Illerai:Granularity

This page in a nutshell:

Pretty much anything notable, excluding players, may have its own article.

Many articles on this wiki are about relatively minor things, from hay bales to needles. We encourage gathering information on even the minutest scale. All items, non-player characters (NPCs), quests, whatever, are worthy of their own article, except in special cases where it is decided to combine or delete an article by consensus.

Consensus has shown that "NPC" in this context is defined to be any character whose control is automated by the RuneScape software (as opposed to human players and macros). Whilst most NPCs have common features (such as their name appearing as yellow text in-game) and interactivity options (for example, players are usually able to attack or talk to NPCs as a minimum), characters who do not have these features are still worthy of their own article, even though they are not interactive.

To merge, or not to merge?

Follow these guidelines when deciding on keeping two articles separated or merged:

1. Does item A have the same purpose/use as item B?
2. Can item A be substituted with item B?

Common examples from the main RuneScape Wiki with answers to above questions:

• Potions
  1. Yes, all potions have the same effect when used.
  2. Yes, as 3-dose can be replaced with 4-dose.
  • Decision: Merge
• Raw/cooked food
  1. No, raw food is for cooking and may contain details about acquiring it (fishing locations / experience points etc.). Cooked food is for eating and may include details of hitpoints healed and cooking methods.
  2. No.
  • Decision: Keep separate
• Food portions (eaten over multiple bites; such as pizza)
  1. Yes.
  2. Yes.
  • Decision: Merge
• Diary reward items
  1. No, higher level items have more abilities than lower level items.
  2. No, lower level items cannot be used in place for some higher level abilities.
  • Decision: Keep separate
• Items/Monsters with similar names
  1. No.
  2. No.
  • Decision: Keep separate
• Charged items (such as the amulet of glory)
  1. Yes, all charges essentially have the same purpose.
  2. Mostly yes, the charges can do the same thing at 1+ charges remaining.
  • Decision: Merge
• Different/trimmed versions of armour/weapons
  1. and 2. Depends, use this question, "Do they look the same when worn/equipped?"
  • Decision: If yes, merge. Otherwise, keep them separate.
• Different types of the same race
  1. Either mostly yes, or no.
  2. No. They might be the same race, but are different.
  • Decision: Keep separate for mostly yes and no at #1

NPC granularity

NPCs with attackable counterparts or confirmed to be the same person should not be split - instead there should be a switch infobox used to show the different varieties unless there are extreme differences, such as Amascut: The Amascut case is extreme in that Amascut is a god and she also plays major roles in multiple quests through multiple characters. NPCs with attackable counterparts can make use of strategy subpages to prevent page cluttering.

Monster granularity

1. Different named monsters must have different articles
2. Monsters of different combat levels must have different articles unless:
   • They have very similar or identical drop tables AND
   • They are found in the same location and all variants can attack and be attacked
3. If a monster variant needs to be differentiated from other monsters with the same name:
   • If the variant is located in only one location, and is the only such variant to appear in that location, the location name appears in parenthesis after the name
   • If the variant is located in multiple locations, or if is found in one location with other variants that are not applicable for merging under rule #3, (level XX) or another easily distinguishable characteristic appears in parenthesis after the name.

Image granularity

When items and NPCs which look identical in-game have separate articles, they should link to separate images. For example, the inventory icons for Ashes and Pile of salt currently look identical, but the icons' image files (File:Ashes.png and File:Pile of salt.png) should be (and are) separate.

Keeping separate images for separate items (or NPCs), even when they look identical, is less confusing, promotes organisation, and reduces the work required if the images diverge.

Exceptions

• Actual players - per RS:PLAYERS
• Transcripts should be moved to the Transcript: namespace and titled Transcript:PAGENAME. Book transcripts, including texts that can be read, but not picked up, should have their respective transcripts on their own page under a header labelled transcript. A summary of the included transcript can be added as well, if the transcript is particularly lengthy.

Remember

As with any policy, use common sense instead of just blindly following the policy.