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FAQs - Visitor issues and site surfing
- Do I need to pay to access/view these "FAQs"?
- One of your pages is messed up; what's wrong?
- How do I read non-English FAQs on IGN?
- How do I contact the FAQ/Guide writer?
- Site guidelines
- Unacceptable content
- Acceptable non-text content
- Submitting text content and HTML to IGN
- Submitting non-English content to IGN
- Submitting stand-alone and embedded media to IGN
- Registration and contributor issues
- Plagiarism - what is it?
- Linking Policies
- What does IGN's User Pages have to do with my FAQs?
- Gathering information
- Outlining and planning
- Checking and verification
- HTML and FAQs
- Corrections and updates
- Content management
- Providing contact information
- A Writer's Responsibility
- IGN's HTML Style Guide
- More FAQ writing tools and utilities
Do I need to pay to access or view FAQs?
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No. IGN FAQs is a free service maintained by IGN Entertainment -- a unit of Fox Interactive Media, Inc. -- but provided by individual gamers who have their own strategies to share. All FAQs on IGN FAQs (parent URL faqs.ign.com) are free of charge and do not even require registration.
Links to other content on IGN -- for example, our video reviews -- is restricted, but that content is managed by non-FAQs site staff.
One of your pages is messed up; what's wrong?
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IGN FAQs uses HTML to display contributed FAQs, just like any other webpage. Webpages have a lot of things that can go wrong (which is one of the underlying faults of HTML, but that is for another site to discuss). For the most part, your browser may be at fault if it is not the latest version of Microsoft Explorer, Mozilla or Firefox, but sometimes an incorrect page template was used on IGN.
Notify faqs
ign.com
about the problem and the URL with the error and the URL from where you
are getting the error from. The staff requires an accurate description
of the error or we can't diagnose and fix the problem.
How do I read non-English FAQs on IGN?
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Since IGN displays HTML pages as opposed to traditional text, you only need to rely on your browser to read Unicode HTML to be able to read the non-English FAQs on IGN. Our staff coverts non-English submissions into Unicode HTML so your browser does all the work.
Each web browser usually (not always) has the ability to load a variety of languages from its options. On Internet Explorer, the option is under View --> Encoding --> Language. Mozilla (and Firefox most likely) has a similar command with View --> Character Coding --> Language. Windows users should be able to install language packs from their WinXP or Windows set-up CD; other browsers have language packs that should have been integral to the set-up; if not, you may need to download them from your browser's site.
How do I contact the FAQ/Guide writer?
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Individual authors may be contacted through their e-mail address(es), if provided within their FAQ. All content within an FAQ is the responsibility of its writer, so if you have issues or problems, lodge your complaint with the author, not IGN.
Each FAQ is the intellectual property of the writer -- up to and including legal action for cases of slander, libel, plagiarisation, or intent to incite political unrest -- as stated in IGN's User Agreement. IGN, therefore, only serves as an online publishing site and service and will not impede law enforcement if you give due cause with the contents of your FAQ (much like your blogs).
Site Guidelines
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IGN FAQs has fewer restrictions on language than other FAQ sites since we cater to an older audience. However, you should use good judgement in terms of explicit language or in describing certain situations. All FAQ submissions must meet the following conditions:
- Your FAQ should not be too short. 300 words or less of gameplay related data is too short; this does not include copyright info, your e-mail policy, or your personal dedications. An FAQ deals with game help, not your personal trauma. Rare exceptions to this rule have been in the form of comprehensive Gameshark or Game Genie codes listings. As a rule, be sure your FAQ cannot be read in less than 30 seconds.
- Your FAQ should be written legibly and be organised. If we cannot read it, your submission will be discarded. An FAQ may be free, but it is not an instant message or an e-mail. The people who read your FAQ expect an organised file on how to help them, and they will judge you by your choice of words.
- Your FAQ should be original work, or as original as you can write it. Referrals to someone else's work is acceptable, but copying someone else's FAQ word for word is not. Annotation is mandatory if you are quoting someone else's FAQ, walkthrough or guide.
- Regarding "Game Manuals" and "Press Sheets"; these are verbatim transcriptions of existing documents and need to be annotated in its entirety. Only one game manual per game, per platform, per region will be accepted, and it must be 100% complete. No exceptions.
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Your FAQ should be as complete as possible, otherwise you should update
your FAQ until it is completed. Incomplete FAQs are not helpful since it
will never be able to cover all the topics in the game. Updates to FAQs
at IGN are always accepted by mail attachment through faqsign.com or by the Club IGN guest FTP.
Unacceptable Content
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- IGN does not accept or publish cheats, hints, or methods that openly violate established rules of online games (i.e., Phantasy Star Online, Everquest, Ragnarok Online, Star Wars Galaxies, et al). Sorry folks, this is your gaming service providers' rules, not ours. If it were up to us, we'd cheat our asses off.
