Why isn't there a Wiki site for adult game guides and walkthroughs?

[Jamieee]

It is great that game developers or even dedicated fans create their own walkthrough guides for adult games, but some guides are not exactly written to be read. I mean, there are some absolute gems out there, but there are also pretty horrendous ones... Like the walkthrough guide for The Twist, it is all written in a single text file. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate it that someone took the time and effort to create such a guide. But I think that it can be done more efficiently.

A good example of such a website could be something like GameFAQ. It provides you a rather basic layout, where you can create chapters and (sub)categories for your guide. Which could be handy if you'd like to have separate sections for our character quests or general tips & tricks.

I also get it that most of the guide writers don't like to put to much effort in the looks and feels of the guide, which makes it more logical to use predefined environments to make it more easy to create such a guide.

 

[nulnil]

You'd need way more depth than the average adult game to warrant a wiki. DOL is vast enough to manage this, though it's the only real adult game that I've seen a wiki for.

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

Because it takes effort to write those.
Because many games are nowhere near complex enough to even warrant writing anything about them.

 

[Droid Productions]

Because it takes effort to write those.
Because many games are nowhere near complex enough to even warrant writing anything about them.

There's a fair number of games that benefit from a wiki, but setting them up is obviously time-intensive, and managing them can be a pain in the ass. I'm super thankful to the volunteers who manage the Love of Magic wiki, for example:

You must be registered to see the links

It's a mix of strategy guide, walkthrough and lore documentation. I think there's likely lots of games on the site that would benefit from it.

As for someone making a home *specifically* for this (a Media Wiki host, for example), it'd be cool, especially if it's someone I trusted not to disappear in a couple of months. A wiki hosted by the guys who run F95zone, split and themed per game, would be really cool.

 

[Jamieee]

You'd need way more depth than the average adult game to warrant a wiki. DOL is vast enough to manage this, though it's the only real adult game that I've seen a wiki for.

Because it takes effort to write those.
Because many games are nowhere near complex enough to even warrant writing anything about them.

But a game doesn't have to be complex to be cast into a Wiki, though. Okay sure, a lot of adult games do not have whole stories about specific characters or an extensive background lore to talk about. But at least you can write a walkthrough guide or even a How To Play kinda guide. Heck, it would even suffice if it is just written on one single page.

My point is that I think that it would be greatly benefitial if all those kinds of Wiki's/guides would land on a centralized place, where the writers could even peek at other games just to see how they done it. It would lower the threshold of making a guide, especially if there are tools or templates that they can use. Also, if the basic setup of a Wiki/guide is somewhat the same over the entire site, it is more easy to read and understand for the readers.

 

[Jamieee]

There's a fair number of games that benefit from a wiki, but setting them up is obviously time-intensive, and managing them can be a pain in the ass. I'm super thankful to the volunteers who manage the Love of Magic wiki, for example:

You must be registered to see the links

It's a mix of strategy guide, walkthrough and lore documentation. I think there's likely lots of games on the site that would benefit from it.

As for someone making a home *specifically* for this (a Media Wiki host, for example), it'd be cool, especially if it's someone I trusted not to disappear in a couple of months. A wiki hosted by the guys who run F95zone, split and themed per game, would be really cool.

That's a great example that you have for your game, and I think that more guide writers would use a platform such as this if they knew about it.

One of the downside of Fandom is that the Terms of Use restrict writers in their language. There are a lot of games where you cannot write a wiki there because of the vulgar/obscene language, even if you don't use any illustrations.

But a wiki hosted by the F95 guys would be great, indeed!

 

[moskyx]

I don't really get it. You have the walkthroughs already listed on every game's OP. Not sure what a centralized site for them would add when we already have a centralized site (this very same forum) from which we can download both the game and its walkthrough. Usually, people don't want to browse a walkthrough site but to look for the specific walkthrough they need at the moment. And if you do a google search 'game'+'walkthrough' chances are that you're going to get an F95 result anyway, if there's actually a walkthrough for that game. If you just wished the walkthroughs to follow a more coherent style throughout all games, then it's not really feasible as each game has its own structure and complexity; in addition, some people demand WT mods while others want WT guides. The people who actually make those walkthroughs on a regular basis could tell you more about that.

But of course, you could just do it yourself if you still think it would be a positive thing. Forget about wikia/fandom though, it's utterly shitty nowadays and doesn't allow adult content. I've been working on an

You must be registered to see the links

for over a year now, using

You must be registered to see the links

as a host. It's totally free, with no ads nor 'suggested' links to other pages, and allows you to have adult content as long as you put a +18 disclaimer and make that material to be displayed collapsed by default (not sure about controversial fetishes, though, but a mere walkthrough shouldn't really contain any of that). Copyrighted material is also protected under common laws but oh well, just wait for the cease and desist claims. But be aware that maintaining a wiki requires tremendous effort and dedication, especially when it's like the one you're suggesting: it would need to be updated daily and could potentially have thousands of visits and contributions (not always well-intentioned). You'd need a proper team to build it up, including the walkthrough's actual writers and some mods. So yeah, good luck basically creating a new F95zone but in a wiki format.

