Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?
Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2014-07-11 17:24:09
Articles must not use second ("you") or first person ("I" or "me") point of view. The player of the game, who is assumed to be performing the glitch, is either referred to as "the player" or not at all. Phrases such as "you must use a Pokémon with a Special of 21 to get a Mew" might be reworded as "Using a Pokémon with a Special stat of 21 results in a Mew."
This is a common rule on other wikis, but sometimes writing in the second person does not make the article harder to read, and is it really 'unprofessional'?. I feel it could be helpful when you are instructing the player what to do. I don't know if it's just me, but for a wiki about teaching the player about different glitches and tricks, having 'you' appear sounds friendlier and makes the information sink in more if it is used appropriately. StrategyWiki and Wikitravel do this.
I'm not saying that "Using a Pokémon with a Special stat of 21 results in a Mew." sounds worse than "you must use a Pokémon with a Special of 21 to get a Mew" though. In fact, I think it sounds better; it doesn't use 'you' or 'the player' and it has a clearer meaning.
But, I don't think simply replacing 'you' with 'the player' is the way to go.
Thoughts?