- IGN does not accept or publish sexually explicit or non-game aid graphics or similar media (i.e., spacers or graphic bars for your FAQ). We are only able to host files necessary to your FAQ -- we are not your personal webspace provider.
- No movies (WMV, MOV, RAM, et al.) are accepted, but game saves, hacked files, or altered game set-up files (like .ini files for Command and Conquer) are okay. They should be packed into a ZIP file, hopefully with instructions. Remember that people download your "cheat package" and may want to know what's in it.
- IGN does not accept trainers or programs that alter a game. Even if the training program "works", there is a small chance it will not work on another machine due to the large number of differing PC configurations. However, if you made a trainer and want to feature it, IGN's network partner File Planet is happy to oblige to your hacking skills and will serve your trainer on their site.
Acceptable Non-text Content
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In addition to text and HTML submissions, IGN accepts images (like maps for example) of all types but they will be served in GIF or JPG format. IGN also accepts PDF files; they are hosted singly or as a download from your text FAQ.
Currently, acceptable files include:
- Custom Images (GIF, JPG, BMP, TGA, TIF, PNG)
- HTML FAQs/Guides (HTML)
- Adobe PDF (PDF)
- Playstation Saves (GME)
- Playstation 2 Saves (SPS)
- Xbox, GameCube Action Replay Saves (unknown extension)
- PC maps and saves (Other)
ign.com or through Club IGN's guest FTP.
Be sure to use WinZIP (www.winzip.com) or WinRAR (www.rarlab.com) to compress them into a ZIP archive to save space and to prevent our firewall from deleting your submission as a virus. Additionally, do not use spaces or non-English alphanumerics in any file name (i.e., Gúia de Guilty Gear Espánol.zip).
Submitting Text Content and HTML to IGN
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Text submissions are always taken on the submission
form or through email to faqsign.com.
A warning about the submission form -- it was designed for small FAQs.
Files larger than 200 KB will usually be truncated; if you have large FAQs,
please use e-mail as your method of submission or Club IGN's guest FTP.
- Your FAQ should be 79 characters per line (640 pixels wide) when possible. This is not mandatory but the width makes your FAQ easy to read. You may use IGN's Fix It! tool, but you can also do the formatting yourself by entering carriage returns (line breaks) to make your FAQ neat and presentable. (Fix It! Format Tool)
- Spaces count towards the characters per line rule. Delete extra space to the right of each line on your FAQ. This applies mostly to ASCII art. Hit Ctrl + A and see if there's any extra "greyed space" that may jeopardize your FAQ's formatting.
- Do not use TABs. If you included TABs into your FAQ submission and sent it in "as is", your FAQ's appearance is not our fault. The only TABs supported at IGN FAQs is the soda, and that brand hasn't made the rounds in the office for a long time.
- When you send FAQs by e-mail or e-mail attachment -- be sure not to use any spaces or punctuation in your file name and to compress all your FAQs or updates into a single ZIP file. A good example would be gtavc.zip that has a gtavcrarusk.doc file encrypted inside. Refrain from using accented letters in filenames; only files using English alphanumerics with no spaces are able to get past our site's firewall.
- IGN uses preformatted HTML text for FAQs. This will not change the look of your text FAQs unless you use < anywhere in your FAQ for purposes other than part of an HTML code. If you use < for dividers or arrows, replace them with < instead. If you decide to use < as part of a divider or as an arrow somewhere on your FAQ or Moves List, you should not use HTML unless you intend to fix up the whole FAQ with < in the appropriate spots.
- On the topic of HTML, replace your © with ©, TM with ™, and ¯ (upperscores) with ¯. They may otherwise appear as question marks or weird symbols in your FAQ. If you want to make sure your FAQ will have all those symbols, download eldav01's Extended ASCII to HTML Converter on IGN. His instructions are included.
- Don't be a smart-ass; replace your "smart quotes" with ". Better yet, turn off "Auto-Formatting" on your word processing program. Metapad, Wordpad and Notepad are tough and serviceable programs that allows no "special" characters when you type.
- See these examples on our FAQ Problem Shooting FAQ to see some common mistakes.
HTML submissions are accepted on through email attachment to faqs
ign.com or Club IGN's guest FTP.
HTML may be altered on the online submission form, so it's best to email
it instead.
- No HTML is accepted beyond tables, links, and format tags. No Java or Javascript is allowed in your HTML. This is because IGN has its own set of applets and scripts to run on each page. When you need a copy of your FAQ and examine the source code on IGN, take only your content and not any of the other code which will wreak hell on your FAQ if you send it in as a submission.
- HTML FAQs should be created in Notepad, Netscape Composer 4x, or HomeSite 4.5. This is for ease of writing and integrating media (like screenshots). This is not recommended unless you know what you are doing.