 

[Jamieee]

I don't really get it. You have the walkthroughs already listed on every game's OP. Not sure what a centralized site for them would add when we already have a centralized site (this very same forum) from which we can download both the game and its walkthrough. Usually, people don't want to browse a walkthrough site but to look for the specific walkthrough they need at the moment. And if you do a google search 'game'+'walkthrough' chances are that you're going to get an F95 result anyway, if there's actually a walkthrough for that game. If you just wished the walkthroughs to follow a more coherent style throughout all games, then it's not really feasible as each game has its own structure and complexity; in addition, some people demand WT mods while others want WT guides. The people who actually make those walkthroughs on a regular basis could tell you more about that. (...)

I'm not saying people should visit the Wiki just at random and start searching for a guide. I mean, I've never started on the Wikipedia homepage just to look for a subject I wanted to learn more about, but that might be me. Searching for your subject + adding 'Wiki' behind it in a random search engine is a more obvious way of finding what you want. The same goes for the game threads, just by linking them to the Wiki should be helpful enough. People will trust the source of the Wiki/guide even more and get familiar with the UI when it is added to more game threads.

And I am aware of the vast amount of walkthroughs already created for the majority of the games, but some of them could really use an upgrade to increase accessibilty and readability. Heck, I'd even volunteer to rewrite some of those guides.

(...)

But of course, you could just do it yourself if you still think it would be a positive thing. Forget about wikia/fandom though, it's utterly shitty nowadays and doesn't allow adult content. I've been working on an

You must be registered to see the links

for over a year now, using

You must be registered to see the links

as a host. It's totally free, with no ads nor 'suggested' links to other pages, and allows you to have adult content as long as you put a +18 disclaimer and make that material to be displayed collapsed by default (not sure about controversial fetishes, though, but a mere walkthrough shouldn't really contain any of that). Copyrighted material is also protected under common laws but oh well, just wait for the cease and desist claims. But be aware that maintaining a wiki requires tremendous effort and dedication, especially when it's like the one you're suggesting: it would need to be updated daily and could potentially have thousands of visits and contributions (not always well-intentioned). You'd need a proper team to build it up, including the walkthrough's actual writers and some mods. So yeah, good luck basically creating a new F95zone but in a wiki format.

Oh wow, that's impressive that you actually have created your own Wiki. I understand that it was a huge effort to create this, but how was it received by the public? I'm curious what your experiences are, aside from the difficulties you described above. I took a peek at the Elsaverse thread here on F95, but I didn't see a link to your Wiki. Is that intentional or did I miss something?

 

[moskyx]

'm not saying people should visit the Wiki just at random and start searching for a guide. I mean, I've never started on the Wikipedia homepage just to look for a subject I wanted to learn more about, but that might be me. Searching for your subject + adding 'Wiki' behind it in a random search engine is a more obvious way of finding what you want. The same goes for the game threads, just by linking them to the Wiki should be helpful enough. People will trust the source of the Wiki/guide even more and get familiar with the UI when it is added to more game threads.

And I am aware of the vast amount of walkthroughs already created for the majority of the games, but some of them could really use an upgrade to increase accessibilty and readability. Heck, I'd even volunteer to rewrite some of those guides.

Then please do, don't ask. That's the wiki spirit

Oh wow, that's impressive that you actually have created your own Wiki. I understand that it was a huge effort to create this, but how was it received by the public? I'm curious what your experiences are, aside from the difficulties you described above. I took a peek at the Elsaverse thread here on F95, but I didn't see a link to your Wiki. Is that intentional or did I miss something?

It's not a big success, I guess? A few discord regulars mentioned they've browsed it out of curiosity and to refresh their memories, and obviously the devs felt honored and gave their approval but that's basically it. No one else is adding/editing articles (which is not that bad as it saves me from the cleaning-up duties and also from some other minor inconveniences of teamwork like having to agree on contents and formats). But the point is just for the wiki to exist since it's a relatively broad universe with some intricate plots and relationships after all this time, and I guess it will receive a boost when a new title is released. About it not being linked in the games' OPs here, that's probably an overlook on my/our side. Neither I or Tlaero are really good at marketing, tbh

 

[Jamieee]

Then please do, don't ask. That's the wiki spirit. (...)

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be looking into Mirahaze in the mean time, but I'm also open for other suggestions.

