Gswiki:Style guide/Free festivals

Free festival articles give players information on GameMaster-led festivals that occur in GemStone IV. Free festivals are multi-day events that do not require SimuCoins to participate in, but will still require silvers for purchases. They are typically held on grounds in or near local cities or towns that characters will need to travel to through conventional means (walking or chronomage). Venues do not change for these particular festivals, with the exception of the premium festival on Mist Harbor. The festivals are often meant to focus on and/or celebrate a specific city or town, race or culture, or significant historical event. Many of the festivals are considered smaller in order to cater to the more localized nature of the event. Additionally, for the sake of categorization, caravans (groups of traveling merchant shops) that are not specifically tied to a festival or other event should be treated in the same manner as free festival shops.

Main Article Format

All free festival article pages should follow a standard format to establish consistency across these pages when presented to users. An example of how this should be presented can be found on the Category:Festival of Lumnea page.

Article Name

In order to ensure information is maintained in an organized manner, the free festival article should be set up as a category page, with the name reflective of the overall event, ex. Category:Festival of Lumnea. Having the page set up as a category page allows for all pertinent articles, subpages, and subcategories to be properly organized with it, and eliminates the chance of redundancy when separating the category and main article.

When considering multi-venue events, such as the premium festival, there should be an overall category page for event, with venue (colloquially: location) information separated into their own subcategories under the main category. For information on handling multi-venue pay events, please see Multi-Venue Article Format.

Artwork/Maps

Promotional artwork for an event, if available, should be the first item entered into the wiki editor in order to ensure it aligns properly with the contents of the page. The code entered for the artwork should be [[Image:(File name.extension)|550px|right|(caption)|alt=(alternative text/image description)]], ex. [[Image:TheKindredGames 1920x1080.png|550px|right|The Kindred Games|alt=Beneath the words "The Kindred Games" stands a muscled gnome with arms flexed, his face bearing an expression of victorious elation.]]. Entering it in this manner will align the artwork in the top right hand corner at a reasonable size for the page.

If promotional artwork is unavailable, using a player-created map in its place is recommended, if available. The code for a player-created map will differ from that of promotional artwork as it will require proper attribution as noted in GSWiki:Copyrights. Maps would typically be set up at a reasonable size for the page, but as a thumbnail to allow the image to be captioned, ex. [[Image:Festival of Lumnea 2018.png|500px|right|Map of Festival of Lumnea 2018]]. As maps are not easily described for the purpose of accessibility, alternative text may be omitted for them.

Table of Contents

If promotional artwork is unavailable for an event, the first item to be entered into the wiki editor is the table of contents. Otherwise, the table of contents will follow the code entry for the artwork. The table of contents should be entered into the wiki editor as right page aligned, where it will show up underneath the artwork or in the top right hand corner of the page. The reason for the right alignment is due to the length the table of contents may grow to depending on the amount of subheaders in the article. This should be entered as {{TOCright}}.

Introduction

An introductory sentence or paragraph should follow the table of contents entry. If any part of the page has collapsible sections or tables, a "toggle all content" toggle is required at the top of the page, after the introduction. Please see Collapsed Section help page for instructions on how to do this.

Subheaders

Free festival category pages should be set up with an overview of information that will carryover from one instance to the next, which may include a schedule of raffles, events, or merchants, if applicable. Certain points of information from the most recent instance (or year) of the festival should be transcluded to the main category page for easy viewing by users as outlined below, while simultaneously ensuring that prior instance instance information is retained by year on the applicable subpage.

Subheaders should be used to disseminate information properly, with the key information at the top, and additional information, by order of importance towards the bottom. As free festivals are typically narrower in scope, the amount of information necessary to be published on the main event category page is similarly smaller. The below list offers a breakdown of the primary subheaders used on these pages, as well as what information is expected to be transcluded to them.

