Summary - FAQ Writer Rankings

This page totals and summarises data, and provides trend analysis:

Key Statistics
Types
Genre
Platforms
Trends

1. Key Statistics

1.1 Key Statistics
Item	Number	%	Total Size (MB)	%	Average Size (KB)
FAQs	34328	100.0	2149.4	100.0	64
FAQs with named author(s)	34090	99.3	2146.3	99.9	64
FAQs with two named authors	477	1.4	54.7	2.5	117
FAQs by the 100 most prolific authors^[1]	5114	14.9	567.4	26.4	113
Authors that have written at least one FAQ	13668	-	-	-	-
Images	2895	-	115.5	-	40
Authors that have drawn at least one image	507	-	-	-	-
Titles	8665	-	-	-	-
Games^[2]	13879	100.0	-	-	-
Games with FAQ(s)	12600	90.8	-	-	-
Games with Image(s)	653	4.7	-	-	-

Authors with the greatest KB volume of FAQs.
The wide discrepency between titles and games is in part due to the double-counting of some games, where specific games have been renumbered and the new number is only used on some author profiles. Note that I only collect game data for games which have (or had in past had) files submitted. There are many more games than this.

2. Types

2.1 Types
Type^[1]	Number of Authors^[2]	%	Number of FAQs	%	Total Size (MB)	%	Average Size (KB)
No spot	8368	61.2	17059	49.7	763.5	35.5	45
Empty spot	1454	10.6	1837	5.4	52.4	2.4	29
Half spot	2042	14.9	2475	7.2	172.7	8.0	71
Full spot	5051	37.0	12957	37.7	1160.7	54.0	91
All FAQs	13668	100.0	34328	100.0	2149.4	100.0	64

See What are spots?
Authors with at least one FAQ of this type. Each author may appear in more than one category, however percentage is that of all authors. Consequently percentages may sum to more than 100%.

