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:TITLE:Adding/Editing Characters
:INC:index


:SUB:Introduction
<p>
 Characters represent persons, animals and things within a visual novel. Any
 character in a visual novel, no matter how obscure their role is, may be added
 to the database, although it is recommended to at least add the more important
 characters first. When adding characters, try to be complete: That is, try to
 add as many characters of a single visual novel, rather than adding a single
 character to many VNs.
</p>


:SUB:Instances
<p>
You can link two (or more) characters with an "instance relationship" when they are, in some way, the same person.
</p>
:SUBSUB: Where instances might be suitable
<ul>
  <li>The two characters seemed to be different people, but were actually the same person.
    For example, <a href="/c7373">Arsene</a> and <a href="/c7374">Henriette</a>.</li>
  <li>One of the characters is an older version of the other.</li>
  <li>One character transforms into the other. There does not need to be a way for them to transform back.
    For example, <a href="/c1022">Kaoru (Male)</a> and <a href="/c1023">Kaoru (Female)</a>.</li>
  <li>The two characters are the same character in different universes, timelines or realities.
    For example, Tohsaka Rin <a href="/c34">in Fate/stay night</a> and in <a href="/c3529">in Fate/extra</a>.</li>
  <li>The two characters are the same character used by different developers. This may result in different interpretations of the character or different art styles.
    For example, Emiya Shirou <a href="/c15">in Fate/stay night</a> and in <a href="/c4479">in Happy Valentines Day</a>.</li>
  <li>Spoilers about the character need to be hidden. This may be done by
    creating a character entry with incorrect or incomplete, but non-spoiling
    information. This is linked to another entry for the same character with
    complete, but spoiling information.</li>
</ul>

:SUBSUB:Where instances might not be suitable
<ul>
  <li>It is preferable to avoid using instances just to hide spoilers if other
    methods would be effective. These methods include marking traits as spoilers
    and hiding information within spoiler tags in the character description.</li>
  <li>If the two characters to be linked by an instance are not sufficiently
    different, they should just use one character entry.
    For example, <a href="/c4287">Alice (lamia)</a> and <a href="http://s.vndb.org/sf/26/18226.jpg">Alice (human)</a>.</li>
</ul>

:SUBSUB:How to use instances
<p>
To link two (or more) characters with an instance relationship, you must choose
one character to be the "main character". All others will be "instance
characters". (Do not confuse this with a character's role in a visual novel.)
Usually, the most often seen or least spoiling character should be the "main
character".<br />
Do not fill the "Instance of" field when editing the "main character", but fill
it for the "instance characters". If the instance relation is a spoiler, make
sure to mark it as such when editing the "instance characters". If the
existence of a character in a visual novel is a spoiler, see the <a
href="/d12#6">Visual Novels</a> section below.
</p>


:SUB:General info
<dl>
 <dt>Name (romaji)</dt><dd>
  Name of the character, in the latin alphabet. Check out the <a
  href="/d5">general editing guidelines</a> for information on name order and
  romanization. Try to use the full name when known. If the full name is not
  known, then use either the first or last name. If even that isn't known, use
  the name that is most commonly used to refer to this character in the story.
  In the case the character is never referred to with a name or title (e.g.
  it's the protagonist), "Unnamed" can be used as name.<br />
  In some cases the full name is a spoiler, see the chapter on instances above
  for some ways to handle that.
 </dd><dt>Original name</dt><dd>
  The actual name of the character, in the case it is not officially in the
  latin alphabet. Leave empty if it's the same as the "Name (romaji)". If
  possible, try to include a space between the given name and the surname.
 </dd><dt>Aliases</dt><dd>
  Other names this character is known by, such as nick names used by other
  characters within the story. Since this field does not have any option to
  hide spoilers, you shouldn't include spoilery names here. It is possible to
  mention such aliases with a [spoiler] tag in the description.
 </dd><dt>Description</dt><dd>
  A short description of the character. While it is advised to keep the
  spoilers to a minimum, you can use the usual <a href="/d9.3">formatting
  codes</a> such as [spoiler] to include spoilers while hiding them by default.
  When using a description from external sources, check out the <a
  href="/d5.5">general editing guidelines</a> for quoting rules.
 </dd><dt>Gender</dt><dd>
  Gender of the character. This is usually rather straightforward, but there
  are some odd cases: (Reverse) traps should have their biological gender
  filled out here. Futanari should be marked as "both".<br />
  If the real gender is a spoiler, which is sometimes the case with traps,
  leave this field at "Unknown". See the chapter on instances above if the
  character "transforms" between a male and female version.
 </dd><dt>Birthday</dt><dd>
  Month and day of the character's birthday. Note that a year is not included.
 </dd><dt>Bust / Waist / Hips</dt><dd>
  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWH">BWH</a> measurements, if known.
  This information should either come from the game itself or from a reliable
  source (usually the official homepage). Don't try to guess these!<br />
  If the official source does not provide this information as a natural number,
  the number should rounded to allow its use in the database. If the official
  information is not in the metric system, convert the numbers and round them
  before entering.
 </dd><dt>Height</dt><dd>
  Height of the character, in cm. The above note on natural numbers and the
  metric system also applies here.
 </dd><dt>Weight</dt><dd>
  Weight of the character, in kg. The above note on natural numbers and the
  metric system also applies here.
 </dd><dt>Blood type</dt><dd>
  Blood type, if known and applicable. This makes little sense if the character
  isn't a human.
 </dd>
</dl>


