[WikiEN-l] Re: Game-playing on Wikipedia

Mon Jul 4 19:47:44 UTC 2005

On 7/4/05, Oskar Sigvardsson <oskarsigvardsson at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry, pressed send by mistake prematurely, here is the rest of my message
> 
> This is a natural consequence of wikipedia, because virtually all
> discussions on wikipedia are about disputes. You don't put something
> on a talk-page if you agree with them, and you don't start an RFC
> either.
> 
> The chess championship is a way for users to interact in a way that is
> not related to disputes. Please let us have it. If it gets out of
> hand, I'll be the first to send it to a VfD

I'm amused to see that for this topic GMail has given me a set of
advertising links related to computer game geeks.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Oskar! My first encounters
with a particular editor made me think I'd met a smart-arse teenager,
and I was startled to see that he thought the same of me.

We should have more opportunities for collaboration, and they should
begin right from the start. If that takes the form of game-playing and
we begin to see each other as real human beings rather than faceless
edit opponents, then this is a good thing.

Perhaps we should have a "buddy" system in place - a new member gets a
designated buddy to guide them in their first steps in Wikipedia and
stop them from making mistakes and enemies.

As for the games, if they aren't consuming significant resources and
they reduce stress, then keep them by all means. Just find some way to
stop them clogging up RC. And make sure that people don't come here
just to play games. There are a zillion game sites on the net - let's
not make WP games TOO enthralling!

-- 
Peter in Canberra