3. Genre

3.1 Genre
Genre	Number of Authors^[1]	%	Number of FAQs	%	Total Size (MB)	%	Average Size (KB)
Master Genre^[2]
Action	6646	48.6	14735	42.9	754.8	35.1	52
Adventure	2103	15.4	3905	11.4	263.8	12.3	69
Driving	815	6.0	1230	3.6	52.5	2.4	43
Puzzle	752	5.5	1156	3.4	63.1	2.9	55
Role-Playing	4122	30.2	7380	21.5	681.7	31.7	94
Simulation	174	1.3	227	0.7	13.6	0.6	61
Sports	1399	10.2	2920	8.5	118.5	5.5	41
Strategy	1849	13.5	2775	8.1	201.4	9.4	74
All FAQs	13668	100.0	34328	100.0	2149.4	100.0	64
Sub-Genre^[3]
2D: Action	862	6.3	1649	4.8	84.0	3.9	52
3D: Action	593	4.3	792	2.3	58.1	2.7	75
Action: Beat-'Em-Up	821	6.0	1308	3.8	56.1	2.6	43
Action: Fighting	2056	15.0	4391	12.8	179.8	8.4	41
Action: General	1911	14.0	3465	10.1	126.4	5.9	37
Action: Shooter	1549	11.3	2319	6.8	150.5	7.0	66
Action Adventure: Fantasy	768	5.6	1091	3.2	104.3	4.9	97
Action Adventure: Historic	28	0.2	29	0.1	1.6	0.1	57
Action Adventure: Horror	491	3.6	811	2.4	76.7	3.6	96
Action Adventure: Modern	406	3.0	579	1.7	61.7	2.9	109
Action Adventure: Sci-Fi	275	2.0	350	1.0	29.6	1.4	86
Adventure: First-Person	68	0.5	90	0.3	5.5	0.3	63
Adventure: General	924	6.8	1683	4.9	68.1	3.2	41
Adventure: Third-Person	146	1.1	184	0.5	10.3	0.5	57
Driving: Car Combat	30	0.2	32	0.1	1.1	0.1	35
Driving: Demolition Derby	11	0.1	12	0.0	0.3	0.0	23
Driving: General	24	0.2	27	0.1	0.9	0.0	35
Driving: Mission-based	92	0.7	110	0.3	5.9	0.3	54
Driving: Racing	544	4.0	756	2.2	28.8	1.3	38
Fantasy: Strategy	15	0.1	16	0.0	1.1	0.1	71
First-Person: Role-Playing	115	0.8	141	0.4	9.6	0.4	69
General: Strategy	28	0.2	30	0.1	1.4	0.1	47
GT / Street: Driving	193	1.4	298	0.9	16.4	0.8	56
Hardware:	209	1.5	284	0.8	15.8	0.7	56
Interactive Movie: Adventure	15	0.1	16	0.0	0.5	0.0	29
Large Spaceship: Simulation	14	0.1	16	0.0	0.8	0.0	51
Massively Multiplayer Online: Role-Playing	277	2.0	316	0.9	16.1	0.8	52
Miscellaneous: Board Games	76	0.6	85	0.2	2.7	0.1	32
Miscellaneous: Card Battle	136	1.0	195	0.6	16.2	0.8	85
Miscellaneous: Compilation	48	0.4	56	0.2	3.4	0.2	61
Miscellaneous: General	85	0.6	109	0.3	3.2	0.1	29
Miscellaneous: Parlor	141	1.0	250	0.7	5.3	0.2	21
Miscellaneous: Party	85	0.6	109	0.3	5.3	0.2	49
Miscellaneous: Puzzle	354	2.6	512	1.5	31.0	1.4	61
Miscellaneous: Trivia / Game Show	24	0.2	36	0.1	2.3	0.1	65
Miscellaneous: Virtual Life	129	0.9	157	0.5	12.0	0.6	77
Modern: Strategy	46	0.3	53	0.2	3.9	0.2	76
Music Maker: Miscellaneous	8	0.1	9	0.0	0.3	0.0	33
Rally / Offroad: Driving	27	0.2	42	0.1	1.4	0.1	33
Rhythm: Miscellaneous	144	1.1	233	0.7	11.1	0.5	48
Role-Playing: Action RPG	655	4.8	899	2.6	65.5	3.0	74
Role-Playing: Console-style RPG	1796	13.1	2906	8.5	324.9	15.1	114
Role-Playing: General	1684	12.3	2697	7.9	220.3	10.2	83
Role-Playing: PC-style RPG	158	1.2	209	0.6	22.9	1.1	112
Simulation: Flight	75	0.5	83	0.2	3.9	0.2	48
Simulation: General	19	0.1	23	0.1	1.2	0.1	54
Simulation: Sci-Fi	124	0.9	166	0.5	12.8	0.6	78
Simulation: Ship	7	0.1	10	0.0	0.4	0.0	41
Simulation: Submarine	6	0.0	6	0.0	0.4	0.0	68
Simulation: Tank	4	0.0	6	0.0	0.3	0.0	57
Simulation: Train	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	25
Skiing: Sports	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.0	0.0	18
Small Spaceship: Simulation	52	0.4	64	0.2	4.5	0.2	72
Snowboarding: Sports	66	0.5	89	0.3	3.7	0.2	42
Sports: Alternative	210	1.5	297	0.9	19.0	0.9	65
Sports: General	122	0.9	209	0.6	5.3	0.2	26
Sports: Nature	32	0.2	36	0.1	0.9	0.0	26
Sports: Olympic Sports	20	0.1	22	0.1	0.5	0.0	22
Sports: Traditional	752	5.5	1172	3.4	53.0	2.5	46
Static: Action	19	0.1	27	0.1	0.5	0.0	18
Strategy: Breeding/Constructing	273	2.0	336	1.0	18.4	0.9	55
Strategy: City Building	56	0.4	62	0.2	3.4	0.2	56
Strategy: General	606	4.4	781	2.3	42.9	2.0	56
Strategy: Real-Time	449	3.3	610	1.8	53.0	2.5	89
Strategy: Turn-Based	446	3.3	625	1.8	59.7	2.8	97
Strategy: Tycoon	57	0.4	74	0.2	4.5	0.2	62
Strategy: Wargame	10	0.1	11	0.0	1.3	0.1	120
Tactical: Action	78	0.6	107	0.3	6.6	0.3	63
Text: Adventure	40	0.3	77	0.2	1.9	0.1	25
Third-Person: Role-Playing	64	0.5	75	0.2	7.7	0.4	104
Videos: Miscellaneous	4	0.0	5	0.0	0.6	0.0	119
All FAQs	13668	100.0	34328	100.0	2149.4	100.0	64

