View source for Halopedia:Projects/Gameplay/Poll

{{Status|Halopedia}}
This page serves as a project hub for the gameplay articles initiative.

==Overview==
For the longest time, Halopedia has always had a stronger focus on lore and related topics than gameplay. This is in no small part due to the lack of easily accessible gameplay statistics or tools, particularly when the series was mostly-exclusive to the [[Xbox 360]] and [[Xbox One]] consoles. This naturally led the site to focus on the information which could be more easily and accurately cited, and over time, gameplay information became a relatively niche part of the site and often filled with inaccurate or vague information based on guesswork and estimation.

Thanks to the release of the various modding toolkits for ''[[Halo: The Master Chief Collection]]'' in 2022, the raw [[tag]] data about how weapons, vehicles, and NPCs perform can be readily viewed with ease. As such, Halopedia is starting to move towards creating dedicated gameplay pages for these elements, designed to focus on them as gameplay tools and with a minimal focus on lore and related technical terminology. For example, on a page for the Assault Rifle in ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', using terms such as its canonical designation [[MA5B assault rifle|MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System]] would be discouraged. 

By splitting up gameplay and lore information into distinct articles, this can allow both sets of information to be presented in a significantly better light, with gameplay terminology easy to understand for interested parties, and gameplay sections not awkwardly shoved into lore articles any more.

The first part of this project, however, requires deciding on a satisfactory page layout to use going forward, as this will be standardised across weapons, vehicles, and player & non-player characters throughout the series. Below are presented two options:

;Option 1 (collated)
The first option presented takes inspiration from how weapon information is presented on wikis such as that of ''Call of Duty''.{{Ref/Generic|https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/M16}} The page lists ''all'' gameplay information for ''all'' iterations of a given weapon across the series, allowing the reader to scroll up and down to compare stats between games. However, this does make for much longer and more complicated pages, with information a bit more spread out if you're looking for things like images.

:'''[[Assault Rifle (gameplay)|Check this layout style out here!]]'''

;Option 2 (split)
The second option would be to split relevant topics up per-game, more similar to how wikis such as ''Half-Life'',{{Ref/Generic|https://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Submachine_Gun_(Half-Life)}} ''Doom'',{{Ref/Generic|https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Plasma_rifle_(Doom_Eternal)}} ''Elder Scrolls''{{Ref/Generic|https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Steel#Steel_Sword}} and ''Fallout''{{Ref/Generic|https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Assault_Rifle_(Fallout_3)}} handle their pages. Under this model, each iteration of the assault rifle in each game would have a dedicated page (barring cases such as ''[[Halo 3]]'' and ''[[Halo 3: ODST|ODST]]'' where they're identical). The advantage of this layout style is that each page is more condensed and focused, but does mean that direct stats comparison between games would require multiple open tabs.

A list of example pages for the assault rifle can be found below.
*[[Game:Assault Rifle]] (overview "hub" for Assault Rifles, with more detailed sub-pages per-game, similar to [https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Overview:Assault_Rifle this page] on the ''Fallout'' wiki)
**[[CE:Assault Rifle]]
**[[H3:Assault Rifle]]
**[[Reach:Assault Rifle]]
**[[H4:Assault Rifle]]
**[[H2AMP:Assault Rifle]]

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
| {{Ref/Sources}}
|}

===What's the long-term goal in this project?===
This project will eventually grow to cover all explicitly gameplay-related aspects of the series. This includes pages like:
*Non-player characters (ie [[Sangheili Major]] will remain a lore page, with either ''CE:Elite Major'' or ''Gameplay:Elite Major''created to cover gameplay information)
*Vehicles (ie [[M808C Scorpion]] will remain a lore page, with ''H3:Scorpion'' or ''Gameplay:Scorpion'' created to cover gameplay information)
*Levels/Maps (ie [[Halo (Halo 3 level)]] will become ''H3:Halo'')
*Collectibles and Easter eggs (ie [[Terminal (Halo 3)]] will become ''H3:Terminals'')
*Multiplayer customisation pages (ie [[Armor customization (Halo Infinite)]] will become ''HINF:Armor customization'')

To decide on how this will be implemented going forward, we want to hear from you! In order to make this renovation of the site as useful to as many readers and editors as possible, we want to hear what you have to say.