- If HTML FAQs are written with Frontpage, Mozilla, or Firefox, your style sheet will not be included. IGN only accepts HTML files not the CSS file. Repeat -- due to the network's new global CSS, you will not be able to include your FAQ's CSS file into your submission. You will need to resort to the older (but just as effective) FONT command. Just because HTML FAQs are accepted at IGN, it does not allow code that will change our site's look or wreck our templates.
- All FAQs on IGN are presented in an HTML wrapper with defined styles which has the header, title, and to a certain point the body of the page defined already. This means black text, white background, and variable width for the FAQ's text. If you want to have a different background, et al, you will need to frame your FAQ into a single cell table that has its own background and other criteria.
Submitting non-English content to IGN
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We accept FAQs written in any language so long as they appear as the author intended. Because non-English languages require a different set of symbols from the English alphabet, non-English FAQs will need to be written up as NJX, DOC, or their original files.
If you are writing Japanese, Chinese, or Korean FAQs, you may opt to
try a program like NJStar. All
non-English FAQs should be sent to faqsign.com
or Club IGN's guest FTP -- never through the online submission form.
Submitting Stand Alone and Embedded Media to IGN
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Do the following for stand-alone map submissions, whether it is a single map or group of maps:
- Use 8.3 naming for all files. This means eight or less characters in the name (when possible), three for the extension; for simplicity use lowercase for everything. Do not use fullstops for anything except as a separator for the name and extension (i.e., gtafaq.zip) or your FAQs will be deleted as viral agents.
- Do not use non-English characters (i.e., Gúia de Guilty Gear Espánol) or your files will be deleted as viral agents.
- Do not use a WinZIP self-extractor or have an .EXE extension for your ZIP files; these will be deleted as viruses.
- Label your maps with the game's name, your name and an e-mail. A valid contact e-mail is a good idea since it keeps you in touch with the rest of the world.
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Attach your map(s) to an e-mail and sent it to faqsign.com or through Club IGN's guest FTP.
- If you are planning to embed your map(s) into your FAQ, the image URLs are provided to you by e-mail afterwards. The reasons for reviewing images and media are obvious.
- The maximum width for images should be 640 pixels (which is the same width as 79 chracters per line). You can take "high-res" images (1280 x 1024 for example) and shrink them to 640 pixels wide (use the constrain proportions function with your image editor).
- IGN recommends that your image filenames be short. The URL for faqsmedia.ign.com includes an identification for your FAQ/guide article that quickly eats up the 79 character per line limit. When you use long image URLs with preformatted text, your FAQ/guide will misbehave with broken code.
- Don't use spaces for filenames and stay with lower-case filename and extensions. Windows and Macs may not differentiate between capital letters and lower-case letters when you manage them on your desktop, but web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Mozilla do. Broken images usually mean you named a file badly and your URL reflects it.
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The images, maps, or charts should be bundled with your HTML FAQ into a ZIP file and the entire package
sent to faqsign.com or uploaded to Club IGN's guest FTP.
Registration and Contributor Issues
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Registration with IGN is free. This does not necessarily include an
Insider subscription. Contributors may send FAQ submissions to faqsign.com
without registering with IGN ever. However, registration with IGN will
allow you to create your User Page that will list all of your published
FAQ submissions to IGN.
Example User Pages may be explored here:
- http://users.ign.com/about/peer-ign (Peer Schneider)
- http://users.ign.com/about/chris-ign (Chris Carle)
All FAQs on IGN are tagged with a separate author slot that has nothing to do with your IGN screen name. That author slot may be filled with any text and does not have to correspond with the screen name on a User Page. For simplicity's sake, unless you are registered with IGN your real name (or the closest assembly of it) will be listed as the author of your FAQ.
Contributor issues may be taken up with the staff at faqsign.com.
Plagiarism - What Is It?
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There's been a great amount of confusion about what is plagiarism in terms of strategy guides and walkthroughs. Originally, the intent of copyright was to protect the creative work of artists, poets, playwrites, and authors from being stolen and attributed to somebody else. If you took a page from Jane Eyre for example, and used your name on the page instead of Charlotte Bronte (the hottest of the three Bronte sisters) that is plagiarism.
Although you cannot reproduce the entire work of someone else and cite it as your own, you may certainly refer to (or copy) a portion of it as part of your FAQ or strategy guide. Plagiarism is easily avoided by citing your source -- basically, by naming your source after listing the part of content you used, you are attributing that piece of information to the person or persons who "created it" and thus you avoid plagiarism.
Two styles -- the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the Chicago Style -- are most often used in the university, although there are many other good ways to cite sources (APA the foremost among them). All borrowed information should be enclosed in quotes to separate that info from your own, and should never be altered.