Authors with at least one FAQ of this type. Each author may appear in more than one category, however percentage is that of all authors. Consequently percentages may sum to more than 100%.
See Why so many genres? And why are some wrong?
Genre and first level of sub-genre. Also see Why so many genres? And why are some wrong?

4. Platforms

4.1 Platforms
Platform	Number of Authors^[1]	%	Number of FAQs	%	Total Size (MB)	%	Average Size (KB)
Platform Groups
Coin-Op	1396	10.2	2924	8.5	113.5	5.3	39
Computer	3055	22.4	5399	15.7	321.6	15.0	61
Console	8995	65.8	21705	63.2	1410.3	65.6	66
Portable	2381	17.4	4300	12.5	303.9	14.1	72
All FAQs	13668	100.0	34328	100.0	2149.4	100.0	64
Specific Platforms
3DO	19	0.1	44	0.1	0.8	0.0	19
Amiga	13	0.1	18	0.1	0.4	0.0	22
Amstrad CPC	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	15
APF-1000/IM	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	20
Apple II	18	0.1	73	0.2	2.8	0.1	39
Arcade	1303	9.5	2728	7.9	109.5	5.1	41
Arcadia 2001	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	25
Astrocade	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	45
Atari 2600	57	0.4	164	0.5	2.5	0.1	15
Atari 5200	2	0.0	3	0.0	0.2	0.0	63
Atari 7800	1	0.0	3	0.0	0.0	0.0	11
Atari 8-bit	8	0.1	14	0.0	0.6	0.0	44
Atari ST	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.2	0.0	178
BBS Door	8	0.1	11	0.0	0.4	0.0	35
CD-I	8	0.1	10	0.0	0.2	0.0	24
Channel F	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.0	0.0	10
Colecovision	9	0.1	21	0.1	0.5	0.0	23
Commodore 64	28	0.2	73	0.2	3.4	0.2	47
Dreamcast	598	4.4	1060	3.1	49.6	2.3	47
DS	239	1.7	295	0.9	18.8	0.9	65
DVD Player	9	0.1	9	0.0	0.3	0.0	37
E-Reader	15	0.1	21	0.1	0.6	0.0	27
Famicom Disc System	9	0.1	17	0.0	0.6	0.0	33
Game Boy	334	2.4	517	1.5	27.6	1.3	54
Game Boy Advance	1444	10.6	2382	6.9	197.3	9.2	84
Game Boy Color	409	3.0	631	1.8	41.2	1.9	66
Game.com	6	0.0	11	0.0	0.2	0.0	20
GameCube	1177	8.6	1907	5.6	163.9	7.6	88
GameGear	65	0.5	86	0.3	2.7	0.1	31
Genesis	387	2.8	715	2.1	30.1	1.4	43
Gizmondo	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	23
GP32	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	24
Intellivision	8	0.1	20	0.1	0.3	0.0	15
Jaguar	15	0.1	32	0.1	0.8	0.0	24
Jaguar CD	3	0.0	3	0.0	0.0	0.0	15
Lynx	6	0.0	6	0.0	0.3	0.0	53
Macintosh	29	0.2	43	0.1	2.3	0.1	55
Microvision	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	24
Mobile	16	0.1	41	0.1	0.6	0.0	16
MSX	10	0.1	11	0.0	0.6	0.0	58
N-Gage	15	0.1	19	0.1	0.7	0.0	35
Neo-Geo CD	6	0.0	16	0.0	0.3	0.0	17
NeoGeo	27	0.2	63	0.2	2.2	0.1	35
NeoGeo Pocket Color	56	0.4	81	0.2	4.0	0.2	50
NES	692	5.1	1725	5.0	69.8	3.2	41
Nintendo 64	756	5.5	1401	4.1	84.3	3.9	61
Nintendo 64DD	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	10
Nuon	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.0	0.0	19
Odyssey	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	17
Odyssey 2	2	0.0	3	0.0	0.0	0.0	11
Online	118	0.9	145	0.4	6.9	0.3	48
OS/2	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.1	0.0	34
Palm OS	5	0.0	7	0.0	0.2	0.0	33
PC	2887	21.1	5000	14.6	303.5	14.1	62
PC-FX	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.1	0.0	63
Pinball	93	0.7	194	0.6	3.9	0.2	20
Playdia	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	6
PlayStation	2264	16.6	4466	13.0	309.2	14.4	70
PlayStation 2	3114	22.8	5938	17.3	452.8	21.1	78
PlayStation Portable	93	0.7	112	0.3	6.8	0.3	61
Pocket PC	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	19
Redemption	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.0	0.0	15
Saturn	228	1.7	389	1.1	19.0	0.9	50
Sega 32X	16	0.1	16	0.0	0.4	0.0	24
Sega CD	49	0.4	70	0.2	2.8	0.1	41
Sega Master System	78	0.6	197	0.6	5.9	0.3	30
SG-1000	3	0.0	3	0.0	0.0	0.0	12
SNES	1179	8.6	2216	6.5	133.3	6.2	61
Turbo CD	26	0.2	64	0.2	3.6	0.2	57
TurboGrafx-16	33	0.2	50	0.1	1.2	0.1	24
Unix/Linux	4	0.0	5	0.0	0.3	0.0	64
Vectrex	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.1	0.0	59
VIC-20	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.2	0.0	77
VirtualBoy	11	0.1	33	0.1	1.0	0.0	31
WonderSwan	15	0.1	16	0.0	0.6	0.0	39
WonderSwan Color	24	0.2	36	0.1	1.2	0.1	33
Xbox	662	4.8	1052	3.1	74.3	3.5	72
Xbox 360	15	0.1	16	0.0	1.1	0.1	71
Zodiac	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	11
All FAQs	13668	100.0	34328	100.0	2149.4	100.0	64