• Run Dates - Run Dates should follow the page's introduction as ==Subheader 2==
  • Current - This subheader falls under Run Dates as ===Subheader 3===. This should house the current, or most recent, information regarding the event's run dates. In the case of the Festival of Lumnea example, this information was transcluded from the subpage pertaining to the specific year.
  • Previous - This subheader falls under Run Dates as ===Subheader 3=== This should house a table with the past run dates listed for the event. Within the table should be links to the applicable subpage regarding that year's run.
• Activities - Activities should follow the page's Run Dates as ==Subheader 2==. This subsection will list what general activities to expect during the event, along with a brief explanation of them. Typical activities would include shopping, merchants, raffles, and other activities that regularly occur each festival.
• Current Event Schedule - The Current Event Schedule subheader should follow Activities as ==Subheader 2==. This subsection will hold the schedule of planned activities from the current or most recent run of the event for both prime and platinum in table format, and should be transcluded from the individual year subpage.
• Current Raffle Schedule - The Current Raffle Schedule subheader should follow the Current Event Schedule subheader as ==Subheader 2==. This subsection will hold the schedule of raffles from the current or most recent run of the event for both prime and platinum in table format, and should be transcluded from the individual year subpage.
• Full Shop Listings by Year - Full Shop Listings by Year should follow the Current Raffle Schedule subheader as ==Subheader 2==. This subsection will hold a bulleted list of the links to the shop listings by year. As free festivals will have the shops on the same subpage page as the rest of the year's information, this link should be to the subsection of that page.
• Additional Information - The Additional Information subheader, if applicable, offers additional information to supplement the festival article that does not specifically fall under another header and should be entered as ==Subheader 2==, ex. ==Additional Information==. This could include logs of events that occurred during the festival, or articles written by TownCrier.
• Artwork Archive - While atypical for free festivals, should an event have multiple pieces of artwork produce over the years for it, there should include an archive to house the artwork. Under this header should be links to the artwork category for the event, which includes promotional artwork and any maps created, either by players or as an ASCII image in game.
  • In order to ensure accessibility for users utilizing screen readers during wiki use, the artwork archives should be set up as gallery, packed mode gallery (ex. <gallery mode="packed">. Subheaders for this should be set up as ==Subheader 2==, with the headers themselves being "Promotional Artwork," which will contain the event's promotional artwork produced by Simutronics, and "Player-Created Maps." The images should be listed in a gallery in descending order and should include the image file, caption, and alt text that describes the image in order for screen readers to capture. Additionally, when adding the images, "Image:" should be used in place of "File:" to ensure it is clear to screen readers that the file is an image. For an example of how these images would appear in the category page, please see the Duskruin artwork archive.

Example Code Setup

<gallery mode="packed">
Image:(image file)|<big>'''Image Caption'''</big>|alt=(Image Description)
Image:(2nd image file)|<big>'''Image Caption'''</big>|alt=(Image Description)
</gallery>

• Resources - The Resources subheader, if applicable, should be used as ==Subheader 2== if there are external links with information to supplement the article.
• See Also - The See Also subheader, if applicable, should be used as ==Subheader 2== if there are internal links with information to supplement the article, while not tied specifically to the festival article. This could include links regarding lore or the location in which the festival is held in or near.

Categories

The main festival category page should list applicable categories that it pertains to:

• Festivals - Main category for free festivals
• (Town) - Category for town the festival is held in

Subpages

Free festivals will typically have two subpages per instance of the event running: year and saved posts by year.

Year

This subpage should house information for the individual instance's run of the festival and would be set up as a subpage to the main article's redirect page (category pages cannot have subpages directly tied to them), ex. Festival of Lumnea/2022.

• Artwork/Maps - Similar to the main category page, if the individual instance has promotional artwork, it be entered into the wiki editor to be at the top right hand corner of the page. If artwork is unavailable for the event, and there is a player-created map, the map should be entered to appear in that spot. Please see the artwork/maps section for code formatting instructions.
• Table of Contents - Similar to the main category page, the table of contents should be entered into the wiki editor either after promotional artwork/player-created map, or first if neither of those items are available. This should be set up with right justification and can be handled with {{TOCright}}.
• Introduction - The page introduction should follow the table of contents in the wiki editor, and should offer a brief explanation of the event, the instance/run dates, and a link to the saved post/announcement page for that run.
• Prime Information - As more users will be prime members, the first subheader should be Prime Information, set up as a ==Subheader 2==. Following this would be a schedule of events and raffle schedule, if applicable.
  • Schedule - The Schedule subheader should be set up as a ===Subheader 3=== and contain in table format the festival's schedule in ascending order. This should be set up with sectional transclusion in order to allow for transclusion to the main article.
    Example of suggested table format with code for transclusion:
    

