Forum:Why don't we add a Standard Calendar

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Why don't we add a Standard Calendar like Wookieepedia for a time period (example Before Battle Of Yavin/BBY or After Battle of Yavin ). Like a possible event that first happened in the Half Life series like the Black Mesa Incident maybe call it Before Black Mesa Incident/BBMI or After Black Mesa Incident/ABMI. Or Should we re-modify the term to fit the different eras.99.244.169.161 04:34, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Er, its pretty obvious that everything in the game takes place after the Black Mesa incident. What's the point? Darkman 4 05:30, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Yeah. Plus we know that the Black Mesa Incident took place in the year 200X and Half-Life 2 is nearly twenty years after that, so we have a pretty good idea of when things happened already.--YabbaMyIcing 05:36, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, but their has been events that have preluded the events of half life and in the missing years of the Combine's of Earth. Also it can be used as a information about a Character's date of birth and date of death, information about an Organization such as a date of construction and fragmentation and other Societal and Historical information. But are some problems that I would like to mention since it seem(more shown in Half Life 2) that in Gordon's eyes it would seem that he is only there for three days and a lot of conflicts and other situations happen during his arrival(or when he leaves). I think it could prove beneficial to Informations from Affiliations to Characters to Military Conflicts.99.244.169.161 17:28, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

That's a waste of time. We don't even know how old most of the characters are in the first place. Besides, I don't think there's a concrete date for when HL2 begins. Darkman 4 18:19, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

But we do have a pretty good idea of of how old certain Characters are like Alyx, Eli, Gordon, Barney, Judith and Dr.Kleiner.99.244.169.161 18:55, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Another thing is Wookipedia has that calendar because they have to deal with time spans over hundreds of years. The Half-Life series only takes place over a thirty year time span tops, so far.--YabbaMyIcing 19:24, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Yeah your right about that.But maybe we can re-modify the term to fit the half life series maybe like this(04{which means days}20{which means years} After Black Mesa Incident which linked to the events of all Half Life 2 Episode 2 since Gordon spend only 4 days in the Half Life 2 series so far.99.244.169.161 21:51, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

I disagree, there are certain important parts of the plot to half life that go back much further. For example, we know that Apeture Science was appointed by Eisenhower, which dates it back to the 50s. As the story continues to some point about 20 years in the future (so far), that means we're looking at a 70 year long story line so far, ignoring the small amounts we know about Nihilanth which, if we are given more information on the subect when episode three comes out, could certainly drag the story line out hundreds of years, if not thousands. Besides, having all the dates of various events that occur would be really useful. (Dylan)

You said it yourself, Aperture was appointed in the 50's. There's your standard calendar right there!--YabbaMyIcing 19:49, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes the example above only scratched the surface of Half Life's timeline in the future and Apeture Science founding in the past but we haven't had a large idea about how old the Nihilanth is or when the Combine was founded which both of these species and organizations had affect the half life story line intensely. Such as the Nihilanth's assassination which freed the Vortigaunts (which freed Gordon Freeman from the G-man) but caused the Combine (but is shown that it's losing control of Earth) to be sent here to Earth and also the G-man employing Gordon for his plans.But I agree with you guys.99.244.169.161 20:35, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Yabba, I would like to make the following fact quite clear; When I said for example, I did not mean "this is the only thing that has happened". The two phrases have quite different meanings, the term for example is generally deemed to mean that there are other possibilities. Anyway, a time line would also be useful on the basis that, comparing factual studies into quantum entanglement to the timeline of half life (in black mesa east Mossman refers to quantum entanglement with respects to teleportation) an approximate estimation of blakc mesas lines of research, and thus the age of the various parts of the facility itself, can be calculated. We'd be able to fill in decades of extra history of the storyline through this... (Dylan)

Dylan, sign your comment properly with four "~", please. It's shown below. As for a calendar or a timeline, we should be careful since we have not many precise dates. For example, we vaguely know that HL2 is set 20 years after HL1, but it' not precise at all. I don't think we should insist too much on timeline informations unless we have a solid date to start with, like for the Star Wars universe. Klow 16:33, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Ok, First of all I agree with Klow. That is one of my problems with the proposed sort of timeline. But once again, if we had the specific dates in the first place we wouldn't need the proposed sort of calendar. Dylan, there is no need to be a jerk about things. You gave me an example, and I put up how it doesn't prove the point. Don't use an example if you don't want me to suggest how it doesn't work. Also, let me say that I don't think the proposed suggestion is a bad idea, just not what we need for this wiki. Now I don't understand how quantum entanglement will let us calculate the age of parts of Black Mesa its self. If you are speculating on what may come out of Episode 3, then we cannot implement it. We have to wait to see what Episode 3 actually brings.