:SUB:Image
<p>
 There is a lot of freedom with regards to uploading an image to a character
 entry, but the following is a list of things to keep in mind:
<ul>
 <li>The image must be "safe for work", according to the <a href="/d2#4">VN
  image guidelines</a>. You may add creative sensoring to make an image safe if
  otherwise no image for the character is available.</li>
 <li>The image must be official, i.e. it must be extracted from the VN itself
  or from the official homepage. Fan art is definitely not allowed!</li>
 <li>This image should be chosen from an image that is showing the most common
  clothing and facial expression the character wears through the game.</li>
 <li>Screenshots of the in-game sprites (tachi-e) are preferred, including any
   background art; Raw sprites or cuts from CGs are allowed, too.</li>
 <li>The image must at least include the head (assuming it has one) and
  shoulders of the character. Full-body shots are fine, but legs are generally
  not that interesting yet cause the overall image to shrink dramatically.</li>
 <li>The image will be cropped to 256x300, but it is recommended to do this
  cropping manually before uploading to ensure that all character images of the
  same VN have the same width. This consistency looks better on the character
  listing on the VN page.</li>
</ul>


:SUB:Traits
<p>
 See the <a href="/d10">Tags &amp; traits</a> page for guidelines on the traits.
</p>


:SUB:Visual Novels
<p>
 A character should always be linked to at least one visual novel entry, but may
 be linked with more when it appears in multiple visual novels.<br />
 If a character appears in all releases of the visual novel, with the possible
 exception of trial releases, then simply keep one release and leave it at "All
 / others". In other situations, mention explicitely in which releases the
 character appears and which role they have in that release. Multiple releases
 can be added with the same role and spoiler information.<br />
 If a characters' role or the entire existance of that character in the visual
 novel is a spoiler, make sure to mark it as such.<br />
 The following roles are available:
</p>
<dl>
 <dt>Protagonist</dt><dd>
  The (or "a") protagonist. The person through which the story is told. Note
  that a significant portion of the story has to be told through the eyes of
  the character for it to be considered a protagonist. Some visual novels may
  switch perspectives for a (relatively) short amount of time, but this does
  not always make the character a protagonist.
 </dd><dt>Main character</dt><dd>
  A character that plays a major role in the story or gets a lot of screen
  time. In general, a herione with an own route always qualifies and so do
  sidekicks/classmates that are very often seen.
 </dd><dt>Side character</dt><dd>
  A character that plays a minor role or does not get a lot of screen time.
  This is often the case for characters that appear only in a single branch or
  a single part of the story, although this is not a mandatory.
 </dd><dt>Makes an appearance</dt><dd>
  This role is used for characters that only appear in the story for a short
  while and have only very little to no lines of dialog. Often used for <a
  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameo_appearance">cameo appearances</a>.
 </dd>
</dl>
<p>
 Note that there is no distinct line between these roles, and one could have
 endless (and often rather pointless) discussions about the actual role of a
 character. Simply assign the role that you think most naturally fits the
 character. To get some inspiration, look around for characters in other visual
 novels that play a somewhat similar role.
</p>