Category talk:Steam Applications

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Revision as of 02:06, 13 April 2006 by Giles (talk | contribs) (Discussion on category changes (please read and comment))
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Changing the structure of these categories

The structure of these categories keeps changing, without any discussion. I don't think it's productive to just keep changing stuff unilaterally in the hope that some workable layout sticks, so here is a new rule I just made up for these categories:

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE CHANGES TO THESE CATEGORIES WITHOUT DISCUSSING YOUR PLANS HERE FIRST. CHANGES MADE WITHOUT DISCUSSION ARE LIABLE TO BE REVERTED

Right, some discussion. The current structure is now:

  • Steam Applications
    • Freeware Applications
      • HL1 Third Party Mods
      • HL2 Third Party Mods
      • Mods in Alpha
      • Mods in Beta
      • Released Mods
      • Tools
        • Hammer
    • Official Addons
    • Official Demos
    • Official Games
      • Official Goldsource Games
      • Official Source Games
      • Official third party games
      • Official Third Party Goldsource Games
      • Official Third Party Source Games
    • Third Party Tools

Is it me, or is that ridiculously complex?

These are the principles that I think this list should adher to:

  • The purpose of this category is to provide a list of all games (inc. mods and non-Source/Goldsource titles) to allow people browsing to quickly and efficiently find the article they are looking for.
  • Articles should appear in the subcategories/this category only once.
  • The subcategory tree should only be one deep. There should not be subcategories within subcategories because this conceals information from people attempting to browse the list.
  • Subcategories should be named in an intuitive manner, so that people browsing can quickly work out where they can find what they are looking for. ("Freeware applications" isn't an intuitive way of describing "mods", imo.)
  • Games that are mods built using the SDK and games that are built using a full Source engine license are different and so should be kept separate.
  • It is desirable to have a more detailed mod list, which can be browsed according to "singleplayer/multiplayer", "released", "alpha/beta/etc". (But this should be done without having articles appear more than once.)
  • Simplicity is a virtue.

Based on these principles, I propose the following category structure:

  • Steam Applications
    • Valve Games (including games/demos/addons made by Valve and games made by other developers based on Valve properties)
    • Source-engine licensed Games
    • Other Games on Steam
    • Goldsource (HL1) Mods
    • Source (HL2) Mods
  • Mods (note the separate top-category; this is to stop duplicate entries appearing under Steam Applications)
    • Mods in Alpha
    • Mods in Beta
    • Released Mods
    • Singleplayer Mods
    • Multiplayer Mods

Please feel free to share your opinions on any of this. I propose that when it comes to major changes, discussions be held for a period of at least 3 days before any changes are made. Giles 02:06, 13 Apr 2006 (PDT)


Cleanup

"Official Addons", "Official Mods", "Official third party games" and "Official Third Party Mods"? IMO, this subcategorisation is vague and ambiguous. I'm not really convinced 4 categories are required to categorise all the available information and even if that's the case, these really don't seem to be the right categories. Why are expansion packs listed under "mods"? What's an addon that makes it not a mod? What makes an official mod third-party or not? (CS:CZ was partially made by Turtle Rock, right? Etc.)

Perhaps a better classification would be "Valve-made/Not-Valve-made" or "Valve IP/Not-Valve-IP". Instead of "Official" (since it isn't really very clear what that means), "Professional" or "Commercially released" would then be more appropriate?

Also, if it were possible to browse the subcategories according to what is released and what is still under-development, and also what is single-player and what is multiplayer, I think that would also be beneficial to people trying to use these pages to find information.

Maybe I'm wrong, so I thought I'd put the cleanup tag on the article and see what others thought, instead of just diving in and fiddling around. :)

Giles 05:50, 17 Mar 2006 (PST)

I don't think CS, DoD and all the others should be called mods anymore. Of course they are mods technically, but they can be installed and purchased separately and that is what makes them (stand-alone) games in my opinion. -Koraktor
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