Example of a Modern Language Association annotation
"To generate large amounts of Item Pods, first find some easily
destructible enemies or projectiles (like bubble bullets and missiles).
Next, rapidly use the Enemy Eraser. The multiple EE blasts will destroy
the objects and, for some reason, perpetuate and spawn more explosions."
(The Guardian Legend Walkthrough/FAQ, faididi, http://faqs.ign.com//articles/381/381361p1.html)
- MLA style lists the source immediately after the information and can get quite long. An abbreviated version that lists all sources in a bibliography will simply cite the number of the source (from the bibliography) and looks very similar to the Chicago Style (see below).
"To generate large amounts of Item Pods, first find some easily destructible enemies or projectiles (like bubble bullets and missiles). Next, rapidly use the Enemy Eraser. The multiple EE blasts will destroy the objects and, for some reason, perpetuate and spawn more explosions." (1.)
(1.) The Guardian Legend Walkthrough/FAQ, faididi, http://faqs.ign.com//articles/381/381361p1.html
- Chicago Style is probably best for FAQs, since the FAQ won't be straddled by clutter. All the sources may be listed in an endnote. However, unless you don't mind using a unique index behind each line or section you quote, you'll have to learn superscripts in HTML.
If a portion of another FAQ, guide, or document is properly annotated and referred to, it is not plagiarism ... so get over it.
On the other hand, don't think you just cite all the contents of another FAQ and use it as a convenient excuse to not write your own FAQ. Any FAQ basically comprised of quoted tactics will not be published when we discover it as being so and many people will e-mail you and ridicule your lazy punk ass.
Before you make any accusation of plagiarisation, make sure that your FAQ has actually been plagiarised. Most games can usually only be beaten in a small number of ways (most designers intend for players to do that anyway), and the information that can be derived from playing the game is not copyright. Only the manner in which the information is presented. There's only so many ways to tell people Mario needs to butt-stomp the next big green switch or mapping using pre-constructed ASCII to create maps or diagrams.
Additionally, there is always the possibility the strategy for overcoming some aspect of a game can be arrived independently by two or more people at the same time, and "published" without knowledge of either party. The result can be two different documents containing similar strategies. The final word is if you wrote it yourself, you should have nothing to fear.
At other times, individuals simply rip an FAQ and drop it off with us under assumed names. IGN has no control over what other people do (if we did, we'd rule this world and move onto the rest of the galaxy -- now, we have to kill you because you know our plans).
While we take some time to read through all FAQs, we only spot-check submissions against FAQs submitted to faqs.IGN.com only on basis of reasonable suspicion - like in True Crime.
This is due to the vast amount of material already online, and the fact the staff is not your personal sleuthing team tasked to track down all your work. Ultimately, you need to manage your own content.
If you find your work has been plagiarised:
(1.) Send an email with the direct URLs of the suspect content, the original content, and a clear explanation, or we won't know why you emailed us. Instead, we'll delete it and get back to playing games and downloading porn.
(2.) Review your own correspondence and legal section(s) to see if you allowed others to use your work in their FAQs without asking you at all. If you are incautious, you will wind up with more hassle than you can imagine. Take this legal section as an example:
"I'm not a big fan of intellectual property so you may distribute this FAQ in anyway you see fit as long as you stick by two simple rules. Do not change ANY of the content. If there is a problem contact me at [e-mail removed]. I'll fix it and submit the latest revision. Two, leave my name on it. I wrote it. That simple. All content is copyright of the original author who goes by the [site removed] handle, [name removed]."
Unless you have no compulsion about creating public domain work, then you should not use a legal section such as the one above or expect it to appear very prolifically everywhere. It is as simple as you trying to be your own attourney (don't try it; the professionals will shred you faster than a wet tissue at a snot party).
(3.) All accustations are to be forwarded to the IGN designated agent. See Article I, Section 6E in the User Agreement.
(4.) Be sure to include all URLs, the accused party (ies), your name and a valid e-mail address so we can locate the problem.
(5.) Lastly, IGN does not partake in any litigation or intrudes on other litigious actions on behalf of, or against a FAQ writer. After all, it's your property -- you deal with it.
|
By mail: Designated Agent Attention Legal Department 8000 Marina Blvd.,4th Floor Brisbane, CA 94005 |
By Phone: 415.508.2000 By Facsimile: 415.508.2611 |
By email: Designated_Agent@igngamespy.com |
For community created FAQs, files, and guides, you can still reach the site staff directly through faqsign.com. Note that you do need to assemble some passable evidence. A simple hearsay accusation will probably be thrown out. Dates of creation are logged automatically on IGN (hey -- we're script heavy -- a good thing). File creation dates can be easily forged. In any case, the copy of your file online is the date you transmitted it (or last modifed), not the actual date of creation.
Good evidence is best acquired through Copyscape.com, which is a small price to pay for protection. Naturally, the results still require human interpretation.