    <section begin=primeschedule />
    : {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 70%"
    <noinclude>|+ style="text-align: left" | '''<big>Schedule</big>'''</noinclude>
    ! scope="col" | Host
    ! scope="col" | Description
    ! scope="col" | Date
    ! scope="col" | Time
    ! scope="col" | Location
    |-
    | scope="row" | Argent Mirror Myasara || Welcome ||6/27/22||9:00 PM EST||Sylvarraend Road/Festival Meadow
    |}<section end=primeschedule />

    
    When transcluding to the main article, enter {{#section:(Festival Name)/(Year)|primeschedule}} into the wiki editor. This code can remain in place with only the year noted changing when a new instance is run of the festival</nowiki>.
  • Raffles - The Raffles subheader should be set up as a ===Subheader 3=== and contain in table format the festival's raffle schedule in ascending order. This should be set up with sectional transclusion in order to allow for tranclusion to the main article, and can be set up in a similar way to the schedule of events, replacing "primeschedule" with "primeraffles" in the section code. Code for the table will be similar to the schedule of events, as well, with headers for Date, Time, Location (of raffle), and description of what the raffle is for. For the privacy of raffle winners, please refrain from adding their names to this table when won.
• Platinum Information - Following Prime Information should be Platinum Information, set up as a ==Subheader 2==. Information under this subheader should be set up in a similar manner as Prime Information, replacing "prime" with "plat" where applicable for transclusion.
• Shops - The final subheader should be Shops, which will house the shop listing for that year. The shops themselves should be set up on their individual shop pages and the correct instance transcluded to the page under this header in alphabetical order. For more information, please see the event shops style guide page.
• Category - The final entry into the wiki editor should be the festival's category, set up as [[Category:(Festival name)]], ex. [[Category:Festival of Lumnea]].

Saved Posts by Year

This subpage should correspond with the main instance subpage by year, and be set up as a subpage to the main article's redirect page, ex. Festival of Lumnea/saved posts 2022. Additionally, it should be categorized in a subcategory to the main article category, ex. [[Category:(Festival name) saved posts]].

Subcategories

Subcategories should be used for specific groups pertaining to the overall festival category. As free festivals are smaller in scope, there should be a limited about of subcategories used. All subcategories should indicate the festival name, followed by one of the options listed below with proper naming convention, ex. [[Category:Festival of Lumnea shops]].

• Artwork - All promotional artwork for the event. This may include player-created maps, as well.
• NPCs - Optional: Notable NPCs found throughout the festival, and only the festival (rare).
• Shops - Individual shop listings should be categorized here. Dependent on the venue, these may vary.
• Saved posts - The compiled saved posts for the event, broken down by event instance/year.
• Additional articles on the wiki written by player sources (ie TownCrier articles) pertaining to the event, if applicable, ex. [[Category:TownCrier Festival of Lumnea articles]].

Shops

For information on how to set up the individual event shop pages, please see the event shops style guide page.

Shop Listings

The shop listings are an event shop's inventory for each run. As noted, each shop should have each instance's inventory set up as a subpage to the main shop page.

A free festival's shop listing should be set up on the same page as the rest of the instance run's information under the subheader, ==Shop Listing==. In order to create a listing for the festival, the name of the shop should be linked as a ===Subheader 3=== with the instance's corresponding inventory transcluded in the following section.

Example

===[[KGShop:Big and Tall|Big and Tall]]===
{{:KGShop:Big and Tall/2023}}
===[[KGShop:Black Wind Spirits|Black Wind Spirits]]===
{{:KGShop:Black Wind Spirits/2023}}

Multi-Venue Festivals

A multi-venue festival is a festival that has had its venue/location rotated out through the years, and may continue to do so. Premium Festival is the only free festival that falls under this designation.

When reviewing multi-venue festivals, each venue should be treated as an individual festival following the above listed guidelines, with one main category page that contains the information for all the venues. Subheaders on the main category should follow the same cadence as single venue festival, but will breakdown information further by individual venue. This information should be transcluded from the individual venue category page under the appropriate subheader, and collapse to ensure only the most current information is visible, while allowing past information to be accessed from the same page.

Notable Free Festivals

Please note: This is not a comprehensive list. To see a full list, visit Category:Festivals

• Festival of Lumnea
• Festival of the Fallen
• Premium Festival - multi-venue festival

Templates

The below templates are used with shop page creation:

• Template:Festshop2
• Template:RoomDescription
• Template:Container2
• Template:Sign

See Also

• Pay Events Style Guide
• Event Shops Style Guide