Authors with at least one FAQ of this type. Each author may appear in more than one category, however percentage is that of all authors. Consequently percentages may sum to more than 100%.

5. Trends

The following tables are based on FAQs that were last updated in the year shown. This is intended as a proxy for annual activity. In reality some FAQs will have been updated over several years, in which case only the final update year will be counted. The current year will tend to have more activity than others as a result, however it should also be noted that the current year is incomplete. Also note that not all FAQs are dated - particularly those from the early 1990s.

5.1 Key Statistics by Year
Year	Number of Authors^[1]	%	Number of FAQs	%	Total Size (MB)	%	Average Size (KB)
Undated	1045	7.6	1866	5.4	46.1	2.1	25
1988	1	0.0	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	7
1989	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.0	0.0	14
1990	8	0.1	8	0.0	0.1	0.0	14
1991	7	0.1	9	0.0	0.1	0.0	13
1992	12	0.1	14	0.0	0.3	0.0	18
1993	29	0.2	35	0.1	0.5	0.0	14
1994	69	0.5	87	0.3	3.3	0.2	38
1995	121	0.9	146	0.4	5.7	0.3	39
1996	195	1.4	257	0.7	8.9	0.4	35
1997	271	2.0	351	1.0	10.5	0.5	30
1998	462	3.4	698	2.0	21.0	1.0	30
1999	873	6.4	1625	4.7	58.2	2.7	36
2000	1298	9.5	2524	7.4	125.2	5.8	50
2001	1706	12.5	3254	9.5	172.5	8.0	54
2002	2196	16.1	4195	12.2	230.6	10.7	56
2003	2690	19.7	5341	15.6	332.3	15.5	63
2004	2973	21.8	5934	17.3	441.7	20.6	76
2005	3198	23.4	6998	20.4	593.1	27.6	86
2006	515	3.8	979	2.9	98.4	4.6	102
2007	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.5	0.0	243
2069	2	0.0	2	0.0	0.3	0.0	158
All FAQs	13668	100.0	34328	100.0	2149.4	100.0	64

Authors with at least one FAQ that was last updated in this year. Each author may appear in more than one category, however percentage is that of all authors. Consequently percentages may sum to more than 100%.

