Category:Game Mechanics

[Sorontar]

Discussion thread for Category:Game Mechanics (http://www.birthright.net/brwiki/index.php/Category:Game Mechanics). If you would like to add a comment, click the Post Reply button.

[Sorontar]

I have been refining the descriptions for a few categories based on what has been placed in them, and moving some things around.


Category:Glossary - terms used on Cerilia by characters
Category:Game Terms - terms used by rulebooks and players


However, Category:Game Mechanics has a description that seems to have been lifted from the BRCS intro. As such, it is meaningless and I want to just cut it down to defining what should go in the category (as is the norm for most BRwiki category descriptions).

My problem is defining what is in Game Mechanics that makes it distinct from Game Terms. Should Terms be a subcategory of Mechanics and no articles be in both? Should Terms be removed entirely and all its members shifted to Mechanics? If so, could Mechanics then be a subcategory of Glossary (which Terms presently is)?

And should I start up a Category: Wiki Terms for terms relating to the wiki, e.g. policies, Birmail, stub, spam etc? Should these things be placed in a different category? Should they just be left with Game Terms?

Sorontar

[kgauck]

I would say crunch goes in Game Mechanics, while game terms is for words we might take for granted, or are important in other respects, but would not be something we could take for granted.

We should probably have a separate wiki terms category. We could also do with more and some re-written style pages.

[Sorontar]

A some good example articles are "bloodline" and "regency".

Both are terms that would be used by Cerilians, so they should be in Glossary.
Both are very important to running Birthright games, so perhaps they should be in Game Mechanics.

But neither are "technical terms" due to their usage on Cerilia, so they don't belong Game Terms. And neither article gives strict rules or "mechanics" so perhaps they shouldn't be in Game Mechanics.

In contrast, "bloodline score" and "regency point" are not terms that used by Cerilians, so they should not be in Glossary.
They are technical terms, so they should be in Game Terms.
They are vital to running Birthright games, so they should be in Game Mechanics.

Of course, it doesn't help that "regency" presently redirects to "regency point"

But I hope this indicates where my confusion is. I am having trouble working out what the definitions of the categories should be and how they should relate to each other, if at all.

Sorontar.

[kgauck]

I think both terms, "bloodline" and "regency" are technical terms, because they are necessary to understand to build characters and manage domains. Agreed that BP and RP are more crunchy and certainly also mechanical.

If B and R are in glossary and terms, and BP and RP are in terms and mechanics, I think we're in good shape.