Maruno
Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
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- Seen May 3, 2024
What would you say to a forum-owned wiki? You may think it odd for a forum to have a wiki, but that doesn't make it wrong. I think it would be quite useful for at least some aspects of the forum, and you can get a wiki for free nowadays (so even if it doesn't take off, nothing's lost).
I lurk solely around the Game Development section, so I can't speak for the other sections (except possibly ROM Hacking, which is a similar concept), and I'll be referring mostly to them below. A quick look through the forum suggests that these two would be the sections that would most benefit from it, though (but that's not to say other sections couldn't find some use for a wiki).
For user-made games and hacks, the wiki can be used to provide a lot of information about the game, more than texts in posts can (I believe there's a limit to post lengths). It also offers the ability to format this information into good-looking sections a bit more easily than using html (and even more easily with custom wiki templates, which are simple to make).
The wiki would also provide a central nexus for all user-made games/hacks as well. Instead of users having to create a personal website or wiki of their own to display their information (which may be difficult/inconvenient to find, plus the increased possibility of it being taken down for whatever reason compared to a wiki's relatively secure existence), they can instead create a new page on the wiki for their project. A fan game will generally have a lot of information, much more than is reasonable to put into a thread (which is why the creators wanted to make personal websites in the first place), but the wiki would have much more room for all that info (plus it's easier to organise).
And speaking of organisation and easy formatting, the average quality of a game's section will continually be increased by everyone drawing inspiration from each other on what information to include in their section and how to arrange it all (including modification of any templates the games end up using). Bulbapedia is managing to look snazzy, so why wouldn't we?
As well as each fan game having its own little section in the wiki, a page or two can list all of them, with little annotations stating their progress/activity. These, particularly the annotations), are much more likely to be kept up to date, as just anyone can edit the page to keep it on the cutting edge of things. Non-PokéCommunity games can also be listed, to provide a fuller list of all existing games (Pokémon-related or otherwise).
As well as fan games, there are a few other things related to game-making that would benefit from a collective contribution. Such things include the Pokémon Essentials project for RPG Maker XP, and whatever software the ROM hackers use. Pages regarding these would include lengthy FAQs, guides and tutorials about features, tips and tricks, "Getting Started" and so forth. Such guides and FAQs would be invaluable to everyone who used their programs/kits, and everyone would be able to contribute even little things themselves - at the moment, at least with Essentials, it seems (read: my opinion is that) people think only bigger features (e.g. Pokémon following) are worth detailing in tutorials, with the smaller ones often neglected/undocumented.
With a wiki, anyone can contribute their own thing and offer improvements to existing information. This way, a database of features/information/etc. can easily be developed, by drawing on the contributions of all the users. The wiki would offer a more relaxed atmosphere than the "Tutorials" sections, which I see as rather foreboding (i.e. one's guide must be brilliant to be worthy of being there - I know this isn't really the case, but I think there's still that sort of air about it). With the wiki, just anyone could contribute their little piece (e.g. a fix to the in-game pokémon trading system), and others can see it and use it where they want. This may well also provide a means to improve the general quality of user-made games too, as a database of addable features with good documentation would help users to improve their own games. This provides a sense of openness with the freely available information, rather than users being forced to ask how to do something (granted, big things like touch screen support may still be kept secret by those few who have developed it, but other features would be more easily accessible than they currently are).
Beyond the game creation sections, though, I'm sure other parts of the forum would find use of the wiki as well. I'm not sure how, though, but as someone once said, "If you build it, (they) will come." I'm sure you 'll find uses for it once it's there for you to use. And if you don't, the game creation sections alone would find it vastly useful.
The technical effort required in setting up and maintaining the wiki would be minimal. Creating the wiki is probably an easy step - just a few clicks required (at least with Wikia). Then appoint a few moderators, add some useful parser functions, and set up a restriction such that only registered members can edit pages (to help prevent spam). That's about all there is to it, I think - the wiki would mostly govern itself, since all members could undo malicious edits themselves (and those edits can be undone as well, thanks to the nature of wikis). Easy.
