Assassin's Creed Wiki talk:Writing Tense

Wrong tense everywhere

I thought I could let it slide because it's just a wiki and I'm only going to use it when I play the game, but it bothers me every time I visit here. The tenses are wrong on so many articles here. In many cases, they should be written in present tense, not past tense. It would be okay if this wiki was written from the perspective that the events of the games actually happened, but the natural assumption is that this is an encyclopedia/database about the game. Therefore, you don't use past tense to talk about fists, for example. Past tense is okay when describing someone's biography, but not when talking about gameplay elements and plot summaries. It shouldn't be "Fists were the weakest form of fighting" or "swords were used by..." These statement imply some sort of historical fact that has changed. It should be "Fists are the weakest form of fighting," because we're not talking about history, we're talking about gameplay, where this is true, and is still true.

Some other sections with wrong tense: here, here, the introductory section for Shaun.

If someone could please explain to me why the guideline says to use past tense when, in normal encyclopedic writing, it shouldn't be used, that would be greatly appreciated.

No, it's your opinion they should be past tense. We have chosen long ago to write all articles in past tense to maintain the wiki's focus on the story, and to make the tense consistent between all articles. Making modern day articles in present tense would be inconsistent with all the others. This is what we have already decided long ago, and it wasn't a decision why didn't think over twice. -- Master Sima Yi 22:31, March 21, 2012 (UTC)