==Community Votes==
''Please vote here!''
===Support for Option 1 (collated)===
<!--Place your vote or below this line.-->
*{{Support}} - I certainly have bias in this option after working with this organization method for so long. I am the current editor behind the push for documenting gameplay info after inheriting the project from Dab1001, I come from a background of modding, and I know what would be most beneficial for that community searching the wiki, but not necessarily what would be best for the average reader. The major pro I've identified is that if you want to compare game to game and see the evolution of a gameplay topic, only one link would need to be shared, and one page read. That said I understand the apprehension towards massive pages, especially when they cannot collapse their sections on desktop like they can on mobile. [[User:XScruffyDaSasquatchx|<span style="color:purple;">xScruffyDaSasquatchx</span>]] <span style="font-size:90%">([[User:XScruffyDaSasquatchx|talk]])</span> 23:39pm, March 24, 2026 (EST)

*{{Support}} - I feel that keeping information centralized on larger pages may help with navigability for both editors and the general fan. Casual Halopedia users can reach the page with whatever information they're looking for more quickly and editors can have a single reference point for citable information and sources as opposed to multiple tabs open. However, I do primarily work on lore-focused pages and will defer to the consensus of people who handle gameplay information on this vote. No matter which way it is implemented, I'm excited for this change! [[User:Tiptopbranch853]] <span style="font-size:90%>([[User:Tiptopbranch853|talk]])</span> 20:07pm, March 24th, 2026 (EST)

*{{Support}} - Personally, I think either option would be a net positive change, but the idea of a collated page for each weapon/vehicle/etc. is more attractive to me. I feel that many users who research the gameplay attributes of these things tend to do so with the purpose of comparing them between titles. Having all assault rifle gameplay information in one place makes comparing their changes between them all that much easier. I understand the concern that this will make for very lengthy (and possibly unwieldy) pages, but I feel that requiring users to flip between different articles for the purpose of comparison could be just as unwieldy, if not moreso. Besides, the tab system allows users to only view the titles they wish to view. Additionally, I am a big fan of the lore pages for things clearly linking the associated gameplay pages. This is much simpler when it's all on one gameplay page. Imagine the gameplay pages for the M9 grenade for example. It would be one lore page for maybe up to a dozen gameplay pages. How would you link to those in a user-friendly way on the lore page? [[User:TheArb1ter117|<span style="color:green;">TheArb1ter117</span>]] <span style="font-size:90%">([[User:TheArb1ter117|talk]])</span> 11:00, March 25, 2026 (EST)

===Support for Option 2 (split)===
<!--Place your vote below this line.-->
*{{Support}} - I've outlined my reasons for preferencing the split option many times so I'll keep this one brief. I believe that splitting the pages up means each page can solely focus on one particular topic, as well as granting better accessibility for things like Google indexing and larger galleries on each page. The individually smaller pages also makes them less intimidating a project for editors to approach adding to, which also helps to keep them updated for the future. [[User:BaconShelf|<span style="color:green;">BaconShelf</span>]] <span style="font-size:90%">([[User:BaconShelf|talk]])</span> 21:55, March 24, 2026 (UTC)

*{{Support}} This lets the main "hub" page be less cluttered, especially with regards to customization and the gallery section, and makes it easier to find the relevant information for each game. Splitting the pages would also help with image load times, especially on mobile. Though, if this system is applied, I think it should be important to let viewers easily move from a weapon page in a specific game, to both the hub page for that weapon, ''and'' a hub page for all weapons in that game; maybe with a header system. [[User:ScaleTail|ScaleTail]] <span style="font-size:90%">([[User:ScaleTail|talk]])</span> 10:40, March 25, 2026 (HKT)

*{{Support}} - Going down the "split" option not only introduces the many benefits in thereof, it also gives the underrated long-term goal: the transition of many pages into dedicated, organized namespaces that other wikis have already made use of. This will revolutionize how users browse the wiki, giving instant clarity and understanding simply from the title alone. In the long run, this change will not only alleviate the issue of long-growing pages, but also give Halopedia a more structurally sound foundation to build on for the future. --[[User:TNS22|TNS22]] ([[User talk:TNS22|talk]]) 14:16, March 25, 2026 (UTC)

