In my latest Social Times post, I ask Jimmy Wales why Wikipedia has no real general entry on social gaming, which now counts 200 million-plus players and several leading companies worth billions. For myself, I think it's the same reason Wikipedia's MMORPG entry is 4000 words long: As a user-generated Internet site, Wikipedia editorial skews toward geek-heavy interests, and the coverage often doesn't reflect the actual, broader interest in a given topic. This is both its blessing and curse. However, it does lend itself to a confirmation bias that makes many hardcore gamers and virtual world users believe their interest is larger in the scheme of things than it actually is. So unsurprisingly, while FarmVille with 65 million users rates a Wikipedia entry that's about 2100 words long, World of Warcraft with 11 million users gets a Wikipedia entry with 4000 words, and Second Life with its 1 million users gets an epic, 6000 word Wikipedia entry. Anyway, more here.
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I'd figure SL would have 60K words. We got off easy.
Maybe the length of the entries grows in direct proportion to the amount of drama in a game or VW?
Just askin', ya'll.
I just cannot imagine Farmville drama...blingtard farmers stealing each others' tractors or something.
Posted by: Ignatius Onomatopoeia | Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 07:02 PM
Like Open Source software, Wikipedia entries result from, as the saying goes, someone who has an itch to scratch. Just takes someone to start the ball rolling.
Posted by: Melissa Yeuxdoux | Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 08:46 PM
OMFG I've read about all kinds of FarmVille drama, people spending crazy money, drama over who's going to be your neighbor, etc. Also user-generated content: There's a Facebook group for folks who make FarmVille art. Almost 70,000 people in that!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Farmville-Art/116980889217
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 09:04 PM
omg Ignatius.. you made me laugh so hard.. :-)
" Farmville drama...blingtard farmers stealing each others' tractors or something."
Posted by: Delinda Dyrssen | Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 11:07 PM
If you think Wikipedia should have a "Social Gaming" article, then you should create it. It's not like Jimmy Wales approves each new article.
I've created several Wikipedia articles myself. Before you click publish on version 1, be sure to have lots of references (to establish notability).
Lots of games are social. I'm not sure "social gaming" is something new or notable. I won't bother creating an article, but I won't stop you from giving it a go.
Posted by: Troy McConaghy | Wednesday, September 01, 2010 at 12:27 AM
Hamlet, seems like you're perfectly suited to be writing this article - all the other articles you're looking at would've started because someone like you who knew a lot about the subject noted they were missing and put that right.
Posted by: Nat Merit | Wednesday, September 01, 2010 at 04:45 AM
Length of an article is more indicative of the complexity of the subject rather than its popularity. It takes more words to explain general relativity than it does to explain Hannah Montana. This does not mean that Wikipedia is dominated by theoretical physicists.
It frustrates me to no end to see anybody point at Farmville and say to the gaming industry, "this is the future". It's not. It's the past -- AOL and Compuserve reheated.
Sure, it's huge. But so is Solitaire. Face it, Solitaire may be the single most popular computer game ever. Does that mean that every designer should aspire to create Solitaire clones? I think not.
The so-called "geeks" of gaming aren't ignoring "social gaming". Far from it. Leading industry figures and commentators have been keening mournful dirges for the impending demise of the subscription-based MMO model in favor of stupid, shallow games you can play on stupid, shallow iPhones.
It's a very pretty bandwagon. It's steaming ahead full-speed with impressive size and momentum. And it's careening headlong into a dead-end alley.
Have fun fertilizing your turnips.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Wednesday, September 01, 2010 at 07:22 AM
Relying on Wikipedia would be like driving a car made by Microsoft: it might get your journey started, but take it too far and people will die in fiery automobile wrecks.
Something Awful did a gag YEARS ago called Wiki groaning, how they pointed out the navel-gazing nerdery so prevalent there, such as:
The article on Fan Fiction is larger than the article on Fiction;
The article on Cobra Commander is longer than the one on actual cobras;
The article on "Star Wars changes in the re-releases" is longer than the article on Astronomy;
and of course, the article on Second Life is about ten times as long as the one about Real Life!
This is no surprise, as most Wikipedia editors come across as joyless, axe-grinding autodidacts with a penchant for the familiar minutiae of childhood and an intrinsic fear of the new, the original and the unknown; most have likely never ventured out of their own zip codes; they are too busy adding more footnotes to their Sonic the Hedgehog bestiaries.
Posted by: kanomi | Wednesday, September 01, 2010 at 01:47 PM
God is bad enough getting dozens of Farmville requests on Facebook, to have them on Wikipedia too would be beyond annoying!
Posted by: Renmiri | Thursday, September 02, 2010 at 08:24 AM
Stereotype geeks all you want; the fact still remains:
Han shot first.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Thursday, September 02, 2010 at 10:20 AM
didn't SL have it's own version of Farmville with it's infamous chickens ?
Posted by: Renmiri | Thursday, September 02, 2010 at 03:09 PM