Latin
Registered
Greetings all, I’m Latin and my home region is Ajax. Today I’ll be talking about IIwiki – an online encyclopedia. IIwiki is much like Wikipedia, except that it is written by NSers. Articles are written on a plethora of topics. These articles may provide a broad overview of a player’s nation in the form of a traditional nation page, or expand on specific topics relating to a player’s concepts – such as internal politics, war and military, or characters.
Getting Started
The best way to get started writing an IIwiki article, after reading the site’s Standards and Conventions,(1) is simply to read Wikipedia articles or Featured Articles on IIwiki. These articles provide great examples, and oftentimes prove a great source of inspiration on how to format your articles, writing styles, and demonstrate what makes a good wiki article to help set your article apart. For example, if you’re writing a nation page, check out some nation pages on Wikipedia, get a feel for what sort of information is included and the style of the writing. If you’re writing about character articles, be sure to look at some biographical pages. Note that I’m not telling you to just copy and paste the information – that is plagiarism. Instead, you are analyzing the page to see what is included; this could be the types of information included or tables or infoboxes. Once you have done this, compare that to what details you would include from your own nation when you begin writing your own articles.
This is often intimidating when first looking at a Wikipage’s editing code, especially custom tables.(2) Often times, my first suggestion to people is to start small with a factbook-like page on their nation. This allows the writer to get their first taste of working with infoboxes,(3) which in this instance is very straightforward by placing information – whether statistics, names of national leaders, dates of national importance or formation, etc. – next to a specific marker such as “|capital =”, for example.
One will often notice that, generally, all nation articles on Wikipedia follow a similar structure. Naturally, there is an introductory section where relevant information is placed. I find that a basic introduction can be handled in at least four paragraphs. These opening introductory paragraphs often include very basic descriptions of location, government structure, history, economy and any international organizations that the nation holds membership. Once complete, other topics often included in the article are: History, Geography and Climate, Politics and Government, Military, Economy, Culture, etc.(4) Often times these headings will include subtopics, with suggestions that are linked below.
Expanding your articles
Though it is always my recommended first step, nation pages are a very small set of what wiki-writing entails. After completing a nation page or getting a feel for IIwiki, the next direction is one that is entirely in your control as the writer. It is one of the best things about this style of writing. You might choose to write an article about the nation’s legislature, its military, language – really whatever interests you or is most relevant to your style of writing on NS.
Knowing when to give a topic its own page is sometimes an issue you can come across. Even this week, I found myself asking whether I should search for a format that would allow me to show the composition and details of at least eight sub-national legislatures, or if each deserved an article of its own. This led me to search for a page that included information on all US state legislatures, or if local councils in the United Kingdom were compiled into one Wikipedia article. Luckily both articles exist, but I'm still yet to decide which approach to take.
This is a major part of my process for a few reasons. First, it is a strong method to ensure that you comply with the site’s Standards and Conventions, while keeping your writing in a neutral point-of-view. Second, by searching around its possible to expand your ideas through exposure or stumble upon the perfect format style that you might otherwise not have thought was available.
Wiki-writing and Roleplaying
While wiki-writing is great for worldbuilding, it also has a use as a supplemental source for roleplaying. This might be in the form of a character biography page or an ongoing narrative where the article is created over the course of an RP. There are useful to provide a quick guide to either the major (or even minor) characters in a story or to give a brief overview of a conflict or major event.
Aside from the obvious articles detailing a conflict that plays out in RP, one of my preferred methods is using IIwiki to create character pages. This allows me to have a quick reference for major characters that appear in my RP writing, and offer it to my writing partners for the same thing.
Final Thoughts
In summary, wiki-writing is an excellent tool to worldbuild your concepts or to help support an RP. All of the tools are easily accessible and when in doubt, ask around. I always find that there is someone willing to lend a hand or offer suggestions.
Footnotes
(1) IIWiki Standards and Conventions: https://iiwiki.us/wiki/IIWiki:Standards_and_Conventions
(2) Table information can be found here.