Linking Policies
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IGN's Policies on Linking Out
Because IGN FAQs uses HTML, there is a strong tendency to link to various pages either outside IGN or within IGN's network. IGN FAQs encourages you to link to any page within IGN.com's network, within reason. This includes IGN's PSP, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Gameboy, PC, Wireless, and Cheats sites and our partner sites like Fileplanet or Gamespy.
However, make sure that the link is doing something functional in your FAQ. It wouldn't make sense for example, to link to a movie review on Aliens Versus Predator from an FAQ on Predator Concrete Jungle.
Linking out to other sites or non-IGN URLs should be per that site's policy -- not IGN's. Remember that you are responsible for the contents in your FAQ (not IGN). Any legal problems will be directed at you instead of IGN.
IGN's Policies on Linking In
IGN encourages you to link directly to any page on IGN's network. We impose no limits on the number of links to IGN.com, so long as you are only linking to the page and nothing more.
For more on Direct Linking on IGN, please refer to the DirectLink program.
Gathering Information
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Unlike college dissertations, a game walkthrough or an FAQ has readily available sources. A good writer will make an effort to assemble all the information into a single integrated document in order to present the most comprehensive "final word" on a game possible. There are essentially two sources for your information -- the primary source or a secondary source.
A primary source is basically where all the information comes from. Since you're writing about a game, it is basically your primary source. Irregardless, all guides and FAQs have a game as a primary source, even it you manage to get an interview with the actual development team and got solutions from them.
Since you're playing the game anyway, have a clipboard, some paper, and a pen to jot down notes as you play. You can easily refer to it once you finish playing, or if you have the game and your PC or word processor nearby to write as you play. Hard notes have the benefit of not disappearing if a power outage hits your area, or if someone trips on the power cord. You can also review hard notes without having to turn on your PC.
A secondary source (in terms of FAQs and game information) would be a game magazine, a website, or another FAQ/Guide or person whereby the information is communicated to you, instead of being directly experienced.
When possible, note where you specifically got your information. If you picked up some pointers from someone on the board and just attribute it to "the people on the message boards on XYZ.com", that is not enough -- you may as well not mention that episode at all. If you are going to annotate your sources, do it correctly or not at all. If you opt for the latter, rewrite the information in your own words.
Outlining and Planning
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Writing about a game is not the same as playing it. The toughest part in writing an FAQ is not simply listing tips for beating a game, but organizing those tips into neatly arranged and understandable sentences and paragraphs.
To begin writing a FAQ or a walkthrough, simply start with what you know - if you are a person who didn't know squat about the game and wanted to beat it, what would you look for? Write about that and you'll have yourself a solid start.
Just be sure to plan out your FAQ. Ask any veteran guide writer, and he or she will tell you that planning out your FAQ is one of the most important things to do. If you're totally lost, you might want to follow the generic style guide used for IGN's guides:
- An Introduction: The introduction usually consists of a simple paragraph or two that describes what the game is about.
- The Basics: The basics section covers the controls of the game and other general gameplay-related things, such as understanding the various meters on the screen, or how to save your progress. Although most readers are already familiar with the basics, keep in mind that some gamers simply rent games (or have games so old, instructions are lost) and may not have access to instruction manuals.
- The Goodies: The goodies section covers the various items and power-ups. Depending on the game, especially if it's a fighting game or a sports game, your FAQ may omit this section in place of a stats section instead.
- The Baddies: The baddies section covers the enemies, traps, and other hazards in the game. Short explanations for defeating the different types of enemies may be included here. As with the goodies section, your FAQ may or may not need a baddies section depending on the game.
- The Walkthrough: The walkthough section is the meat of the FAQ. It gives readers step-by-step instructions for beating the whole game. You should divide your strategies so people can look up information regarding one stage of the game without having to read through the whole document. If there are multiple ways to beat the game, you should outline all of them if possible. This section should also assume that the reader is playing the game normally (i.e., without cheating).
- Q&A: A short question and answer section; this is after all, an FAQ. Gather questions from your audience and include them, plus you can add the questions you asked when you were writing the FAQ.
- Any Secrets: The secrets section lists all the cheat codes and hidden bonuses in the game. Helpful since people only want to open up one document at a time on their PC or Mac.
- Legal: The legal section details copyrighting and other legal material, if you opt to include one. If you create a list of sites that may feature your FAQ, make sure it is updated, or those sites will be wrongly accused of plagiarisation. Unless you are terrified about having your FAQ used by unscrupulous entities (or being sold on EBay), you may want to save yourself the headache and drop this section altogether.
- Do know that your FAQ is primarily a text document. You are telling people in words how to beat a game, not showing them how to do it. Your FAQ will suck rotten horse's ass if it has incorrect information or if you cannot communicate your ideas adequately through your words.