Thus ends my proposal. It's certainly a big deal, but I think it would be worth it, and I'm sure many of you would agree. What do you think?
I lurk solely around the Game Development section, so I can't speak for the other sections (except possibly ROM Hacking, which is a similar concept), and I'll be referring mostly to them below. A quick look through the forum suggests that these two would be the sections that would most benefit from it, though (but that's not to say other sections couldn't find some use for a wiki).
For user-made games and hacks, the wiki can be used to provide a lot of information about the game, more than texts in posts can (I believe there's a limit to post lengths). It also offers the ability to format this information into good-looking sections a bit more easily than using html (and even more easily with custom wiki templates, which are simple to make).
The wiki would also provide a central nexus for all user-made games/hacks as well. Instead of users having to create a personal website or wiki of their own to display their information (which may be difficult/inconvenient to find, plus the increased possibility of it being taken down for whatever reason compared to a wiki's relatively secure existence), they can instead create a new page on the wiki for their project. A fan game will generally have a lot of information, much more than is reasonable to put into a thread (which is why the creators wanted to make personal websites in the first place), but the wiki would have much more room for all that info (plus it's easier to organise).
And speaking of organisation and easy formatting, the average quality of a game's section will continually be increased by everyone drawing inspiration from each other on what information to include in their section and how to arrange it all (including modification of any templates the games end up using). Bulbapedia is managing to look snazzy, so why wouldn't we?
As well as each fan game having its own little section in the wiki, a page or two can list all of them, with little annotations stating their progress/activity. These, particularly the annotations), are much more likely to be kept up to date, as just anyone can edit the page to keep it on the cutting edge of things. Non-PokéCommunity games can also be listed, to provide a fuller list of all existing games (Pokémon-related or otherwise).
As well as fan games, there are a few other things related to game-making that would benefit from a collective contribution. Such things include the Pokémon Essentials project for RPG Maker XP, and whatever software the ROM hackers use. Pages regarding these would include lengthy FAQs, guides and tutorials about features, tips and tricks, "Getting Started" and so forth. Such guides and FAQs would be invaluable to everyone who used their programs/kits, and everyone would be able to contribute even little things themselves - at the moment, at least with Essentials, it seems (read: my opinion is that) people think only bigger features (e.g. Pokémon following) are worth detailing in tutorials, with the smaller ones often neglected/undocumented.
With a wiki, anyone can contribute their own thing and offer improvements to existing information. This way, a database of features/information/etc. can easily be developed, by drawing on the contributions of all the users. The wiki would offer a more relaxed atmosphere than the "Tutorials" sections, which I see as rather foreboding (i.e. one's guide must be brilliant to be worthy of being there - I know this isn't really the case, but I think there's still that sort of air about it). With the wiki, just anyone could contribute their little piece (e.g. a fix to the in-game pokémon trading system), and others can see it and use it where they want. This may well also provide a means to improve the general quality of user-made games too, as a database of addable features with good documentation would help users to improve their own games. This provides a sense of openness with the freely available information, rather than users being forced to ask how to do something (granted, big things like touch screen support may still be kept secret by those few who have developed it, but other features would be more easily accessible than they currently are).
Beyond the game creation sections, though, I'm sure other parts of the forum would find use of the wiki as well. I'm not sure how, though, but as someone once said, "If you build it, (they) will come." I'm sure you 'll find uses for it once it's there for you to use. And if you don't, the game creation sections alone would find it vastly useful.
The technical effort required in setting up and maintaining the wiki would be minimal. Creating the wiki is probably an easy step - just a few clicks required (at least with Wikia). Then appoint a few moderators, add some useful parser functions, and set up a restriction such that only registered members can edit pages (to help prevent spam). That's about all there is to it, I think - the wiki would mostly govern itself, since all members could undo malicious edits themselves (and those edits can be undone as well, thanks to the nature of wikis). Easy.
Thus ends my proposal. It's certainly a big deal, but I think it would be worth it, and I'm sure many of you would agree. What do you think?
