User:Tuh22823/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Video game piracy

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I have many dealings with downloading and playing video games, both legitimately and illegitimately. Therefore, I have some first-hand experience in the subject matter of this article.

This article seems somewhat under-articulated for being such a prevalent idea in today's world. At around 700 words, there is much that could be improved, and much that I am able to add with the resources that are available to me.

Lead section
The introductory sentence is good, and it clearly defines the term "video game piracy". The lead does offer definite mentions of each major section featured later in the article, though with specifics that are not discussed in said respective sections. For example, the sentence discussing modified video game consoles, which can be attributed to the Emulation and piracy section of the article, mentions specific revenue loss from 2010, which isn't ever discussed further for the remainder of the article. Attention should be given to elaborating on the information present in the lead that is not present in the major sections. The lead itself is more on the concise side, and can likely be elaborated further at a conceptual level, rather than discussing more specific details and events.

Content
All of the content written is relevant to the topic, though many of the examples given to support the topic are bare-bones and not well elaborated. There are no mentions of dates beyond 2010, so more recent examples ought to be given. Most of the current content of the article was added in 2019, though, so its conception was fairly recent. There is one event off the top of my head that would fit nicely into this article, and that is the recent squabble with Nintendo and the use of emulation at certain tournaments. There's a good amount of content that is missing, specifically concerning the history and ethics of video game piracy, among other broad concepts. The See also section contains two specific things are are not at all discussed in the article.

Tone and Balance
The tone of this article will likely be a challenge to deal with, as the subject matter is very easily associated with fringe pirating communities and groups. The subject matter is more importantly an ongoing source of controversy, debate, and legal troubles, so it will be crucial to understand all sides and points of view when expanding this article. For instance, the section on emulating is considerably biased against publishers and corporations, given their admittedly-questionable actions against emulators. That section should be reframed to account for all arguments and sides, instead of leaving the reader needlessly sympathetic towards those who engage in game emulation at a large scale. If I am to add a section on ethics to this article, it will be a challenge to frame it in a neutral light, and not turn the entire article into a kind of manifesto for video game pirates.

Sources and References
The article is well-cited, and well-represented by its 12 sources listed. However, many of the sources are very niche, and only cover very specific examples discussed. This article would greatly benefit from the addition of more comprehensive sources. The sources are relatively recent, with only 4 of the 12 having been published before 2010. All of the links work, for the sources that are purely digital. Given the somewhat niche subject matter, it may be difficult to consider diversity in the spectrum of authors. Only 2 sources seem to be peer-reviewed, so the addition of more peer-reviewed sources would be very beneficial to the article, and I have already located a handful that would help.

Organization and writing quality
The article is considerably well-written, and there are not any major spelling or grammatical issues. There are three major sections right now: Anti-piracy measures, Emulation and piracy, and Modding and piracy. The latter two sections definitely blend into each other in terms of ideas focused on, and they can likely be split into three sections, about emulation, modding, and piracy as separate ideas.

Images and Media
There are no images or media in this article. As the subject matter is a broad idea, any images or media added will likely be dependent on specific people, organizations, or products discussed in the article. Copyright regulations will, of-course, be adhered to when adding new media.

Talk page discussion
There is no talk page discussion at all. However, a number of historical documents are listed as references to consider when improving the article. Nearly all of them are on archive.org, and are scans of magazines from the 1980s and 1990s, discussing the matter of video game piracy as it existed in those days. It is rated as Start in terms of quality, and High in terms of importance. As such, this page is clearly one that will benefit from attention and expansion.

Overall impressions
My overall impression of this article is that it is underdeveloped, but rife with the potential for expansion and improvement. It is somewhat short, though the density of ideas will allow for a great amount of elaboration. Its sections can be broken up and reorganized, though that is something that is very feasible. However, it is certainly readable as it stands now, and is great at introducing a reader to the general concept of video game piracy. It is fairly categorized as a start quality article.