- Do plan out the FAQ before you start. Having a neatly structured layout is important for organizing the parts of your FAQ. Check out existing FAQs to see how you do this. Have the basics, the items, the enemies, a walkthrough, and helpful secrets for best results.
- Do be detailed. Provide as much useful information as possible. However, don't overkill with massive paragraphs. Short sentences are just as effective if they are clear and to the point.
- Do be consistent. Use consistent terminology, even if the terms are lengthy. When readers want to find something quickly, they will use the "string search" function (CTRL + F). Using consistent terminology allows people to easily find what they're looking for.
- Do make your FAQ easy to read. Spell and punctuate correctly, or readers will think you're a retarded dog who graduated from Bovine University. Organise your writing into manageable paragraphs. Big blocks of text tend to be skipped over by impatient players getting eye-strain.
- Do annotate sources. Credit those people or other sources of information that helped out with your FAQ. Annotation prevents plagiarisation, so you may opt to refer or quote away without fear of reprisal.
- Do include IGN in your legal section. You own your FAQ, but IGN (and other sites you publish to) provide hosting services, so spend five seconds and include them on your FAQ if you have a legal section.
- DO NOT plagiarise. Theft of intellectual property occurs more often than you believe. To clarify, plagiarisation is the presentation of someone else's idea(s) as your own without annotation.
- DO NOT use special symbols like é, ½, §, ©, ?, or ®. If you use any symbol that is not found on your keyboard, you'll need to resort to HTML.
- DO NOT use < and >. Just because one gaming site allows those two symbols for arrows and ASCII art doesn't mean others can. Instead, use < and > for < and > respectively or don't use them at all.
- DO NOT use Tabs. Tabs are not supported. Use multiple spaces if you want to indent paragraphs.
- DO NOT include excessive header art. ASCII art looks nice, but it is not your highest priority. Savvy readers delete it the first chance they get in order to make the FAQ more printer friendly. ASCII art also uses extended ASCII characters, which will be represented by "?" on the site. Download David White's Extended ASCII Converter to fix this problem (mainly upperscores).
- DO NOT editorialise or review the game. An FAQ offers strategies on beating a game, but doesn't evaluate it. Unless you have a really good reason to do so, you should vent your opinions through the message boards or better yet, write your own review at IGN's Reader Reviews.
Checking and Verification
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Once you're done with your FAQ, spend a day or two checking the various details. Are you sure you can earn such-and-such skill just by fulfilling that requirement? The best guide and FAQ writers pride themselves on accuracy of information and to communicate it as best as possible to an ignorant audience; checking your work will be essential if you want to earn that notoriety.
Spending a small amount of time verifying your information can help you avoid making time-consuming corrections and other unnecessary updates.
HTML and FAQs
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It's a fallacy that HTML and FAQs cannot be used together. Although most FAQs may be written in regular text, properly applied HTML does wonders to your FAQ. If you are familiar with HTML, you can do much to improve your layout. For instance, in a RPG walkthrough, you can bold the items that you find on the final dungeon so people won't miss anything important along the way (like Barret's Missing Score in FF7), or white out spoilers in the storyline (Aerith can never be revived, except by using a Gameshark).
Skilled HTML authors even design FAQs that are more useful than a lot of "official" guides in stores. The possibilities for HTML FAQs are almost endless. If you decide to use HTML, be damn good at it or your FAQ will look like something that came out of your butt. Then we get to laugh at you. Study these reference files by James Mitchell and Kevin Werbach in how to properly code HTML.
1. Reference
Chart 1 and Reference
Chart 2 by James Mitchell
2. Barebones
HTML Guide by Kevin Werbach.
3. Quick
fix for HTML/Text FAQ by sng-ign.
Here are some good examples of FAQs using HTML on IGN:
- Example. An HTML-enhanced FAQ.
- Example. An HTML-enhanced FAQ using tables.
- Example. An FAQ using a single screen shot.
- Example. An HTML FAQ using several screen shots.
- Example. An HTML FAQ using headers and screens.
You may face possible prosecution by authorities if the media's orginal creator opts to charge you with copyright infringement; neither IGN or your ISP will make attempts to protect identities if legal action is pursued. Consider this your only warning about plagiarising media and other content.
HTML FAQs should be compressed into a ZIP file and emailed to faqsign.com.
Corrections and Updates
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Updates to your FAQs and new FAQ submissions are always accepted through
IGN FAQ's online submission
form or by e-mail to faqsign.com.
If you made corrections on your FAQ and would like to send in corrections,
do so with an update.
IGN does not update for you -- although as a growing site we plan to reconcile FAQs with other sites annually -- you will have to manage your own FAQs by sending off updates yourself.
IGN FAQs does not update for you.