5.2 Master Genre by Year
Year	Percentage of total file size for FAQs last updated in this year (%)
Year	Action	Adventure	Driving	Puzzle	Role-Playing	Simulation	Sports	Strategy	All FAQs
1988	-	-	-	-	100.0	-	-	-	100.0
1989	-	100.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	100.0
1990	10.3	22.2	-	-	67.5	-	-	-	100.0
1991	32.0	14.4	-	-	53.6	-	-	-	100.0
1992	48.9	33.6	-	1.5	7.6	-	-	8.4	100.0
1993	78.9	12.3	-	-	4.1	-	-	4.7	100.0
1994	69.6	2.6	1.7	4.8	5.8	3.9	3.3	8.3	100.0
1995	53.6	5.1	3.2	0.5	14.2	9.1	0.6	13.7	100.0
1996	70.4	2.8	1.2	0.8	12.4	0.3	0.6	11.6	100.0
1997	55.5	4.2	1.6	0.6	21.2	0.3	3.9	12.7	100.0
1998	52.4	10.0	3.0	1.4	20.8	0.6	3.2	8.4	100.0
1999	44.6	13.2	4.1	2.3	25.1	0.0	4.9	5.8	100.0
2000	34.2	12.8	2.4	2.4	31.3	0.4	7.1	9.5	100.0
2001	33.3	11.9	2.9	2.3	36.0	0.4	6.1	7.2	100.0
2002	31.2	14.7	3.5	2.3	31.0	0.8	7.9	8.7	100.0
2003	33.9	15.6	3.0	2.9	27.4	1.1	6.3	9.9	100.0
2004	32.9	11.7	1.5	3.0	33.5	0.5	5.8	11.3	100.0
2005	34.9	10.7	2.3	3.2	34.4	0.6	4.2	10.0	100.0
2006	40.8	9.5	2.2	6.5	32.7	0.4	5.1	4.2	100.0
2007	-	-	-	62.3	-	-	-	37.7	100.0
2069	-	89.6	-	-	10.4	-	-	-	100.0

The average size of individual FAQs varies between genres (see Genre above), so comparisons across the table should be made with caution.

5.3 Platform by Year
Year	Percentage of total file size for FAQs last updated in this year (%)
Year	Coin-Op	Computer	Console	Portable	All FAQs
1988	-	100.0	-	-	100.0
1989	-	100.0	-	-	100.0
1990	10.3	89.7	-	-	100.0
1991	32.0	68.0	-	-	100.0
1992	7.3	61.5	-	31.3	100.0
1993	69.9	19.7	10.4	-	100.0
1994	47.8	29.4	14.6	8.1	100.0
1995	37.0	38.2	23.7	1.2	100.0
1996	43.2	21.1	35.6	0.1	100.0
1997	32.3	18.7	48.8	0.1	100.0
1998	34.6	7.8	56.2	1.4	100.0
1999	18.2	7.3	70.1	4.4	100.0
2000	11.8	11.7	70.3	6.2	100.0
2001	8.3	12.1	70.8	8.8	100.0
2002	5.2	15.7	66.5	12.6	100.0
2003	4.0	15.1	66.4	14.5	100.0
2004	2.2	16.4	64.9	16.5	100.0
2005	1.0	15.8	65.5	17.9	100.0
2006	1.1	11.7	67.5	21.1	100.0
2007	-	37.7	-	62.3	100.0
2069	-	-	100.0	-	100.0

capsu.org // Games // FAQ Writer Rankings // Summary

1. Key Statistics

2. Types

3. Genre

4. Platforms

5. Trends