Eh, I don't think it's a common enough situation that it would spawn many new pages at all, let alone cause widespread chaos. As a site that encourages multiple pages for different kinds of swords, I don't think we'd have much to worry about really. And if people are actually putting effort and content into them, they would be better than about 80% of pages currently in the database.
Anyway, it's just one idea and far from being any kind of official change.
I agree that ideally the wiki would be better designed to accommodate such things, kind of like how Comic Vine shows "Marvel character" or "DC Character" in the search. Though it's not such a common problem for videogames and probably wouldn't be considered worth the extra coding effort. We could essentially achieve the same thing by just naming pages clearly as you suggest: Amaterasu (Okami), Amaterasu (Shin Megami Tensei) - the wikipedia method.
If we didn't want to just separate or consolidate all such pages (though either of those would probably be simplest) then there could also be a generic Amaterasu page that includes two sections. Something like a "Notable Interpretations" section that has links to Amaterasu (Okami) and Amaterasu (Shin Megami Tensei). Then a following section for "Other Videogame Appearances" that lists games she appears in with a short paragraph about each.
What justifies a separate page? I'm inclined to say that if someone is able to and wanting to write more than just a paragraph about the characters role in that game, then go ahead and give it a clearly named page. Otherwise there isn't much need to separate them.
But what's the hard limit on popularity/distinction when it comes to creating a separate page for a character, then?There's a Separate page for YHVH (God as he appears in Shin Megami Tensei) and God as in the Abrahamic deity.If we're going to separate out Shin Megami Tensei's interpretation of Satan from the Mythological Satan page as well, then we need to bust this one level further out and separate Shin Megami Tensei's Thor from the mythological Thor page.
Maybe we do, or maybe it just needs to be taken on a case by case basis and debated if necessary. How do they decide it over on wikipedia?
There's no perfect solution that doesn't also have drawbacks, the best is probably the one which has least negative impact on the quality of the wiki. Ultimately though it will be up to Jeff, and I'm trying to find out what he wants done.
I'm also not necessarily saying that the SMT Satan page should be separate (I think both sides have good arguments), but this has developed into a wider debate on how such pages should be handled and the solution could affect this particular case.
Nah, he was always the Norse God Thor in Marvel, his dad just got pissed at him and turned him into an amnesiac crippled doctor for like 10 years to teach him a lesson about humility.There's pretty much no reason I can think of for those pages to be separated.
I don't believe that it's as clear cut as you think it is. I have a hard time seeing all interpretations of mythological figures being lumped together as the same character. Comic Vine certainly felt they should be separated, even wikipedia has separate Thor pages for different comic interpretations.
However that Marvel Thor page you linked appears to be full of plagiarised content anyway, so thanks for bringing it to our attention!
For the record, this hasn't been dealt with as I was trying to contact the staff and get their input on how to handle such pages going forwards. Unfortunately I still haven't had a response, but will try talking to them again once things have calmed down a bit with the new site.
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