(3) “An infobox is a fixed-format table usually added to the top right-hand corner of articles to consistently present a summary of some unifying aspect that the articles share and sometimes to improve navigation to other interrelated articles.” Help:infobox; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Infobox.
(4) Link to the iiwiki help page providing assistance on starting your nation page.
Getting Started
The best way to get started writing an IIwiki article, after reading the site’s Standards and Conventions,(1) is simply to read Wikipedia articles or Featured Articles on IIwiki. These articles provide great examples, and oftentimes prove a great source of inspiration on how to format your articles, writing styles, and demonstrate what makes a good wiki article to help set your article apart. For example, if you’re writing a nation page, check out some nation pages on Wikipedia, get a feel for what sort of information is included and the style of the writing. If you’re writing about character articles, be sure to look at some biographical pages. Note that I’m not telling you to just copy and paste the information – that is plagiarism. Instead, you are analyzing the page to see what is included; this could be the types of information included or tables or infoboxes. Once you have done this, compare that to what details you would include from your own nation when you begin writing your own articles.
This is often intimidating when first looking at a Wikipage’s editing code, especially custom tables.(2) Often times, my first suggestion to people is to start small with a factbook-like page on their nation. This allows the writer to get their first taste of working with infoboxes,(3) which in this instance is very straightforward by placing information – whether statistics, names of national leaders, dates of national importance or formation, etc. – next to a specific marker such as “|capital =”, for example.
One will often notice that, generally, all nation articles on Wikipedia follow a similar structure. Naturally, there is an introductory section where relevant information is placed. I find that a basic introduction can be handled in at least four paragraphs. These opening introductory paragraphs often include very basic descriptions of location, government structure, history, economy and any international organizations that the nation holds membership. Once complete, other topics often included in the article are: History, Geography and Climate, Politics and Government, Military, Economy, Culture, etc.(4) Often times these headings will include subtopics, with suggestions that are linked below.
Expanding your articles
Though it is always my recommended first step, nation pages are a very small set of what wiki-writing entails. After completing a nation page or getting a feel for IIwiki, the next direction is one that is entirely in your control as the writer. It is one of the best things about this style of writing. You might choose to write an article about the nation’s legislature, its military, language – really whatever interests you or is most relevant to your style of writing on NS.
Knowing when to give a topic its own page is sometimes an issue you can come across. Even this week, I found myself asking whether I should search for a format that would allow me to show the composition and details of at least eight sub-national legislatures, or if each deserved an article of its own. This led me to search for a page that included information on all US state legislatures, or if local councils in the United Kingdom were compiled into one Wikipedia article. Luckily both articles exist, but I'm still yet to decide which approach to take.
This is a major part of my process for a few reasons. First, it is a strong method to ensure that you comply with the site’s Standards and Conventions, while keeping your writing in a neutral point-of-view. Second, by searching around its possible to expand your ideas through exposure or stumble upon the perfect format style that you might otherwise not have thought was available.
Wiki-writing and Roleplaying
While wiki-writing is great for worldbuilding, it also has a use as a supplemental source for roleplaying. This might be in the form of a character biography page or an ongoing narrative where the article is created over the course of an RP. There are useful to provide a quick guide to either the major (or even minor) characters in a story or to give a brief overview of a conflict or major event.
Aside from the obvious articles detailing a conflict that plays out in RP, one of my preferred methods is using IIwiki to create character pages. This allows me to have a quick reference for major characters that appear in my RP writing, and offer it to my writing partners for the same thing.
Final Thoughts
In summary, wiki-writing is an excellent tool to worldbuild your concepts or to help support an RP. All of the tools are easily accessible and when in doubt, ask around. I always find that there is someone willing to lend a hand or offer suggestions.
Footnotes
(1) IIWiki Standards and Conventions: https://iiwiki.us/wiki/IIWiki:Standards_and_Conventions
(2) Table information can be found here.
(3) “An infobox is a fixed-format table usually added to the top right-hand corner of articles to consistently present a summary of some unifying aspect that the articles share and sometimes to improve navigation to other interrelated articles.” Help:infobox; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Infobox.
(4) Link to the iiwiki help page providing assistance on starting your nation page.