms in general are found on Metal Mario, whereas metal characters get stand-alone articles. - Overtime
 * Merge Metal Wario into Metal Mario. (Discuss)
 * Split Metal Mario into and . (Discuss)
 * Move form aspects of Metal Luigi into Metal Mario, leaving information pertaining to the character in Super Smash Bros. Melee on the Metal Luigi article. (Mentioned in above Discussion pages.)
 * Merge Navi into List of Cameos, and possibly rename the entry as "Fairy". (Discuss) Overtime
 * Merge Ultra Shroom into Ultra Mushroom. (Discuss) Deadline: 5 January 2010, 17:00

Miis
I am new here and not sure If I'm doing this correctly, but I propose to extend what this wiki covers to a greatly overlooked part of the Mario universe. Miis.

The reasons for this are, 1) They could be considered crossover from other series. 2) I think that they may play a larger part in the Mario series in the future.

To help back this, I wish to point out that Sonic and DK have numerous pages dedicated to them. These barely make the cut, and so, I think this is precedence enough to add these and other overlooked series characters part of the wiki.

Proposer: Deadline: 5 January 2010, 17:00

Oppose

 * 1) - Our current coverage of Miis is fine; they have all of their appearances listed, and their article is featured. They do not originate in the Mario series, so they don't need any more coverage. And if they will become more important in the future, then the future will be the right time to expand this info. As for now, we live in the present.
 * 2) Per Edofenrir.
 * 3) - First of all, did you know that the Mario Series is actually a sub-series of the Donkey Kong Series? That's why we cover Donkey Kong games and characters. We don't cover, the Sonic Series, except the Sonic characters that appear in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. So right there, you know why we have all those articles dedicated to those series. If that's not enough, per Edo.
 * 4) &mdash; Per Edo.
 * 5) Per the fury of Fawful.
 * 6) As said time and time again, our current Miis article covers them enough. Indeed we have multiple pages for DK and Mario characters as they appear in multiple places as different things. We're not dedicated to Miis or any of that such. Until then we don't need any other Mii articles added.
 * 7) - Per EdO!!! and I dont like miis....
 * 8) - per Tucayo.
 * 9) - Per All
 * 10) I am Zero! The coverage of the Miis are fine as they are; all third party characters (Miis can sort of be considered third party) only have info covering there cross over (not including there info boxes), and the information given about the Miis conserning there appearence in the Mario series is just fine. Zero signing out.
 * 11) - Per all.
 * 12) PEr all.
 * Per all.

Comments
Fawfulfury65: Really? I thought it was vice versa regarding the Donkey Kong thing. Still, something that splits off the main series would still be allowable on the Mariowiki, such as the Yoshi games.
 * Well, Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong so...

What are we even voting on? What would happen if the proposal passes? Have a list of possible Mii faces? That's not even realistically doable. -

If the proposal does pass, we will probably have to make articles on things like Wuhu Island and all those games featuring miis.

@Zero: Miis were made by Nintendo. Thus, they are not third party.
 * I'm pretty sure he was just using "third party" as a way to refer to character originating outside the Mario series (is there an actual term for those? "Third party" nor "Crossover" seem like accurate titles). BabyLuigiOnFire and Fawfulfury65: the original Donkey Kong titles are not considered part of the recent Donkey Kong series (i.e. Donkey Kong Country, DK: King of Swing, Donkey Konga, etc.), and are usually organized so that the emphasis is on their relation to the Mario series (see and ). At most, the two series are equally spun-off of the original Donkey Kong, but that does not make Mario a spin-off of the ongoing Donkey Kong series. -

Mario Wiki Pulse
I suggest to put a new section on the main page, it shall be called the "Mario Wiki Pulse". Basically it's just something that shows the top five to twelve articles most seen in that week.

note: if this is not possible to do then remove this proposal.

Proposer: Deadline: 7 January 2010, 15:00

Give it a Pulse

 * 1) I am Zero! Well there wasn't that much to say since it is so simple but it is a good idea. Zero signing out.

Let it pass [away]

 * 1) A really bad article may end up getting on the front page which may give the wiki a bad reputation. There is a reason why we have featured articles, it's to make us look great. But having bad articles on the main page isn't so great. Besides, there may be a possible repeat of the featured article on the list. And I don't see any point on what article gets seen the most. We are here to provide information, not to showcase what articles were the most viewed this week or whatsoever.

sidelines (comments)
Fawfulfury65: Sorry, but "I like this idea" is not a reason why you should support. Please list your reason why you support this proposal.

