[game_preservation] Should Wikipedia Be Responsible for Gaming's History?

[Andrew Armstrong]

There is nigh on unlimited space on Wikipedia, the problem is this 
content is created then deleted; there appears to be a growing trend of 
deleting vast swaths of data for no real reason beyond "It isn't popular 
enough". Jason Scott isn't exactly a unbiased guy about this but has a 
lot to say on the matter, heh.

The question should perhaps never be "Why shouldn't this be deleted?" 
but "Why can't this be included?". More pages doesn't make it harder to 
find info, it just makes it better :)

Andrew

On 20/01/2011 14:38, Devin Monnens wrote:

> Why hasn't anyone simply written a book on MUDs to compile all this 

> historical data?

>

> Wikipedia's problem is it has become the defacto source for most 

> people. If you want to learn something, you look it up on Wikipedia. 

> This becomes a problem when the information on Wikipedia is not 

> accurate or not detailed enough. The statement of 'reliable 

> third-party sources' seems relevant on two levels, one because it 

> means the source should be reliable and again that it is third-party 

> and therefore less likely to have an agenda (of course, can't you 

> reference iWoz for the Steve Wozniak article, or any autobiography, 

> for that matter? Then why not a MUD page?).

>

> I've had these comments before as well that some of the articles on 

> there are really a stretch. Why, for instance, do we really need a 

> Wikipedia page for Highnoon? This is an example of the kinds of games 

> that were created in BASIC in high schools around the country, but 

> it's not like it went very far outside the school district or has been 

> demonstrated to influence any other games. I'm certainly glad the 

> information is available (hence why I don't say 'Delete it now!'), but 

> at the same time, is Wikipedia really the place for it? I mean, it 

> only seems to be up there because it was made prior to 1972, when 

> there were dozens (if not hundreds) of other unique games around the 

> same time or earlier, some of incredible importance (the Carnegie Tech 

> Management Game, for instance, which I just pulled sheaves of primary 

> sources on out of the library and appears to be the first instance of 

> a computer game used in education, as well as an example of a very 

> large and complex game - dating 1958 and was apparently played in some 

> version or other up until 1994, but I'm still trying to clarify that. 

> It's not that this is unknown in the literature, it's just it doesn't 

> seem to be a part of the literature on Serious Games or game history, 

> and I feel it should be).

>

> As for game history, there had BETTER be a lot more this year as the 

> 25th anniversary of many Nintendo games is happening, and next year is 

> the 50th anniversary of Spacewar! There'd BETTER be something awesome 

> for that! :)

>

> On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 6:09 AM, Andrew Armstrong 

> <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:

>

>     I think we all remember the MUD-purge from wikipedia; a Wired

>     article has come up about this.

>

>     http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/01/wikipedia-gaming-history/

>

>     So old news but obviously good for discussion on this; and

>     something to point to as a citation for it happening (ho ho ho!).

>     Of course there are arguments both ways about what

>     should/shouldn't be included; I'm just glad Mobygames et al. are

>     there to cover a wider margin of games (even though what is

>     deleted tends to be overzealous). In any case I need to get back

>     to posting up news links about game history stuff; although I've

>     not seen a great deal around to be honest.

>

>     Andrew

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>

>

>

> -- 

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

>

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