Board Thread:Projects/@comment-30128802-20170725074359

At the moment, we have a large variety of headings for character pages.

Category 1: "Background" is the lead heading Category 2: "Biography" is the lead heading
 * "Background" is the entire biography: Francis Pritchard, Tracer Tong, Ben Saxon, Masaaki Oshiro
 * "Background" followed by a [game name] heading: Lubos, Viktor Marchenko
 * "Background" followed by a story-related heading: Janus

Category 3: Other
 * "Biography" is the entire biography (the most common type): Jim Miller
 * "Biography" followed by a [game name] heading: Delara Auzenne
 * "Biography" followed by a story-related heading: (no example at the moment, but I believe we had these)

So there's a pretty good variety here, and I think we should make an effort to standardize. What's interesting is that different people tend to write aritcles under different heading styles, but editors rarely impose their own heading style on existing articles. I know we have guidelines, but the guidelines only state that "As a guideline on how to lay out article pages, a possible format is..."
 * [Game Name] is the lead heading: Radich Nikoladze, Tibor Sokol, Nosey
 * No heading: Richard

I think stronger guidance on article layout would be beneficial.

Personally, I'm ok with "biography" in general. If "biography" is used, I think headings like [game name] should be under "biography" and not following "biography", becuase the content in [game name] are also part of the person's biography.

In a way, "biography" isn't ideal in that some minor characters that don't have enough information for a "biography," and the article would then run afoul of the common understanding of "biography" as "a detailed description of a person's life" (as defined on Wikipedia). But I guess in a video gaming context, a "biography" can be much more informal.

Here's a quick survey of other Wikis:


 * Elder Scrolls Wiki: "Background" followed by "Interactions" (style guide)
 * Fallout Wiki: "Background" followed by "Interactions with the Player Character" (style guide)
 * Dragon Age Wiki: "Background" followed by "Involvement"
 * Mass Effect Wiki: "[Game Name]" is the typical lead heading, but some articles have a "Background" for characters with histories prior to the games
 * Grand Theft Auto Wiki: "History" is the main section, with subheadings "Background" and "Events of [Game]" (style guide)
 * Bioshock Wiki: "History" is the first section, then followed by "[Game Name]"
 * Assassin's Creed Wiki: "Biography" is the main heading
 * Metal Gear Solid Wiki: "Biography" is the main heading 