MarioWiki:Proposals

Clarify how to italicize merchandise titles in articles
This is what Manual of Style currently states regarding italicization of media titles in articles: The wiki has decided it proper to respect all games, series, movies, television programs, albums (music) and publications (print: comics, books and magazines) by italicizing all of their titles...

This policy does a good job covering the vast majority of media (i.e. all digital games, audiovisual media, and print media), with the only type of media not covered being physical merchandise. All of this media is listed in Template:Merchandise, which has led me to notice inconsistencies in how the titles of merchandise are italicized. For example: This proposal aims to fix these problems by standardizing how merchandise is italicized. I've tried to keep the proposal as simple as possible; my apologies if this is unnecessarily complicated.
 * Despite both being board games, Mario Kart Wii Grand Prix is italicized, while Monopoly Gamer is not.
 * LEGO Super Mario only italicizes the name of the Super Mario franchise and not the name of the LEGO brand, but Super Mario Backpack Buddies leaves the entire title unitalicized, including the Super Mario franchise name.
 * None of the food media have italicized titles (i.e. breakfast cereals such as Nintendo Cereal System and Super Mario Cereal, and other packaged food such as Sunshine Biscuits Super Mario Bros. Chocolate Cookies and Keebler Mario Kart Fudge Stripes.
 * The Video Game Super Stars action figure brand is italicized, but other unique brand names, such as Trading Card Treats, are not.

I want to limit unnecessary voting options, so if one thing comes out of this, it's clear that the titles of physical tabletop games (board games, card games, and others such as Donkey Kong Jenga) should be completely italicized, because they are objectively games just like any digital game, and they should thus fall under existing italicization policy. What's left is to decide how the titles of other merchandise types should be italicized, if at all.

As a clarification, only official merchandise titles should be considered for italicization, i.e. titles that are clearly displayed on the merchandise's packaging, on the item itself, or otherwise from a reliable source, such as the manufacturer's website; a title from a source such as an Amazon or eBay listing is too unreliable, and a unitalicized, general description of the item can be used instead in those cases.

There are three notable features of many Super Mario franchise merchandise: Note that in this context, brand names should not be confused with the names of the companies that manufacture and/or sell the brands, such as First4Figures, Mattel, or Taco Bell; these should be left unitalicized. As an example, Freiberger is a company, Pizzatainment is one of their brands, and Triple Salami Explosion is one of the products sold under that brand.
 * Unique brand names used to distinguish a series of merchandise, most commonly with collectibles such as the Super Mario Trading Card Collection, Nintendo Super Secrets, and the aforementioned Trading Card Treats.
 * Names of games and series in the Super Mario franchise, as well as the franchise itself. These should already be italicized per existing policy.
 * Product names used to title each item in a series, such as the Burger King "Donkey Kong Time Racer" toy. A product name can also be given to standalone items, such as the Mushroom Bank. Because these are almost used simply to describe a product in the same way as an unofficial brief description, I believe these can safely be left unitalicized. I haven't included many options regarding these to keep voting options to a minimum, though please let me know if there is a valid argument against this.

Because of these features, I see four possible choices for italicization of the titles of non-tabletop-game merchandise:
 * Completely italicize the entire title, just like the other media already described in MarioWiki:Manual of Style.
 * Italicize any unique brand names and Super Mario games or series, but do not italicize any other words.
 * Only italicize the name of a Super Mario game, series, or the franchise if it appears in the title, but do not italicize any brand names or other words.
 * Do not italicize the title at all.

My personal choice from these options would be to italicize the names of any unique brand names and Super Mario games or series, but leave any other words unitalicized. I believe this would be the best balance between leaving all merchandise titles subject to a lack of standardization and brazenly italicizing merchandise titles where it may be unwarranted, though I can see a valid argument being made for most of the other options.

The option that receives the most votes should be explicitly listed as a guideline on MarioWiki:Manual of Style, under the "Italicizing titles" header. Please bring up any points of confusion or contention in the comments.

Proposer: Deadline: June 16, 2023, 23:59 GMT

Fully italicize titles of tabletop games, and italicize only the names of unique brands and Super Mario games or series otherwise

 * 1) Per proposal.
 * 2) This makes the most sense.
 * 3) Works for us, since this definitely is most in line with how we usually format things as-is, and the tabletop games should've been fully italicized from the start.
 * 4) Per all.

Fully italicize titles of tabletop games, and italicize only the names of Super Mario games or series otherwise

 * 1) MLA makes a point to italicise board game titles in as recently as their 9th edition book. The wiki already adopts MLA's style guide for video game titles, so doing the same thing with board games (as well as other types of tabletop games for that matter) seems pretty consistent to me. As for brand names, MLA states they should be formatted without italics, so you'd have Super Mario Trading Card Collection written as such, with "Super Mario" written in italics since the wiki currently does this for media franchise names. Though, there should be another discussion on whether media franchises should be considered works (and thus warranting italicisation) or brands; MLA isn't clear on that distinction, and the most relevant article of theirs I could find only regards book/movie series and trilogies.

Fully italicize titles of only tabletop games, and do not italicize titles of other merchandise

 * 1) Wikipedia italicizes board and card games and doesn't capitalize other merch. I don't really see the point in italicizing franchise names within the name of another product which could possibly already have some italicization going on.

Comments
According to Grammarly, titles of board games and card games shouldn't be italicized, but Wikipedia italicizes board game titles. Shouldn't only the name of a franchise or video game in the title of a board game or card game be italicized to be grammatically correct? Dwhitney (talk) 12:30, June 10, 2023 (EDT)
 * Although you have a fair point, after reading the Grammarly article about italics, I have some contention regarding point 6, which discusses italicizing game titles. First of all, to follow Grammarly's guidelines not to italicize board game titles would go against, which says that video games, board games, and trading card games should be italicized. From my understanding, this is because these games are fully self-contained pieces of media, rather than a smaller work which would appear in a larger piece of media (such as a Mario Party minigame, an episode of a TV show, a song in an album, or an article in a magazine). The Grammarly article also claims that apps also qualify as long, published works that should be italicized, despite the fact that I have never seen a single written source &mdash; whether it be a casual conversation, a Super Mario Wiki article, a Wikipedia article, or an academic research paper &mdash; italicize the names of apps. Finally, although this point isn't as objective, including all tabletop games as media that should be italicized simply helps avoid confusion, making the process of italicizing titles as easy to follow as possible without being clearly incorrect. 20:03, June 11, 2023 (EDT)

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