Wiki-Expansion as RPG

[yanclae]

I postulate that the Wikipedia-editor experience was designed by the Creators of Wikipedia to be an unique type of Role-Playing game.

The concept is simple: instead of being payed, those who add to the sites are receiving the reward of recognition. There are myriad methods of "Levelling up", gaining EXP, joining parties. The reward of human-interaction pre-existed within online RPG and was extended/adapted into Wiki. There are bands of "fierce defenders" (those who hide behind the wall of certain pages, ready to instantly revert edits to their original healthy states). There are "barbarians" who anonymously come to ravage various concepts and authors. So Wiki-genre is the child of RPG & the child of encyclopoedia.

And the reason so many folks are willing to be contributors to an encyclopoedia without payment for services is because the Lore of the RPG, and all the pleasures that therewith accompany this have served as an effective substitute.


Is this also true for some discussion groups.

[Guru of Time and Space]

Who gives a shit?

-GoTaS

[MyTurnToPlay]

Who gives a shit?

-GoTaS

I've never agreed more with a post.

thank you.

[RP2A03]

Where's Garry Shandling when you need him?

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

Well I thought it was cute.

[yanclae]

This is a worthy consideration, in order to reflect upon the course of our society. And to assess to what degree human beings are amenable to forms of service if, within the perception of the human observer, that service is seen as a form of entertainment.

Wikipedia deserves commendation for its adaptation. And there are many things yet to be said about the similarities between RPG and Wiki-expansion techniques.

For instance, is there common mindset of wikipedia-editors that is similar to the hero-donning mentality of the RPG?
What is the overall difference between the type of Role-Play perception between well-established page, and basically unwritten pages, the frontier pages?
How shall we qualify the relationship within the subgenre Wiki's - for instance, Star Wars franchise with its own wiki and its own RPG?