I think I like this idea, this could be interesting. BLOF, I don't think there's a problem with having bad articles on the Main Page. There's already the "Pages Seeking Contributors" section where we list bad articles, after all. Also, our most important article, which may be the most-viewed one, is quite bad actually. It may help to improve those articles, so why not? There's still one problem though: We already have a lot of stuff on the Main Page. A way to solve this would be to get rid of the Featured Image section. We hardly had any new nominations recently, looks like we're running out of good images, so I think it's time to say good-bye to it. If you modify your proposal so that we replace the Featured Images with the "Pulse", and if it's realizable technically, you have my vote.

Removals
''None at the moment.

Splits & Merges
''Please note: From here on out, no new splits or merges will be accepted in this area. All splits and merges must be done on talk pages, as this section is reserved for talk page proposals. The below proposal is allowed to stay because it was initiated before the new rule was put into practice.''

Split Category:Special Moves
While patrolling, I found that tehre is no such category as "Moves", so all of the things that will clasify as normal moves, are listed as special, so I propose we choose which from the Special Moves are not special, and are just "moves". Since when is Jump something special? It is the most common and ordinary thing in the Mario series. You can post in the comments section which Special MOves you dont think are Special. For example, some things as the Baby Drill is special, because it is something that is not commonly done, while something as Baby Toss simply isn't, because it is just throwing the babies. How will they be separated? I think that most of the SM are found in RPG's, moves like the Green Shell, Copy FLower, and those. Normal Moves are the ones you can "Normally" do, like jumping, baby tossing, high jumping, perhaps.

Proposer: Deadline: 3 January 2010, 15:00

Create the Moves category

 * 1) - Per me.
 * 2) - I don't consider Jump to be a "special" move.
 * 3) Yeah I was just thinking about that category today. Jump isn't a special move at all!
 * 4) - Per all.
 * 5) - I just browsed Category:Special Moves, and there seems to be enough material to warrant the creation of a new Category. When splitting however, please take into account what I said in the comment section.
 * 6) I am Zero! I notice that a few months back I didn't really care, but that is a good idea. Since hen jump considered a special? Zero signing out.
 * 7) There's nothing so special about "Jump" and "Gulp" concerning with the main series so why list them under the Special Moves Category? I agree with this proposal, make a normal moves section. Why isn't there a normal moves category yet?
 * 8) Per all.
 * 9) - Per all.
 * 10) - So it would be just Moves and Specials (or Special Moves)? That sounds excellent and more organzied than the constuction zone we have now...
 * 11) &mdash; Per all.
 * 12) Per All.

All moves are special

 * &#124; I agree completely, but this needs to have 3 or more votes to pass because it has 10 "agree" votes

Comments
Please consider that the term "Special Move" comes directly from gameplay jargon and is not determined by how out-of-the-ordinary the action in question is. Wheter something is a normal move or a special move depends on how it is accessed and executed, not what exactly it is. In an RPG f.e. special moves are those moves that are an alternative to the plain "attack" command. They usually, but not necessarily, consume a certain source of power, like FP. Basically, everything action different from a character's normal way of attack is a special move.

If we split this category into two, then the Jump you mentioned would be in both categories. It is Mario's normal way of attack in most games, but in SMRPG gameplay, it qualifies as a special move. Because of this ambiguation, I cannot make my decision solely on the base of Jump. Do you have any other examples? -
 * I tried to clarify it :) Feel free to comment. And yes, in the way you put it, i think Jump should be in both.
 * Reading some of the comments above, one has to wonder if anybody actually reads the comment section... -

Create Gallery Pages
The merchandise pages have been in a mess for a while. I propose a change to the current system by merging together merchandise pages into gallery pages. The only merchandise not affected by this proposal are books, publications, and Mario themed games since there is a lot of information to be covered. The gallery system has worked on a few pages like Figurines and Toys. Of course, the galleries won't be exactly like those pages. The descriptions will be more neutral and organization will be by manufacturer or type.

Reasons why this change would benefit the wiki:


 * 1) Many stubs and short pages would be removed.
 * 2) Many dead-end pages would removed.
 * 3) Easier to read about multiple merchandise objects at once.
 * 4) More organization and easier for editors.
 * 5) Fan-made or fan-named products won't have separate articles.

The gallery pages to be created are as follows:


 * Clothing – Anything that is designed to be worn.
 * Food – Anything consumable or used in consumption, like Mario themed gummy worms or Mario themed plates.
 * Toys – Anything that can be interacted with, like yo-yo,r McDonald's promotional item, or plushiess.
 * Miscellaneous – Things that just don't fit anywhere else, like a Mario Neon Sign.

