Pikipedia:Spoiler policy

From Pikipedia, the Pikmin wiki

Pikipedia aims to have full coverage of the aspects in the Pikmin series, within reason. As such, it will contain information that could spoil the experience a player gets when they try a part of the game for the first time by themselves. Such information is considered a spoiler.

While Pikipedia does take some measures to minimize the spoiling potential of the information, reader discretion is still advised.

Minor spoilers[edit]

Because what may count as an experience that can be spoiled for some may be considered trivial for others, minor spoilers on the wiki will not be marked. Another reason for this is that if they were to be marked, most pages would be littered with such warning tags.

Major spoilers[edit]

Whenever possible, Pikipedia attempts to hide or warn about major spoilers. The definition of a major spoiler is vague, but in general, a reward for a difficult challenge, an important aspect of the storyline (specially near the end of a game), or a solution to an important puzzle or deep secret will likely be considered a major spoiler. Pikipedia wants to bring information to the readers while, at the same time, keeping them safe from having their most important gameplay moments spoiled. But for the sake of the encyclopedic value of the wiki, as well as the convenience of most readers, these anti-spoiler warnings and measures will be minimal.

Recent games[edit]

On the following weeks after a new game is released, readers run the risk of reading spoilers, which is more likely since not many players will have gotten that far in the game themselves. To help with that, Pikipedia aims to include a warning on top of articles or sections that could spoil players' experiences. Because not a lot of players know about most of the game, several more things must be marked as spoiler than what is normal, like mid-game puzzles or minor plot points.

After six months have passed, these new game warnings are removed in order to make the wiki more streamlined. In theory, this period is long enough so that most players to already know about most of the game's plot, secrets, and solutions by that point.

For other details about new game content, including handling of leaks, see Pikipedia:New game policy.

Handling spoilers[edit]

On the wiki, there are a few ways for editors to handle spoilers such that readers who are trying to avoid them can continue to do so.

Explicit spoiler warnings[edit]

Pages or sections that contain a lot of spoilable material will likely start with a warning that notifies the reader about it. On the same warning, the reader can expect to find what elements of the series run the risk of being spoiled. From here, the reader can decide whether or not they wish to continue. The warning is placed with the {{spoiler}} template, and should look like the following:

Hidden information[edit]

For pages and sections that don't normally contain major spoilers, the information will be displayed like normal, but if a major spoiler has to be included, it will likely be contained inside a block of text that can be shown or hidden by the reader with the click of a button. Most of the time, the section will be visible when the page loads, and can be hidden with a button that will appear before the text itself, accompanied by a warning. This feature relies on Javascript, so if it is not running on the web browser, the text will not be collapsible. These spoilers, called with {{spoiler section}}, look like this:

Warning: the following text contains major spoilers.

This text would contain some major spoiler.

New game spoilers[edit]

For recent games, the template {{new game spoiler}} should be placed atop of articles or sections that contain spoilers of that game. The warning should also explain what exactly gets spoiled, so that readers can judge whether or not they want to continue. These warnings look like this:

The following contains spoilers about a recently released game.

Implied spoiler warnings[edit]

Although rare, at times, the editors write the information such that section introductions or links to different articles will not explicitly state that major spoilers follow, but it can be assumed by the reader. A simple example would be for the article to link to a page about a final boss, but in doing so, also stating that it is a final boss; spoiler-worried readers would avoid the link in the first place as a result. Example:

"This trait is reminiscent of the final boss in the game, the Titan Dweevil.", instead of just "This trait is reminiscent of the Titan Dweevil."

Avoiding spoiler material altogether[edit]

For parts of the wiki where a vast majority of readers visit, the best course of action is to avoid writing or referring to spoiler-heavy material entirely, unless necessary, of course. A good example would be to avoid any final boss-related content on the front page's did you know section.

Another point in which it would be ideal to decrease spoilers is when a certain game's page refers to spoilers in a different game. For instance, on the page for Pikmin 3's final boss, the Plasm Wraith, there's not much point in avoiding spoilers, seeing that if the reader is reading this, they know they will receive all sorts of Pikmin 3 spoilers. But the reader may not be willing to have their Pikmin or Pikmin 2 experience spoiled, so information about major spoilers in those games should be minimized.