IGN may help out in rare cases (say a death in the family or you live in Slovenia). But if you are able to send your updated FAQs to one site after the funeral, then you should be able to send the same updates to all the other sites who are providing equal servers and hosting services for your FAQs.
Content Management
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Asking a site to update for you is akin to asking for preferential treatment -- you are demanding a site to denigrate other writers who actively champion their own FAQs and who send in their submissions not only to IGN, but to other sites as well. The time needed to keep track of all the writers who have updates or not have updates can better be put to use for addressing other site issues, improving the site further, creating a new FAQ or answering a game question you might've had.
Most importantly, you alone created your content -- thus only you would know if you need to update your FAQ.
We will update your FAQ on IGN if you send a copy to us. No questions asked. You can easily avoid the hassle of keeping several sites up to date with your FAQs simply by sending updates through email as attachments. Many sites welcome new submissions and updates by email.
It's for this purpose faqsign.com
was created. It has a large capacity for handling your submissions, maps,
and other correspondence. Depending on your email program, you can add
our email address to your Contact List or your Address Book. This way,
you can quickly CC or BCC us along with all the other sites your FAQs are
on and send one big e-mail of FAQ updates to everyone at once.
Updates are processed and published Monday to Friday from 9 to 4 Pacific Standard Time except holidays. Your updated FAQ will bear the day, month, and year when it is published online on the IGN FAQs site -- unless you happen to request another date in an email request or in the webform's Notes Box.
Providing Contact Information
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When registering with IGN, you may or may not choose to give out your personal e-mail address (you can use a public sacrificial one instead). The same goes when you enter an e-mail address in the online submission form. Tricks like using <at> or (at) or _dot_ will be rejected and will incapacitate your submission.
Entering your e-mail in an FAQ or in our online submission form is optional. If you are resorting to these simple cheese tricks to avoid being contacted, then you should consider dropping your e-mail from every copy of your FAQ period. It's like having your phone number de-listed from the local white pages; if you don't want to be bothered, then de-list yourself. Supplying an e-mail is simply an open invitation and no amount of self-set rules will change someone else's behaviour.
A Writer's Responsibility
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If the life of a creative writer is difficult, then the one of a guide or game help writer is even more so, since almost no creativity may be expressed. However, game help writers should view themselves not so much as artists as they are educators (yes, like a high school teacher, since you get pretty much the same insults).
An FAQ/guide writer is here to educate the general public about the intricacies of a game and the most sensible solution to getting through it. That said, the primary responsibility of an FAQ writer is to keep information clear and understandable. However, mistakes happen. They happen because we're only human and because games have evolved into complex creatures themselves. Therein lies the other side of the coin -- an FAQ writer must keep their information fresh and up to date.
To do so back before the prolificity of the internet would be to put out a new edition of one's solution every so often. With the World Wide Web however, things have gotten easier on some aspects and more complex in others. For one thing, writers may now be their own publisher simply by posting their content on their own personal webspace. For a writer to send work to a gaming site means that he or she lacks the ability to create, maintain or otherwise operate personal webspace.
Therefore, sites like IGN act pretty much as publishing houses; writers agree to send copies of their work for free public distribution on IGN's network. This creates mutual good faith and serves as a way to create a comprehensive and knowledgeable site for game help. As an FAQ writer, you should determine where you stand in the amount of commitment to this great endeavour.
- 1st Rule - Be correct. All information you have in your FAQ should be as accuracte as humanly possible, to your knowledge.
- 2nd Rule - Be current. Changes to your FAQ should be reflected upon all the sites you have your file published to. It's your intellectual property -- you must care for it -- because no one else will.
- 3rd Rule - Maintain contact with your audience. Provide a means of redress from your readers should errors be found in your document.
- 4th Rule - Identify your work. This means to title it properly, identifying the type of FAQ/guide you are creating, the game, the platform and the original date of creation. This is important since your FAQ's date of publication changes each time you submit an update to IGN and that may be used against you in a case of plagiarisation.
Read more about the complication and enforcement of online intellectual
property at www.copyscape.com and
from the U.S. Copyright
Office (since IGN FAQs is based in the U.S., that country will be used
de
facto).
Please note that the notion of "copyright" may be different or non-existent in other countries. Check with your local legislative body for clarification on your rights (if any).
What Does User Pages Have To Do With My FAQs?
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All of IGN.com's users, whether they are IGN Insiders, IGN board users, or Vault Network board users, are managed on IGN's User Pages. An excellent site FAQ on IGN's User Pages is available:
http://users.ign.com/my/gamerprof/faq.html
That should fully explain what our user pages allow you to do. Furthermore, FAQs you contribute are listed in your user page for your records, as well as for our management purposes -- it's far easier to track down your FAQs by user page (if someone plagiarised it for example) than to look around and tediously tracking loose bits of information down. User Pages also allows you to build your virtual game collection, manage your own Reader Reveiws on IGN, and look over your board posts and watched users list. More features are being added to User Pages as they become available.