Things that will be done if this proposal passes:


 * 1) All the merchandise images will organized by the above categories.
 * 2) All the previous merchandise pages will be deleted since the redirects will serve no purpose.
 * 3) New merchandise pages will be deleted and any images will be relocated to appropriate galleries.
 * 4) The Merchandise page will be organized like this.

Proposer: Deadline: 4 January 2010, 17:00

Support

 * 1) – Per my proposal.
 * 2) - Per Knife.
 * 3) I am Zero! When I looked at the merchandise article you are right, it is a mess, it will be a good idea to do that. Zero signing out.
 * 4) Per Knife.
 * 5) - Per Knife.
 * 6) There's nothing to say when it comes to merchandise, so placing this on a gallery page is needed. I deem this proposal necessary.
 * 7) - Per proposal

Comments
Um...what is that proposals thing in the draft?

Ignore that part.
 * I know, I was just letting the general public know

I think Toys and Collectibles should just be one page (as "Toys"), since it's hard to draw a clear line between them; some people collect anything and everything, while others simply play ("interact") with it all, especially kids (when I was little, I didn't care if my dinosaurs were "models", "figurines" or "action figures" - they were all just toys to me). Board games could probably fit in Toys too, and then anything that absolutely could not be played with (like neon signs or collector's cards) could go in Miscellaneous. Also, will Nintendo Monopoly be merged into the galleries? It seems substantial enough to keep its own separate page. -

Points taken.-- 23:47, 29 December 2009 (EST)

Listen, while this idea may be good on the short term -- in the long term, we will realize that some of the items like Nintendo Monopoly, and possibly other notable items may have enough info to create their own article. Info would have to include: the official name (if it has one), how it was promoted in some way, which company did they make this product, when it was released, and all that info that is good for creating an entry for a merchandise item. I had some plans that have to do with merchandising, but I'm focusing on the following things: Userspace, and the Mario Party 1, 2, and/or 3 mini-game articles. 02:18, 30 December 2009 (EST)

Changes to the coverage of Crossover Series
The Mario Wiki covers a lot of Super Smash Bros. content quite excessively. We do feature every facet of the games, its characters, stages, items, music, trophies, etc. This is in accordance to Coverage and I'm not proposing against this content being on the wiki. However, I feel that a lot of information is on the wiki two or three times. The articles Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are all big list articles. They already cover most of everything we could possibly want to know about the games (aside from splits like Subspace Emissary).

The games' articles already contain information about the playable characters, their bio and their special moves. The articles also explain all the stages, and all the items. The articles for the characters, items and stages are only repeating that information, and add very little to it like the trophy information. But the trophy information for all trophies can already be seen on Trophy Descriptions (SSBM). Thus, I think the articles are rendered a little bit superflous, and they would do better if simply merged with the main games' articles. This would not remove any substantial content about Smash Bros. from the wiki, it would just make us not repeat ourselves that often.

I propose the following: Not touched are:
 * Merge non-Mario characters into the SSB articles. This includes characters like Mewtwo. This does not include Link, as he also appeared in a Mario game. But the SSB information on the Link article would be shortened to only say he appeared in the game and link to it. The SSB information in the Mario article would not be removed.
 * Merge stages that did not make an appearance in Mario games. This includes Mute City. It also includes Yoshi's Story (stage), as it never appeared in a Mario/Yoshi game by itself.
 * Merge non-Mario items. Mario items would still contain information about their effects in SSB games. (Star Rod would have an individual discussion because of its oddity in this case. It is not covered by this proposal.)
 * Subspace Emissary
 * Trophy, Trophy Descriptions (SSBM), Trophy Descriptions (SSBB)
 * Everything else I didn't mention above.

If any content that is on the individual articles is not featured on the game's articles, it can be added with the merge. This is still a better solution than having huge amounts of duplicate content lying around all over the wiki. If this proposal passes, it will also _not_ change the way we handle Mario & Sonic content.

Proposer: Deadline: 5 January 2010, 17:00 EST

Support Changes

 * 1) - repeated information doesn't help anybody.
 * 2) - Per Cobold, repetition is bad... So, Per Cobold.
 * 3) - Per Cobold.
 * 4) I am Zero! That is a good idea, why does information had to repeat several times. Zero signing out.
 * 5) - I hate me for doing this, and I never thought I would agree on this, as I always opposed it, but in the way Cobold puts it, I think this is the best for the wiki.
 * 6) - Per all.

