This is just a suggestion, but I think a rhythm game category may be needed either now or in the future. This would be a subcategory of multi-platform games. Inside the category would be articles like How to Play osu!, How to Play Cytus, How to Play Geometry Dash, How to Play Guitar Hero, How to Play Beat Saber, among others.
There is a huge rhythm game community, especially in East Asia and the United States. Having this category would make all rhythm game-related articles show up in the “related wikiHows” section.
Category requests are still on hold, and exceptions to the hold would require at least 30+ articles and/or unusual popularity (as per the FAQ
).
It’s probably also worth elaborating, for someone who’s not familiar with the rhythm game community – how do these link together, beyond being rhythm games? In my experience, a lot of the games you mentioned tend to be treated as standalone entities; the average Guitar Hero player is probably less interested in the rhythm aspect of the game than the average osu! player, for instance, and all the games you’ve mentioned are on different platforms (e.g., Beat Saber is VR). If someone is looking for articles on Geometry Dash and they’re getting “related” articles on Guitar Hero and Beat Saber, they’re going to be pretty confused.
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I recognize category requests are still on hold lmao
The fact of the matter is that each rhythm game is unique on its own and is very different. An article on how to pass song X in Y rhythm game is not going to be super helpful as rhythm games test not only your speed but also your ability to sync your hits to the music. If rhythm gamers see similar rhythm games in the related articles section, they may be willing to give others a try. Sure some have different mechanics than others, but for any given title, two songs in the same rhythm game use identical mechanics.
An example of this would be iL CHAOS difficulty in Cytus II and Beautiful Lie CHAOS difficulty also in Cytus II. Both songs have the scanline change speed, the hold notes, the drag notes, and the tap and flick notes. For this reason, there is not that much more strategy to passing a song than timing your hits so they match when the judgement line touches the note. Or Igallta IN and Marenol IN in Phigros. There is not that much readers can benefit from learning how to pass a single song other than the mechanics. That is why I see specific rhythm game categories a little inappropriate. A generic rhythm game category won’t have this problem as it teaches each individual rhythm game.
Remember rhythm games are not the same as other games like Genshin Impact or Zelda Breath of the Wild where each mechanic is very comprehensive.
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Taking your argument a step further, wouldn’t readers get confused when they see a bunch of non-rhythm-game related articles on a rhythm game article? That would be even more confusing and less helpful. Many rhythm gamers play more than one rhythm game. A few popular ones like EK
and 天堂EGHD a.k.a. HeavenEGHD
and アルストロメリア
and tokaku
play not one, but two or sometimes three or four rhythm games. If readers who want to become pro rhythm gamers see articles unrelated to rhythm games, they are going to be more confused than if a reader who wants to master one rhythm game sees articles unrelated to that one rhythm game they are playing.
Honestly, I wouldn’t really be that confused in their position, but I would be the type of person looking up general game mechanics or entry-level tips for one game. I wouldn’t be trying to become a pro rhythm gamer, because I can’t keep rhythm to save my life. lol
there’s also the fact that 90% of Beat Saber maps I’ve seen on YouTube are based on changes in the melody rather than the rhythm, but I digress
I think keeping the typical
audience in mind here is important too, though. Something like Guitar Hero or Geometry Dash would be more commonly played by the average person with a phone or gaming console, whereas osu! or Beat Saber would be a bit more niche (and potentially financially inaccessible – a lot of osu! players buy art tablets, and VR headsets are not cheap). I’ve played Guitar Hero at parties before when I was younger since it was family-friendly and multiplayer; that’s not really possible with something like Beat Saber or Cytus.
You mentioned in the wikiHow Minecraft forum thread is that most people looking up game advice are going to resources focused on that specific game; official guides, Wikia/FANDOM, Gamepedia, or similar. At that moment, they’re likely not looking for information on the other games, even if they’re interested in them. I’d guess the same logic applies here because if your brain is on Cytus, you’re thinking about the techniques, etc. for Cytus; jumping to Geometry Dash articles requires you to mentally “reset” into Geometry Dash. It feels like it’d make more sense to just weave relevant articles into the Related wikiHows section.
