Should we standardize our tag formatting regarding Arabic vs. Roman numerals?

Question

Based on comments in this meta, the possibility of standardizing tag formats sitewide came up and I feel that it might be beneficial to the site.

For instance, we have tags for the Final Fantasy games (always stylized officially with Roman numerals (e.g. FFI, FFVII, FFXV, etc)) in the form of Arabic numerals:

final-fantasy-1, final-fantasy-2, final-fantasy-3, and so on.

However, for the Dragon Quest series (also officially stylized with Roman numerals), we use Arabic numerals in the tags, for the most part:

dragon-quest-iv, dragon-quest-v, dragon-quest-ix, but also dragon-quest-9 and dragon-quest-7.

I'm all for maintaining consistency in tag format within the same series, but would it also be worth looking at maintaining the same tag format across the site?

Some other examples of games officially stylized with Roman numerals would be the Dark Souls series (dark-souls, dark-souls-2, dark-souls-3) and the Civilization series (civilization-4, civilization-5, civilization-6).

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Personally, I think there are two ways to standardize the format:

1. Maintain consistency within the series, using the numerical format that is officially used. (this would require quite a few retags, namely for the Final Fantasy, Dark Souls, and Civilization series, though there are likely a few others)

2. Maintain sitewide consistency, whether that be with Roman numerals or Arabic numerals. (based on what we have already, though, it seems like Arabic numerals would be the easiest way to go about this one)

Answer 1

Since synonyms for tags exist, I'd rather have the official spelling in the tag, such as final-fantasy-x or fallout-4, but with an alias such as final-fantasy-10 for games that use Roman numerals. A fallout-iv synonym would be unnecessary in my opinion.

For games with different numbering systems such as saints-row-2, saints-row-the-third, and saints-row-iv, the official spelling for each game should be used, with synonyms as needed, such as the existing saints-row-3 or saints-row-4.

This ensures that users always have an easy time finding the tag they're looking for, while staying true to the series' naming choice. The downside would be the initial retagging, which, from my limited knowledge, shouldn't be too much of an issue for each tag.

Answer 2

My vote is for Arabic Numbers.

Roman numerals increase tag length

There are a few games with names that would exceed the 35 character limit if they used Roman Numerals. (Located with a custom SEDE query and the Tag Renaming Google Doc)

• lightning-returns-final-fantasy-13 (34) → lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii (36)
• might-magic-heroes-7-trial-by-fire (34) → might-magic-heroes-vii-trial-by-fire (36)
• star-wars-jedi-knight-dark-forces-2 (35) → star-wars-jedi-knight-dark-forces-ii (36)
• might-and-magic-6-mandate-of-heaven (35) → might-and-magic-vi-mandate-of-heaven (36)

If we were to switch back to Roman Numerals, we would need to need to figure out how to handle these exceptions.

Numbers keeps site-wide consistency

A vast majority of our current tags use Arabic Numbers. It's a consistent system that makes tagging an easy process. While synonyms would likely be created for more popular tags, creating synonyms has typically required meta discussion with synonym-request, followed by moderator intervention.

I appreciate the site-wide consistency of knowing how to tag a game. I'm not sure if I would want to potentially lose that for tags that may not get synonimized.

A series can use both numbers and numerals

There are some series which are inconsistent in whether they use Arabic Numbers or Roman Numerals.

• Metal Gear Solid:
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
• Saints Row:
  • Saints Row 2
  • Saints Row IV