Oppose Changes

 * 1) Tons of articles, created throughout years, just merged together? It's a very big shame if this happens. The Super Smash Bros. is a series pertaining to Mario. The Mario series has the most appearing things in this series, and plays a big role. All the items, stages and characters pertain more to Mario than some of the other articles. Also, this doesn't benifit the Mario Wiki and rather detriments it.
 * 2) Per Reversinator. The only thing I support merging are the stages, but nothing else. It just seems really stupid...
 * 3) Per Reversinator.
 * 4) Per Reversinator.
 * 5) This will break consistency regarding to such characters. Characters like Kirby would still have his own article while characters like Snake are all merged into one article? This applies for everything else regarding Super Smash Bros. too. Better leave it as it is.
 * 6) Per BLOF.
 * 7) - Per Reversinator.

Comments
When you say "Merge non-Mario characters into the SSB articles" do you mean merging the characters into List of X articles or into the respective game articles?-- 20:21, 29 December 2009 (EST)
 * Into the respective game articles. -

I don't really fancy the idea of merging around two to three hundred articles, but if this gets merged, so should other crossover charactersr in other games, no?
 * It would apply to Itadaki Street DS, Tetris DS, and the likes. Mario & Sonic is a bit different as it has Mario in the name. -

What makes stages less important than characters? -

Hm... what are we going to do about SSB-related articles that also have some other interesting info, e.g. this one (cameos in SMRPG and MKWii) or that one (cameo in Club Nintendo)?
 * This would be a similar situation as with Link, I assume... -
 * I'm not sure if Link should really get a separate article just because of this small SMRPG role. (Ignore that part, I didn't notice he appeared in some DK and Wario games as well.) However, he was a major character in a few Club Nintendo comics, so his article will stay anyway. But the articles I've mentioned have only cameo appearances really.
 * Then we might consider merging it with the List of Cameos... -
 * What about Kirby? He had major role in a Club Nintendo comic. And Samus? She never had a major part in a Club Nintendo comic, but appeared in SMRPG and the WarioWare games, but don't those count as cameos? --
 * I think the Kirby article would definitely be kept, since he appeared in Mario comics (they could be considered crossover comics, but they are clearly named after Mario, so...).
 * Hm, and Whispy Woods? His role in the Wunderland comic is very minor. --Grandy02 15:11, 30 December 2009 (EST)

I really think you should redefine the proposal. The header is good, but the proposal itself seems to be targeted only towards the SSB series. Since you've included Itadaki Street and Tetris DS, you should probably define what kind of crossover series you are including in this proposal. Mario & Sonic is not affected, but what about Club Nintendo articles or Wario Blast? Will articles on crossover characters like Mametchi or Cactuar be effected? Second, shouldn't the character articles be merged elsewhere? The game articles are extremely long as it is.-- 12:49, 30 December 2009 (EST)
 * I'm confused about the handling of other crossovers, too. Regarding Itadaki Street DS, should it be solely decided on the name "Mario" in the title? It is a crossover between two series, Mario and Dragon Quest, and not more than a dozen of series like in Super Smash Bros. --Grandy02 15:11, 30 December 2009 (EST)
 * I have to admit that I did not put much thought into other crossover series. It just strikes me that Smash Bros. does not even have a 50% ratio of Mario content, yet we feature it on the wiki for 200% and more. If you have suggestions on how to handle those, I'd appreciate them. We can also delay the decision for further proposals. I feel like the 1 week deadline is a bit short to discuss this properly, especially around New Year. I don't want to hastily decide the fate of a lot of articles. In similar fashion, I think we could have a separate poll/vote on whether the mentioned characters/stages/items should be condensed into just the game articles or be kept in a separate "List of Characters in the Super Smash Bros. Series" and similar articles. -

Should articles such as HAL Laboratory, Sora Ltd., and Masahiro Sakurai be merged into different articles as well, as they were only involved in making the SSB series, and not necessarily Mario?
 * Those could be included as well, but they are not a big focus. They can be decided on a case-by-case basis. -
 * Cobold, some of the stages play no role in the Mario series except serving as am arena in Brawl so we should merge them, but the characters are well written and it would be a shame to just merge them all. The only way if this were to work is if you were to delete the info and state something like: Olimar is a playable charcter in brawl. His moves are blah, blah, and blah. Also some charcters like Ness and Capt. Falcon appear in more than just one game, so that'd be another problem. Some items also appear in all the smash games too.

@BabyLuigiOnFire & Fawfulfury65: This is not true. Characters such as Kirby would keep their article because they made notable appearances outside the SSB series. Imagine there were no SSB series at all, then Kirby would still have his article (because of his other appearances). So this proposal doesn't break consistency.

But there is a SSB series, and so every character needs a separate article.
 * But the question is whether we should cover the SSB series as if it was a Mario series, and I think there are good reasons why we shouldn't.


