Is it ok to copy info from the developers on to a page?

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metal_mills

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#1  Edited By metal_mills

I'm not talking about a wikpedia or other gaming site content but stuff said by the developers or key info off the games main site. For example the Worms 2: Armageddon page is pretty empty. I wanted to add the new information. Is it ok if I used content from team 17.

Example:
SENSATIONAL NEW WEAPONS!
• Sentry Gun! Defend your position with this deadly guardian.

Or would I have to reword the entire thing? Like:

New Weapons
Sentry Gun: Helps to defend your position with some extra firepower.


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JJOR64

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#2  Edited By JJOR64

Probably rewording it would be best.

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C2C

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#3  Edited By C2C
@JJOR64 said:
" Probably rewording it would be best. "

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PureRok

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#4  Edited By PureRok

Copying from anywhere (without quotes and/or a citation) is plagiarism.

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metal_mills

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#5  Edited By metal_mills
@PureRok said:
" Copying from anywhere (without quotes and/or a citation) is plagiarism. "
Yeah, I did it but in my own words. I had a feeling it wouldn't be allowed.
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MattyFTM

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#6  Edited By MattyFTM  Moderator

If you quoted it, and said it was the developers description, it won't be breaking any rules, but it would be far better if you reworded it into an original article.

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roushimsx

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#7  Edited By roushimsx
@Metal_Mills said:
" I'm not talking about a wikpedia or other gaming site content but stuff said by the developers or key info off the games main site. "
Those are marketing bullet points. You can rewrite them to be more neutral, but outright copying them just induces copious amounts of weasel words.

Your rewritten line is much better, but I'd try to trim down on the vague words (like "some") to make it more specific.

Never, ever, ever copy information about a game line for line from a developer's site. They're fantastic resources for finding information that may not otherwise be available elsewhere, but they're inevitably written in a deliberately biased fashion (something that you should always try to avoid).
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Joseppie

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#8  Edited By Joseppie

Your new line is the way to go. We don't want any kind of official description from developers just as we don't want press releases. People can go anywhere for that kind of stuff, so we want original writing to make GB unique. Flex that English muscle!

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Mithlas

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#9  Edited By Mithlas

Although I'm assuming that it would be valid for less 'feature advertising' things, like number of characters or release dates?

For example: my copy of Chrono Cross has copyright dates but not anything that I know of as a release date. I also don't know how many characters can potentially be played as, I know that I can use 3 at once but it's impossible to get all of them in a single play-through so it would be unpleasantly tedious to try to track that rather than looking at the company website to check how many playable characters there are. Is this valid, provided they pass the common sense test between look-up and edit?

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Agnogenic_delete

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#10  Edited By Agnogenic_delete

If you quote the source I wouldn't see a problem. Writing it in your own words would probably be better though.

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karneh

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#11  Edited By karneh

Plagiarism is taking something from another source and claiming it as your own. A wiki is just a generalization of information gathered from different sources, no single person is the author.