Now, my main issue is that if we do set up a standard calendar like Wookipedia has, it would cover a very small timespan so far. Dylan, you talk about we could use this calendar to date the Nihilanth. We can't. We don't have any idea when it came into existence. And even it we did, we could use standard time to date it once again. For example, as you say, say Episode Three allures to him being a couple thousand years old. Then we would list him as being thousands of years old. Saying that "he came into existence 2000 years Before the Black Mesa Incident" is about the same as saying "he came into existence roughly 2000 years ago". I see why it may seem to be more helpful but considering that the standard Gregorian Calendar was used in Half-Life 1 to date the Black Mesa Incident, we could just put it on that if you so wanted to plant the dates. I also understand that Xen may have a different concept of time and such, but than this calender idea also wouldn't work. I just honestly think it would be too much of a hassle to use that sort of thing, and if we did adapt it, it wouldn't help us out that much.--YabbaMyIcing 06:48, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

What we could also do here would be gather all the known date infos given in all canon/official sources. The game themselves, the guides, the game files, the official websites, etc. (including the Gearbox stuff) That would be a start if we want to talk about dates. Bear in mind that nothing solid has ever been thought by the Valve (seeing the vagueness and the contradictions), and maybe they will never issue anything solid... Klow 09:39, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Sorry Klow, I forget to sign in, and Im too lazy to type things again. I'll make a concerted effort to sign in before posting up from now on, okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off as a jerk, I just find it odd that we are using this as a bank of information, and then saying "because we know this information we dont need to write it down". By the same logic, there's no need for the wiki at all, and that would be a tragic loss. Sorry, I can get a tad cranky when typing sometimes. My point about quantum entanglement was that we know that black mesa teleportation is based on quantum entanglement. We also know that the half life universe runs almost parallel with our own, and so using real life steps in advancing technology, we can approximate the age of, for example, the teleportation labs, as they could not have been built without fundamental understandings of various concepts within quantum entanglement. It seems obvious to me to tie in real life development with the game based on a closely related universe, but I can understand that people may disagree with that. I dislike the suggestion that the currently observed 70 years of history isn't very long. If anyone wants to come and sit through my next hour long history lecture with me, I can prove to you that time's a lot longer than you think, but I shall except for the minute that it needs to be larger expanses of time for you personally. In which case, a timeline is useless. However, do you not think that it is useful to have all this information in one place as a reference? I often find myself trying to work out on my fingers the approximate times at which various events happened during the black mesa incident, and comparing where people are within the facility. Does that never bother you? Not even a little? It's difficult to do without having all the information collected together, and it would save a lot of time sifting through parts of articles that you dont really need to know about to work it out if these things were just all collected up and bundled together.That's a bit of a personal tick, I know, but I doubt Im the only person that ever thinks this. Look, signing it specially for Klow. Dylan Bobson 13:37, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for this neat signature! About what you just said, I didn't really get your point. Maybe it's because of my new year's eve hangover or because of the fact that English is not my mother language (but that would be unlikely), but I don't understand what you mean exactly. Klow 21:04, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, I may just have explained it badly, I'll try to phrase it a little better... Do you never wonder things like "when Barney Calhoun was on Xen, where was Gordon Freeman in black mesa", or other similar questions? I just think that it would be useful to be able to look that type of thing up straight away, rather than shift through loads of unwanted information from two articles, and compare the times? I just think that kind of thing would be useful, 'tis all. Out of interest, what is your first language?Dylan Bobson 19:01, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

It's French. I'm Belgian and I'm living in the French-speaking part of Belgium. What you mean is getting a bit clearer, but do you want to put that kind of information on the wiki? Where and how?... Klow 19:35, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Heh, I'm actually a big fan of Belgium. I did a battlefields tour there many years ago, it's a really nice place, I do envy you some what. To be honest, I'm not really sure how I would work it, maybe some form of time line, documenting important events and the start of chapters in chronological order? Some would be impossible to place, I understand, but I'm sure it would be workable, if we were to put some work into it. Possibly have an overall timeline article, with different major events making up the categories, each with smaller events making up the smaller point. For example, maybe having a section for the black mesa incident, containing details of Freeman leaving earth, the invasion of race X, Barney leaving Black Mesa, that sort of thing. So, fundamentally, I'm suggesting one new article to act as a detailed timeline.Dylan Bobson 01:22, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

"A battlefields tour"? What do you mean? Anyway thanks for the compliment. It's one of the safest and stablest places in the world, when you compare to the rest... As for this timeline, why don't create a little something, maybe in the sandbox?... Klow 12:25, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Went around with a group of mates seeing all the world war 1 battlefields in belgium.It was pretty cool. Also pretty flat, but mostly pretty cool. That's probably a good idea on the timeline. As soon as I get more than 10 minutes to post between heavy revision sessions, I'll get right on it. But, well, you know what it's like, I have to pass my exams this year really.Dylan Bobson 17:02, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

I know, my country is rather flat... And of course, your exams come first. Of course, it would be better to improve what already exists, but whatever, we'll see what you come up with. Klow 18:55, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

I remember putting some thought into the timing of all the different events in the first game and expansions, but I can't recall what I concluded. I don't recall if there were any chronological discrepancies. It's been too long since I played those games. --MattyDienhoff 19:54, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

So the standard calender is or isn't going to be placed on to templates such as military conflicts, characters or in other information of the story arc of half life series.99.244.169.161 22:51, 10 January 2009 (UTC)