 * Yeah, I agree with that. SSB is a spin-off of the entire Nintendo series, and is not part of the Mario series. It is its own separate series. But since Mario is involved, we have to cover it, right? And the series has more Mario representation than the other series, just like Reversinator said.

Actually, it does break consistency if the proposal isn't expanded to include all crossover series, not only the SSB series. @Cobold: According to Rule 10, you only have today to rewrite the proposal. I suggest you delete it for now and recreate the proposal once you've planned everything out.-- 19:17, 31 December 2009 (EST)

Use Present tense for In-game elements/events
As I edit articles, I see in-game events being told in past tense(ex. "Level 4 consisted of these enemies..."), present tense(ex. "The boss of Level 4 is..."), and even future tense(ex. "The player will then encounter Donkey Kong..."). Some articles use multiple tenses in the same paragraph which, obviously, is grammatically incorrect and looks unproffesional. Of course, actual events in real life that happened in the past or will happen in the future should be their respective tenses. But in-game events, which happen each time somebody plays the game, should be in present tense.

To enforce/clarify this, creating a policy may be a good idea as well should the proposal pass. This would help people to write articles in present tense when creating a new one, as well as edit existing articles to match the policy.

Proposer: Deadline: 6 January 2010, 17:00

Support

 * 1) - I have waited a long time for such a proposal! Splendid! Per Garlic Man!
 * 2) - I was thinking about making this exact proposal earlier today, but I wasn't sure if there was already a guideline like this. I've come across unfitting past tense phrases in a lot of articles, mainly those about recurring enemies. Using past tense to describe how an enemy acts in a game makes it seem as if that game didn't exist anymore, or nobody could play it anymore, which is obviously not the case. I've been fixing some of it here and there, but there's a lot more of it still. If no guideline like this exists yet, there definitely should be one.
 * 3) - I admit that I wrote several articles in past tense (especially when related to the WarioWare cutscenes), but my views have changed. Pure fiction should be handled as such and there really needs to be a guideline.
 * 4) I'm always wondering what tense should I write in when it comes to revising articles (most of the time, I use past tense, because I probably think that the game event already happened). This proposal is necessary.
 * 5) I am Zero! Hmmm I never notice that, but you are correct, using a combination of past, present, and future ghost tense is very unprofessional. Zero signing out.
 * 6) per LeftyGreenFatMan (not an insult, I know my sister, she won't take that as an insult). No variety is allowed when it comes to tenses, according to the grammar rules. I was pondering what tense to write in, and this is the solution.
 * 7) - Per my annoyance at in-article tense-jumping and not knowing which way to standardize it.
 * 1) - Per my annoyance at in-article tense-jumping and not knowing which way to standardize it.

Comments
I don't see what's wrong with the future tense example in your proposal description. IMO, some variety can't hurt.

Look at the talk page for Lou Albano. Apparently, with real life people, if they die, then the article must be changed to the past tense.

Time Q: Grammar doesn't allow variety when it comes to tenses. If it's present tense, for example, then the whole article has to be present tense.

Well, I think we should use the tense that is used here. I rewrote that article because it was in present simple and sounded really bad. I think that some sentences as :"The MEssage Block provides" are correctly written in present, but some other as "The fourth Dragon coin can be found" should use that tense. Present perfect, IIRC. ANyways, both are presents.
 * "...can be found" is simple present as well, it's just a passive construction. Present Perfect is a construction with "has/have", i.e. "has been found". Present Perfect can also be used in a Simple Present text quite well; "after Mario has [done something], he can" etc. It's mostly a matter of how tenses are used really; "Mario has completed the level" etc. could not be used in a Simple Present text. I guess the guideline/policy/whatever shouldn't limit the tense to Simple Present (that would actually exclude Present Progressive as well, which can be useful in some cases), but simply require that the overall text should be in the "present".--
 * Nice, thanks. And also, the article said before things like :"After a couple of more Rex and the second Dragon Coin, a Super Mushroom pops out of a bush when the player passes. That sounds really bad, as well as unprofessional. Wll those things be allowed?
 * The fact that that sentence sounds bad doesn't seem to have much to do with the tense. It should go without saying imo that articles should be well-written; the proposal's point appears to be that in-game events should be treated as such, taking into consideration they're going to occur everytime someone plays the game.--

Reversinator: Biographies and such that describe real life events that happened in the past should be past tense(ex. "Brawl was released the following year...").

But what would you put if you want to say Mario will fight a boss after going through an area full of spikes?
 * "The player then must fight a boss after going through an area full of spikes".