GoArch:Point of view

Archive content is written from one of two points of view (POV).

In-cavern point of view

The Archive's primary point of view is "in-cavern". This term is more broadly known as "in-character", though "in-world" or "in-universe" are also used in other resources. In essence, it is written as though the author were an inhabitant of the D'ni universe, with no knowledge of events or technology outside of it. It treats D'ni as a real place, the events of Cyan's games as real history, and its characters as real people. Concepts like lag, graphical glitches, actors, and driver errors do not exist in in-cavern discussions of the D'ni universe.

For example, use:

"Myst was Written by Ti'ana as a safe haven for her grandson, Atrus, and his wife-to-be, Catherine, during their efforts to trap Gehn on the Age of Riven."

Instead of:

"Myst has been featured in numerous titles within the titular series, including "Myst", "realMYST", "Myst V: End of Ages", "Uru: Complete Chronicles", and "Myst Online: Uru Live". It acts as the hub world for the original title, granting players access to four other Ages, as well as D'ni, through the use of clever puzzles."

Tense

In general, articles should use the past tense to describe their subject. The primary exception is when the person, Age, etc. is still alive, or is still accessible in the present day. In particular, Ages – while they may technically still exist – are considered to be a part of history if our fictional inhabitant of the D'ni universe cannot travel to the Cavern and go there themselves today. Generally speaking, it is best practice to follow Wikipedia's style guidelines on the use of tense in an article.

Consistency

Articles should use a consistent tense throughout, except when dealing with subjects such as those mentioned above. In cases where the present tense is used to denote that a subject exists in the present day, the past tense should be constrained to the portion of the article dealing with that subject's history.

Examples

• "Yeesha is the daughter of Atrus and Catherine..."
• "The Selenitic Age was written by Atrus..."
• "The Pento were a race who lived on the Pento Age..."
• "D'ni is located in a cavern beneath the state of New Mexico…"

Tone

You should strike a professional tone when writing about your subject. You are creating an article for an encyclopedia, not an entry in a personal journal. Avoid being conversational. Do not directly engage the reader by addressing them as "you", and do not use "you" while explaining things like puzzles (e.g. "You pull the left lever three times."). Also, avoid referring to yourself in the first person, and do not cast yourself as part of a group by using "we". Especially when writing about events in Uru, always use the third person (e.g. "explorers were shocked", rather than "we were shocked"), even if you were present when it happened.

Citations and background information

By nature, most references regarding the D'ni universe are not in-cavern resources. These references should be constrained to the appropriate sections of your article. See the Citation guidelines for information about how to cite your sources, and where real-world resources can be referenced in in-cavern articles.

Undisclosed information

While certain information may be canonically unavailable to anyone within the D'ni universe, the Archive's point of view is all-knowing. Classified, hidden, or otherwise "secret" information about the D'ni universe is within the scope of the Archive.

This scope does not, however, extend to officially unreleased content. Data extracted from game files, such as journal entries, Age names, etc. should not be added to the Archive, nor should it be used as a citable source.

Canon conflicts

If various sources provide conflicting information on a subject and it is unclear which source is canonically correct, simply provide all of the information given by those sources, and include a note in the article explaining the conflict. If one source has been established as canonical over another, adhere to the canonical source first. Include a note at the end of your article outlining the information provided by other sources. If there is too much information to convey, or if there is no canonical replacement for the ret-conned subject (e.g. Tadjinar), then create a separate article for it.

If a subject has different spellings, or can be known by different names, create your article using the most commonly accepted name for it, and then create redirects under the other commonly-used names (e.g. Whark redirects to Wahrk).

Out-of-cavern point of view

Sometimes, it is necessary to step back and look at the D'ni universe as a work of fiction, such as when discussing the games, novels, actors, developers, etc. These articles should use the {{OOC}} template at the top of the section or page using the OOC point of view, and tense should mirror that of a contemporary encyclopedia.

The meta-universe

Because of Cyan's efforts to tie the D'ni universe into our modern day world, the Myst series is something that technically exists within the D'ni universe. It was created by Cyan (now Cyan Worlds) after Rand and Robyn Miller went on an expedition to D'ni with the DRC in 1991. As a result, the Myst games can, under certain circumstances, be referred to in in-cavern articles, without breaking the article's point of view. However, this exception does not extend to Uru in any of its incarnations. As far as the D'ni universe is concerned, Uru does not exist. It can be referenced in category names for organizational purposes, and can be referred to in other out-of-cavern contexts, but in-cavern articles must refrain from mentioning it in an in-cavern context.

If you're confused right now, don't worry, you are not alone. The Guild of Archivists is here to help, however, so if you have questions about whether you're using the proper point of view in an article, feel free to ask.

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Content in this section is based on policies created by Memory Alpha. In accordance with Memory Alpha's licensing terms, the material on this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial license.