*{{Support}} - I'm leaning towards split so we can have lots of images on each weapon page without nuking my phone and laptop.[[User:Sith Venator|<span style="color:green">Sith Venator</span>]] [[File:Mega Blastoise.gif|20px]] ([[User talk:Sith Venator|<span style="color:blue">Dank Memes</span>]]) 16:54, March 25, 2026 (UTC)

*{{Support}} - I think for general readability, ease of access, and page stability, we should probably stick with a split design. [[User:Natxeula|Natxeula]] ([[User talk:Natxeula|talk]]) 02:48, March 26, 2026 (UTC)

*{{Support}} - I honestly prefer this route myself. As long as we keep an open mind to a case by case scenario. Not everything should be split, not everything should be 1 page. -[[User:CIA391|CIA391]] ([[User talk:CIA391|talk]]) 12:01, March 31, 2026 (UTC)

*{{Support}} - Most aesthetically pleasing option off the bat, but a uniformed option utilized across multiple gaming wikis will promote ease of usability for new readers, long-time contributors, and everyone in-between. [[User:Helianthus|Helianthus]] ([[User talk:Helianthus|talk]]) 12:44, March 31, 2026 (UTC)

*{{Support}} - I agree with what everyone else has said, but most of all just keeping things tidy without risks of bloating up pages as the series goes on. A page on the plasma pistol would be massive gameplay information and images. <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">'''[[User:JackVibe|<span style="color:#000;">Jack</span>]][[User talk:JackVibe|<span style="color:#888;">Vibe</span>]]'''</span> 21:21, March 31, 2026 (UTC)

*{{Support}} - When this poll was first announced I intended to vote for collated pages, but upon learning that Option 2 will still include central hub pages I'm going to throw my vote in this camp. That being said, a good reason in favour of collated pages is the ability to make quick comparisons rather than opening multiple tabs, so I'm hoping these hub pages do include something of that sort even if they're brief. {{User:DecryptedPixel/Sig2}} 17:38, April 1, 2026 (UTC)

==General comments==
<!--Place any general comments below this line.-->
Just me commenting to say I'll vote near the end. I encourage people to put their own opinion into this and pick whatever option they actually prefer.-[[User:CIA391|CIA391]] ([[User talk:CIA391|talk]]) 21:59, March 24, 2026 (UTC)

==Results==
In total, polls and votes were cast in a number of places to get as wide a selection of opinions as possible. These are broken down below.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Poll !! Total Votes !! Split !! Collated
|-
| Halopedia (see above) || 12 || 9 || 3
|-
| [https://x.com/Halopedia/status/2036543061035979063 Twitter/X] || 60 || 41 || 19
|-
| [https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1368504371753534&id=100057819512984 Facebook] || 3 || 2 || 1
|-
| [https://www.tumblr.com/halopedia/812002286582841344/halopediaprojectsgameplaypoll?source=share Tumblr] || 21 || 8 || 13
|-
| [https://www.threads.com/@halopediawiki/post/DWR_quGjZ2j?xmt=AQF099wvAkWyUlWhaWz0CZ-SKJQRUJkaGm6664RD5qNqOXsRQN_ZYF1GbOFIqX7yxZHn8kE&slof=1 Threads] || 1 || 1 || -
|-
| [https://discord.com/channels/258355019781242883/316261580801310720/1486104732979433703 Discord (Halopedia Server)] || 19 || 11 || 8
|-
| [https://discord.com/channels/190488331207835649/1015266541576663150/1457822168808423506 Discord (Classic Marathon server)] || 10 || 5 || 5
|-
| [https://discord.com/channels/228263208299790338/918259176357134407/1457820911162884319 Discord (c20 Reclaimers server)] || 17 || 7 || 10
|-
! colspan="4" | Totals
|-
| Totals || 143 || 84 || 59
|}
Overall, the option for '''Split Pages''' won with a total of 84 votes to 59, though with some caveats:
*A preference for Split Pages was generally found among the wiki's existing userbase and audience, alongside more lore-oriented and general crowds.
*Mod-facing communities such as c20 Reclaimers had more of a preference for Collated Pages, as well as (interestingly) Halopedia's Tumblr audience.

More to come.[[User:BaconShelf|<span style="color:green;">BaconShelf</span>]] <span style="font-size:90%">([[User:BaconShelf|talk]])</span> 21:42, April 3, 2026 (UTC)