Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6003396-20130317051424

Something that has been on my mind for a while is how to distinguish between a common noun and a proper noun within the world of Dark Souls. Getting cues from in-game descriptions, I think, is for the most part unhelpful as they tend to go back and forth in this regard. There is much inconsistency between article pages, and I am certain that I have made some mistakes myself. This will function as both an instructional page and be a place where I, and others can ask questions. If I get something wrong please bring it up, for this area is not my forte.

I think everyone is on the same page when it comes to proper names, e.g. "Andre of Astora", "Demonic Statue", "Crest Shield" etc..

Words that should not be capitalized are those that refer to a class of entities, like "enemy", "characters", "boss", "weapons" etc.

But how about "Fire Damage"? "Fire" is a unique entity in this context and should be capitalized (as opposed to "setting someone on fire"), because it distinguishes a type of damage. But, should "damage" in "Fire Damage" be capitalized? In other words, is "Damage" part of its name?

Similarly, should "defense" in "Magic Defense" be capitalized? or "resist" in "Bleed Resist"? Under the Status menu in-game, these are capitalized. (I realize I am contradicting myself by sighting in-game material but these are distinctions, I think)

Instances where they should probably not be capitalized: "the Fire damage type" and "Bleed resistance", because "damage type" is a class of entities and "resistance" is purely descriptive and not listed as part of its name within the game.

Should "Bonfire" be capitalized in certain instances and not in others? like "the Undead Parish bonfire" or "Resting at a Bonfire restores health"? (should "health" be capitalized here?)

What about "Poison" and "Toxic". Although they are often not capitalized within in-game item descriptions, they refer to unique concepts...

Since we are dealing with fiction, I suspect that things are not entirely cut-and-dry. Also, there may be a need to capitalize things so they simply stand out on the page.

After things are thoroughly clarified here, I think this topic should be elaborated and expanded upon on the Manual of Style page. 