Welcome to theassessment department of theWikiProject Video games! This department focuses on assessing the quality of Wikipedia's video games articles. The resulting article ratings are used within the project to aid in recognizing excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work, and are also expected to play a role in theWP:1.0 program, and more specifically in theVideo games essential articles page.
The assessment is done in a distributed fashion through parameters in the{{WikiProject Video games}} project banner; this causes the articles to be placed in the appropriate sub-categories ofCategory:Video game articles by quality, which serve as the foundation for anautomatically generated worklist.
To request reassessment, add|reassess=y to the{{WikiProject Video games}} banner on the article's talk page. Articles needing reassessment are listed inCategory:Wikipedia video game articles for reassessment.
|reassess=y to the{{WikiProject Video games}} banner on the article's talk page.|reassess=y to the{{WikiProject Video games}} banner on the article's talk page), and someone will take a look at it. Alternately, you can ask any member of the project to rate the article again. Please note that some of the available levels have an associated formal review process that must be followed—this is documented in theassessment instructions.An article's assessment is generated from theclass parameter in the{{WikiProject Video games}} project banner on its talk page:
The following values may be used:
FA (adds articles toCategory:FA-Class video game articles;should only be used for articles that are currently listed asfeatured articles)FL (adds articles toCategory:FL-Class video game articles;should only be used for articles that are currently listed asfeatured lists)
GA (adds articles toCategory:GA-Class video game articles;should only be used for articles that are currently listed asgood articles)
B (adds articles toCategory:B-Class video game articles)
C (adds articles toCategory:C-Class video game articles)
Start (adds articles toCategory:Start-Class video game articles)
Stub (adds articles toCategory:Stub-Class video game articles)
List (adds articles toCategory:List-Class video game articles)
Disambig (fordisambiguation pages, adds articles toCategory:Disambig-Class video game articles)
Redirect (forredirect pages, adds articles toCategory:Redirect-Class video game articles)There are other classes used byWP:VG which are automatically assessed by the template based onnamespace, andshould not be rated manually. These classes areCategory,File,Portal,Template,Project,Book,Draft, andNA orNon-Article (for pages in theUser,Help andMediawiki namespace). All other articles should fit somewhere in the above grading scheme. A full list of valid class names and abbreviations can be found atTemplate:WikiProject Video games/class.
Articles for which a valid class is not provided are listed inCategory:Unassessed video game articles. The class should be assigned according to the quality scale below.
| Class | Criteria | Reader's experience | Editing suggestions | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FA | The article has attainedfeatured article status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers fromWP:Featured article candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets thefeatured article criteria: Afeatured article exemplifies Wikipedia's very best work and is distinguished by professional standards of writing, presentation, and sourcing. In addition to meeting thepolicies regarding content for all Wikipedia articles, it has the following attributes.
| Professional, outstanding, and thorough; a definitive source for encyclopedic information. | No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible. | Doom (1993 video game) Jill Valentine Wii |
| FL | The article has attainedfeatured list status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers fromWP:Featured list candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets thefeatured list criteria:
| Professional standard; it comprehensively covers the defined scope, usually providing a complete set of items, and has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about those items. | No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible. | List ofHalo media List ofNintendo 64 games List of songs inGuitar Hero |
| GA | The article meetsall of thegood article criteria, and has been examined by one or more impartial reviewers fromWP:Good article nominations. More detailed criteria Agood article is:
| Useful to nearly all readers, with no obvious problems; approaching (though not necessarily equalling) the quality of a professional publication. | Some editing by subject and style experts is helpful; comparison with an existingfeatured article on a similar topic may highlight areas where content is weak or missing. | The Last of Us Part II Waluigi Clannad Rain World |
| B | The article meetsall of theB-Class criteria. It is mostly complete and does not have major problems, but requires some further work to reachgood article standards. More detailed criteria
| Readers are not left wanting, although the content may not be complete enough to satisfy a serious student or researcher. | A few aspects of content and style need to be addressed. Expert knowledge may be needed. The inclusion of supporting materials should be considered if practical, and the article checked for general compliance with theManual of Style and relatedstyle guidelines. | Plok! Blizzard Entertainment Mario |
| C | The article is substantial but is still missing important content or contains irrelevant material. The article should have some references to reliable sources, but may still have significant problems or require substantialcleanup. More detailed criteria The article cites more than one reliable source and is better developed in style, structure, and quality than Start-Class, but it fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements, or need editing for clarity, balance, or flow. | Useful to a casual reader, but would not provide a complete picture for even a moderately detailed study. | Considerable editing is needed to close gaps in content and solvecleanup problems. | Bushido Blade Buckshot Roulette |
| Start | An article that is developing but still quite incomplete. It may or may not cite adequate reliable sources. More detailed criteria The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas. The article has one or more of the following:
| Provides some meaningful content, but most readers will need more. | Providing references toreliable sources should come first; the article also needs substantial improvement in content and organisation. Improve the grammar, spelling, and writing style; decrease the use of jargon. | Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Attack of the Earthlings |
| Stub | A very basic description of the topic. Meets none of the Start-Class criteria. | Provides very little meaningful content; may be little more than a dictionary definition. Readers probably see insufficiently developed features of the topic and may not see how the features of the topic are significant. | Any editing or additional material can be helpful. The provision of meaningful content should be a priority. The best solution for a Stub-class Article to step up to a Start-class Article is to add in referenced reasons of why the topic is significant. | Airfight As of August 22 2024 |
| List | Meets the criteria of astand-alone list orset index article, which is an article that contains primarily a list, usually consisting of links to articles in a particular subject area. | There is no set format for a list, but its organization should be logical and useful to the reader. | Lists should be lists of live links to Wikipedia articles, appropriately named and organized. | List ofStar Wars video games |
| Type | Top This article forms the basis of all information. | High This article covers a general area of knowledge. | Mid This article fills in general knowledge of specialized topics. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game genres and vocabulary | Core genres and vocabulary (e.g.,video game,role-playing video game,video game console) | Broad sub- and cross-genres and gaming hardware (e.g.,4X,action role-playing game,tactical role-playing game,Grand Theft Auto clone,video card,level) | Broad game concepts (e.g.,boss,New Game Plus,1-up) |
| History and events | Critical impact events or broad historical eras (e.g.,history of video games,first generation of video game consoles) | Major milestone, specific eras and landmark rulings (e.g.,Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.,golden age of arcade video games,video game crash of 1983) | Policies or rulings that had an impact on a specific class of games (e.g.,Family Entertainment Protection Act,Sega v. Accolade) |
| Companies, organizations, websites | Highly influential companies, particularly the major Japanese, American, and European companies involved in video game production (e.g.,Blizzard Entertainment,Capcom,Nintendo) | Top developers and publishers (e.g.,Epic Games,Ubisoft), top events and non-production companies (e.g.,Electronic Entertainment Expo) | Most other well-known companies in the industry (e.g.,IGN,Game Informer) |
| Video games and series (main article) | {{{1}}} | Series and games that have been shown to have a lasting impact on a genre, culture or the industry itself; typically a few years are needed to assess this impact (e.g.,Pokémon,Final Fantasy,Super Mario 64,Tetris,Metroid,Minecraft) | Achieved wide commercial success, critically acclaimed or had a substantial subculture effect outside of their country of origin (e.g.,Alone in the Dark,Cuphead,Touhou Project,Grim Fandango,Super Meat Boy) |
| In-game elements: characters, settings, etc. | {{{1}}} | Elements, mostly characters, that have become cultural icons outside of a series, including company mascots (e.g.,Pikachu,Mario,Sonic) and other widely recognized or significant characters (e.g.,Luigi,Zelda,Doomguy,Lara Croft,Master Chief,GLaDOS) | Well known, individually or as list, characters, settings and items typically appearing as the primary protagonist/antagonist, main location, or staple item in a long-running game series (e.g.,Fox McCloud,Jin Kazama,Ivalice), or playing a somewhat less major role in a more major series (e.g.Wario,Knuckles) |
| Individuals | {{{1}}} | Individuals with a career of highly influential works, or historically significant accomplishments (e.g.,Shigeru Miyamoto,Hideo Kojima,Tim Schafer,David Jones) | Individuals with a career of internationally successful or critically acclaimed works (e.g.,Chris Metzen,Cliff Bleszinski) |
| Hardware | {{{1}}} | Major and significant video game platforms and hardware recognized via the "top" history articles (e.g.,Xbox 360,PlayStation 2,GameCube,Game Boy,Atari 2600) | Minor video game platforms (e.g.,Atari Jaguar,N-Gage,Sega 32X,3DO) |
| Other topics or lists | {{{1}}} | {{{1}}} | Notable gaming phenomenons and specialized topics (e.g.,Video games as an art form,Let's Play) |
| Video game articles by quality and importance | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | Importance | ||||||
| Top | High | Mid | Low | NA | ??? | Total | |
| FA | 2 | 70 | 101 | 115 | 288 | ||
| FL | 1 | 4 | 96 | 101 | |||
| FM | 39 | 39 | |||||
| GA | 6 | 121 | 544 | 1,740 | 2,411 | ||
| B | 17 | 159 | 429 | 1,436 | 2,041 | ||
| C | 32 | 343 | 1,170 | 5,106 | 4 | 6,655 | |
| Start | 62 | 651 | 21,629 | 3 | 22,345 | ||
| Stub | 35 | 7,464 | 7,499 | ||||
| List | 99 | 1,389 | 21 | 1,509 | |||
| Category | 11,254 | 11,254 | |||||
| Disambig | 170 | 170 | |||||
| File | 40,961 | 40,961 | |||||
| Portal | 8 | 8 | |||||
| Project | 372 | 372 | |||||
| Redirect | 21 | 15,259 | 15,280 | ||||
| Template | 2,070 | 2,070 | |||||
| Other | 4 | 743 | 747 | ||||
| Draft | 57 | 57 | |||||
| Assessed | 57 | 756 | 3,033 | 39,000 | 70,954 | 7 | 113,807 |
| Unassessed | 1 | 6 | 14 | 21 | |||
| Total | 57 | 757 | 3,033 | 39,006 | 70,954 | 21 | 113,828 |
| WikiWork factors (?) | ω =194,152 | Ω = 4.71 | |||||
The process of going through unassessed articles can become mundane quickly. To speed up the process you can use theKingbotk plugin for theAutoWikiBrowser if you are running Windows. This tool requires admin approval (generally, only users with over 500 edits in the mainspace are accepted) before a user can make edits with the tool. After approval, the Kingbotk plugin can beset up to make assessments with the{{WikiProject Video games}} tag. For further details on installation and setup visit the pages for AutoWikiBrowser, Kingbotk plugin, and Generic WikiProject templates.
For editors who do not have AWB permission or who would like to be able to assess individual articles without launching AWB, Evad37's userscriptRater is still much faster than manually copying and pasting templates on talk pages. This is the updated version ofKephir's script, and is actively maintained and significantly improved. It includesORES-generated quality suggestions to assist users as well as several hotkeys and other improvements. Users of Kephir's script are recommended to try the newer script.
Afull log of assessment changes for the recent past is available; unfortunately, due to its extreme size, it cannot be transcluded directly.