However -- only FAQ submissions sent in by the webform are automatically listed under the current logged-in name on IGN upon the FAQ's approval. Sending in your FAQ by e-mail attachment -- or if you meet one of our editors in the street and hand them a disk with your FAQ on it -- may not allow us to properly find your identity on IGN.
To protect your privacy, your user information is not divulged to the editors. But the FAQs staff requires one e-mail to list your FAQs on your User Page, and that e-mail is the red-asterisked e-mail on my.ign.com when you are logged into IGN.
Without that red-asterisked e-mail, the editors will not be able to list your FAQs on your User Page, no matter how much you complain, pray, or wish.
The FAQs staff know that your e-mail is private, so we will not be filling
the e-mail field on your bylines on your FAQs in the future. If you have
further questions about this matter, contact faqsign.com.
About This Site and What We Do
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IGN FAQs is a free community site that publishes individually created game solutions, maps, saves, hacks, and other game aid materials on the IGN Network. Content on IGN FAQs can be browsed at no charge and for any length of time. "F.A.Q." is an acronym for "Frequently Asked Questions". FAQs are collections of helpful answers to commonly asked questions about a topic. These documents have been called a wide variety of names, including:
- Walkthrough
- Strategy Guide
- Game Solution
- Game Exploit
We also feature FAQs on foreign games, including the "Adult Only" titles popular in the Japanese Ginza during the 1980s with the screaming anime girls. As long as you have an original written solution for a game, we will be interested in featuring it.
Who Owns faqs.IGN.com?
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faqs.ign.com is a part of IGN.com -- a network of sites that includes specialty sites like games.ign.com, filmforce.ign.com, vault.ign.com, and cheats.ign.com. IGN.com is owned, financed, and operated by IGN Entertainment, Inc., a unit of Fox Interactive Media, Inc. For more about IGN, head for our "About Us" page.
Content on IGN FAQs is in effect, copies of work licensed out by their respective authors for free public distribution on IGN.com.
What Else May I Do To Help?
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While IGN may seem like a faceless corporation, we are made up of dedicated, hard-working people. When the site runs smoothly, that is the product of all the software engineers, graphic designers and site production staff. Our hard hitting editorials, interviews and reviews are products of our games and entertainment editors.
However you are also a part of IGN -- the cheats, board posts, fan-fiction and FAQs are essentially your contribution to what makes IGN a great place to play, talk, and read about what we love best -- GAMES! So don't think we do not appreciate your part in IGN. There are many things you can do that can make IGN an even better place:
- Write an FAQ and actively contribute them to faqs.IGN.com. We're not all bad either -- check IGN's Most Wanted List for a monthly call of requests. All we ask is that you DO NOT STEAL SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK and send it in as your own. The litigation will eat you alive!
- Engage in debates on our free game messsage boards, or simply help out when someone is having trouble on a game.
- Click on just one ad when you breeze through the site. You'd think subscription carries IGN through, but that only covers the cost of your bandwidth for Fran's latest video antics. Advertising is what keeps your FAQs free on the IGN network!
With our collective effort and your hard work, we will be able to grow IGN FAQs into a truly comprehensive site that has the final word on any game problem.
Internal Resources and Tools:
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- HTML Style Guide on IGN. For those who want to know about how to integrate HTML into their preformatted or unformatted text FAQs. This free guide also has a useful IGN Board Mark-Up to HTML conversion table.
- Mark Up to HTML Conversion Table. Replacing board mark-up with actual HTML for FAQs on IGN.com.
- Problem Shooting FAQ. A list of common mistakes on FAQs at IGN.
- Fix It! Tool. Free JSP online application that chops your FAQ into the neat 79 character per line width for the ubiquitous 640 x 480 resolution.
- Extended ASCII Tool. Eldav01's custom program to deal with upperscores, copyright symbols and smart quotes. His instructions are included.
- Netscape Version 4. Since the release of FireFox has made Mozilla archaic and Netscape obsolete, Netscape version 4 is "freeware". The Composer component is helpful in helping novices get the hang of HTML in FAQs.
- Barebones HTML Chart 1. Has some symbols and the HTML codes you might find interesting.
- Barebones HTML Chart 2 by James Mitchell. Has some symbols and the HTML codes you might find interesting.
- Barebones HTML Guide by Kevin Werbach. A short and brief tutorial for people who have never coded or written HTML.
External Links:
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- NJStar. An Asian languages word processor. It's universal code converter is what allows your Asian language FAQs to be displayed as Unicode HTML on IGN, allowing easy reading by a web browser.
- Copyscape. A free helpful service to compare online content. Note that results are not always a positive indication of plagiarisation -- human input and interpretation are still mandatory!
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