Forum:Character notability

As another step towards the franchise expansion, I think it would be good to establish guidelines for characters. Historically, any you can think of probably warranted a page. Now though, with all the new stories, brand collaborations, and other media, it's important we put our foot down and make sure people can't give any or all possible characters pages.

Characters are entities, primarily but not unanimously humanoid, who appear in content made for the franchise. They can appear in games, novels, films, and other similar media.

Depending on the media, there can either be many characters, or very few characters. As a result, not every possible entity is deserving of a page.

1. If a character serves as either the inarguable main protagonist, main antagonist, or a supporting character, they will normally get a page by default.
   1. If the work in question is incredibly small or short on detail, exceptions to this can be made, such as The Legend of the Screaming Goat. The protagonist, Lee, has defined character traits and an arc, but no additional appearances to develop them. As a result, any important information about them can simply be found on the story's page.
2. If a character is defined doing something, but lacks a name and appears visually identical to a generic mob, they are ineligible for a page.
   1. Moo is a character in Minecraft: The Island, not described looking any different from an average cow. However, Moo is very important to the narrative, possesses a personality, has been cited by the author in interviews, and appears in supplementary material.
   2. In The Nether Update Encore, a baby piglin character appears. They have visual personality and serve as the protagonist of the video, but without a name, design, or any depth they are borderline impossible to write a page for.
3. Characters with multiple appearances should receive priority, but one-shot characters can also receive pages if they meet the right criteria, such as a distinctive design and personality.
4. If a character has a certain degree of depth but not enough to sustain a page, they can be included on a minor characters page.
   1. A sentient sweet berry bush is a minor joke character appearing in How We Make Minecraft. At no point is this bush relevant to a story, but the joke of it having an ex-girlfriend named Susan is referenced many times, complete with it receiving a death.
5. If a character is merely a name, or even less notable than a minor character, they can merely be mentioned on a list, such as an entities section or the character page.

Many collaborations with the Minecraft brand have been made over the years, and many more will continue to be made. Several of these feature interactions or narratives involving external characters, such as Sonic the Hedgehog or Batman. If they meet certain criteria, they can warrant their own pages.

1. The character must have an actual history or narrative within the Minecraft universe. They do not necessarily need repeat appearances, but they cannot simply be included in content.
   1. Mario appears as a skin in the Super Mario Mash-up, but nothing else. He is identifiable as Mario, but being a mere skin nothing can be described about his appearance beyond being in the pack and his general character. Furthermore, giving a page exclusively to content from DLC violates the above policies.
   2. Grimace appears in several pieces of content for the McDonald's x A Minecraft Movie collaboration, including a skin pack, an add-on, and a series of commercials, where he sports a unique redesign. Although short on story, these appearances make Grimace recurring and allow the page to be expanded over time.
2. More than anything, a character page should be for compiling information from multiple sources. If a character makes frequent crossovers, they will have more content to document, making a dedicated page more useful.
   1. Just making multiple appearances does not make them notable. If their appearances consist entirely of skins or similarly ineligible content, a page is not necessary and can instead be directed to using a collaboration page, such as Minecraft x SpongeBob SquarePants.

--Realshow19 (talk) 21:24, 24 March 2025 (UTC)