ARC Raiders Wiki:Style guide

This style guide serves as a style reference for contributors to the wiki and is regularly updated and maintained as necessary. Make sure to check out the editing guidelines.

Article titles

A title should always be exactly the same as the in-game name of the subject. When two or more subjects share the exact same in-game name, use parentheses to clarify the type of content.

Use the name as it appears in descriptions or pings (e.g. Looting Mk. 3 (Survivor)), rather than how it appears in UI headers (ALL CAPS).
If an article title is not based on an explicit in-game name, use Sentence case.
Do not use restricted characters like / { } [ ] < > | in titles. If an in-game name contains these, replace them with a hyphen or omit them completely. Use your judgment or ask for opinions.

Layout

A simple article should have at least an introduction section, and the rest can be added when needed. While different categories of pages might have a slightly modified structure, the complete basic structure is outlined below.

Basic structure

Before the introduction section

Parser functions (e.g. display title)
Related article templates
Maintenance templates (e.g. stub)
Infobox
Images (if no infobox)

Body

Introduction (also called the lead or summary)
Content
Gallery
Notes
References

Introduction section

An introduction summarizes the most essential points of an article, creating interest in the topic.

Subject should be defined within the first 250 characters.
Should be limited to a few paragraphs.
Subject should be mentioned as early as possible in the first sentence and should be bolded using triple apostrophes (e.g. '''Looting Mk. 3''').
Certain information, such as strategies and trivia, should be in a separate section instead of in the introduction.

Section headings

When creating sections, use ==Title== for a primary section and for each sub-section, increase the level without skipping levels.

Spaces around the markup and text are optional and ignored (e.g. == Title ==).
Use sentence case, except for in-game names (e.g. Raider, ARC, Power Rod) which must always retain their in-game capitalization.
Keep headings short
Don't use numbering or lettered lists.
Don't phrase headings as a question.
Don't put links, citations or references within the heading.

Internal links

Only link to the same article once, unless the article is very long or the links occur within a template. For example, if you mention "Raider" multiple times, only link it the first time it appears.

Instances further apart may be linked to more than once; it is up to you how far apart to place repeated links.
If most elements of a list are links, then link to an article as many times as needed in that list.
For simple plurals (s, es), piped operators are unnecessary. For example, use [[Raider]]s instead of [[Raider|Raiders]].
If the link already uses a piped operator, the plural must be included inside the markup. (e.g. [[Matriarch (condition)|Matriarch conditions]] not [[Matriarch (condition)|Matriarch condition]]s.

External links

Avoid linking to external sites in the main article with the exception of any official ARC Raiders or Embark sites. External links are allowed in the References section only if they are used to verify specific in-game data or official news.

Capitalization

Avoid unnecessary capitalization. It is primarily needed for proper nouns, acronyms, and for the first letter of a sentence.

The names of items and systems should follow their in-game names (e.g. Power Rod, Looting Mk. 3, Trials).
Certain names are always capitalized as per official lore, even if they aren't acronyms (e.g. ARC).

Writing style

Use American English. This is in keeping the same language, style, and spelling as used in-game.
Use an encyclopedic writing style with a formal tone.
Avoid first and second person writing. Do not use "I" "we" or "you". For example, use "Raiders can find" instead of "You can find".
Avoid personal ideas and opinions (e.g. The Hairpin is the worst gun in the game).

Numbers

Use a comma as the thousands separator for numbers greater than 1,000.
- Most templates will automatically format the number.

Images

Put thumbnails in the relevant section using |thumb
Avoid placing thumbnails at the end of a section.

File names

File names should be descriptive and should contain the subject of the file to allow them to be easily found when searching. Make sure that all words in the file name are spelled correctly to avoid the need to rename a file in the future.

Quests

Quest file names should contain the quest name and what the context. For example, "A Balanced Harvest - Entrance" should be used instead of a generic "Quest entrance".

Icons

Icons should contain "Icon" at the start of the file name. (e.g. Icon Merit)