It's not a big success, I guess? A few discord regulars mentioned they've browsed it out of curiosity and to refresh their memories, and obviously the devs felt honored and gave their approval but that's basically it. No one else is adding/editing articles (which is not that bad as it saves me from the cleaning-up duties and also from some other minor inconveniences of teamwork like having to agree on contents and formats). But the point is just for the wiki to exist since it's a relatively broad universe with some intricate plots and relationships after all this time, and I guess it will receive a boost when a new title is released. About it not being linked in the games' OPs here, that's probably an overlook on my/our side. Neither I or Tlaero are really good at marketing, tbh

Maybe it isn't a big success, yet? I think that a wider audience should have access to your Wiki than merely a Discord channel. It's supposed to be on the OPs page, at least! That's what your effort earns imo.

 

[Tauro Thurius]

I use

You must be registered to see the links

when I need help. It mostly features popular titles but I have also seen some obscure titles on the website.

 

[Jamieee]

I use

You must be registered to see the links

when I need help. It mostly features popular titles but I have also seen some obscure titles on the website.

Interesting, thanks for the suggestion! Though I cannot seem to find a way to create your own article. Perhaps you get author rights after contacting the admin.

 

[russianbot]

We used to have hongfire before western games made the internet super gay.

 

[Tlaero]

It's not a big success, I guess? A few discord regulars mentioned they've browsed it out of curiosity and to refresh their memories, and obviously the devs felt honored and gave their approval but that's basically it. No one else is adding/editing articles (which is not that bad as it saves me from the cleaning-up duties and also from some other minor inconveniences of teamwork like having to agree on contents and formats). But the point is just for the wiki to exist since it's a relatively broad universe with some intricate plots and relationships after all this time, and I guess it will receive a boost when a new title is released. About it not being linked in the games' OPs here, that's probably an overlook on my/our side. Neither I or Tlaero are really good at marketing, tbh

You definitely deserve more credit for all of your awesome work on the wiki, Moskys! I see a wiki link to your walkthroughs in the Omnibus thread here. We can certainly add them to other threads too if you'd like.

Tlaero

 

[moskyx]

You definitely deserve more credit for all of your awesome work on the wiki, Moskys! I see a wiki link to your walkthroughs in the Omnibus thread here. We can certainly add them to other threads too if you'd like.

Tlaero

Well, yeah, I wouldn't mind

 

[Tlaero]

Well, yeah, I wouldn't mind

It appears that the only two Elsaverse threads I own are the Omnibus and Chasing Beth. I added your walkthroughs link to CB and changed the name in the Omnibus to make it clear it was walkthroughs.

Tlaero

 

[Nutluck]

We had a actual wiki but it got removed due to content. Now we have a google wiki which has already been reported several times. Each time it gets suspended then a few days later it gets put back up.

The biggest issue with a wiki for games is, if we have to make a wiki, then that is less time spent actually working on the game. A fan created or fan supported wiki is the best. They can add to it and it doesn't take away from the devs time of working on the game. But not all games are lucky enough to have a dedicated fan that is willing to put in that much time and work to keep a wiki updated.

 

[Jamieee]

We had a actual wiki but it got removed due to content. Now we have a google wiki which has already been reported several times. Each time it gets suspended then a few days later it gets put back up.
(...)

It seems that this is the main issue of creating wiki's of adult content from a centralized hub. The majority of wiki providers have content policies against NSFW content.

(...)
The biggest issue with a wiki for games is, if we have to make a wiki, then that is less time spent actually working on the game. A fan created or fan supported wiki is the best. They can add to it and it doesn't take away from the devs time of working on the game. But not all games are lucky enough to have a dedicated fan that is willing to put in that much time and work to keep a wiki updated.

And I agree that dev's shouldn't put much time and effort into creating and maintaining guides/wiki's, unless the team is big enough that they can affort it to have someone dedicated to do this kind of work.
But if you compare it to video games, the vast majority of the guides are created by players. And I understand that the audience is generally much bigger for 'normal' video games, but I believe that there are more people likely to volunteer to write a wiki if there is a correct platform for it.

 

[Jamieee]

And if you do have a platform with some decent guides/wikis, people will get more familiar with the environment. I mean, if you look at Wikipedia, that platform also grew exponentially in content when people got used to the platform and its contents.

 

[Nutluck]

It seems that this is the main issue of creating wiki's of adult content from a centralized hub. The majority of wiki providers have content policies against NSFW content.


And I agree that dev's shouldn't put much time and effort into creating and maintaining guides/wiki's, unless the team is big enough that they can affort it to have someone dedicated to do this kind of work.
But if you compare it to video games, the vast majority of the guides are created by players. And I understand that the audience is generally much bigger for 'normal' video games, but I believe that there are more people likely to volunteer to write a wiki if there is a correct platform for it.

We do have a couple of people that works on hours and more is always welcome but most players don't seem very interested in helping.