MWiF Wiki

[hakon]

I saw the manual link, but haven't had time to read through it all, so this may be mentioned already:

If possible, MWiF should have a wiki page, updateable by anyone, and either administered by the community or by Matrix games (or possibly by Steve or someone appointed by him.)

The wiki site should either be hosted by Matrix Games, or possibly by someone on the forum that has access to a web server. (Any volunteers?) Or it could be put on www.wikia.com

The manual should be available on this site (preferrably split up into indivudual sections), but should then be maintained by the user community or developers when additions or corrections are needed.

The wiki would also serve as a common point for strategy articles, etc, have more detailed info and descriptions of how the applications work, provide workarounds for various problems when running the game, and provide links to other comunity sites, forums, etc.

Examples of such sites for other games, can be found at:

http://galciv.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_C ... tions_Wiki

http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/Main_Page

http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main

My experience is that this kind of documentation is the most useful one for gamers, while possibly being one of the easiest to maintain for developers, maybe most importantly because most of the maintainance would be done by community members.

Have anyone on this forum set up a wiki before?

Cheers
Hakon

[wfzimmerman]

ORIGINAL: hakon

...
Have anyone on this forum set up a wiki before?

Cheers
Hakon

I don't want to be discouraging, but the key thing with any wiki is getting a critical mass of a large number of contributors who actually come to the wiki on a daily basis. I think that may be difficult because these forums here are already so healthy. I realize there are technical advantages to wiki, but for a wiki to work, the key thing the wiki is in fact (not just in aspiration) a daily stop for many if not most MWIFers. It may be easier to build on this forum than to add another place for people to go.

[hakon]

Hmm. I don't see why contributors need to use it on a daily basis. Contributors would only need to contribute information that is already verified as relevant. Often a wiki page can be just a couple of lines of text, with a link to a forum post, or a cut and paste of relevant information from the forums.

While forums are heavily focused on the writing of messages, a wiki page i smore oriented towards reading. While it may be somewhat useful during development, it is not really reacing it's potential until the game is actually published. It's main role is to function as a continously updated manual/faq/reference, not a place to discuss things.

Given the general interst that is shown here in the forums for the various aspects of the game, I am certain that a wiki WOULD indeed get enough attention from the community that it woud remain tremendously useful for the typical semi-casual customer, especially if rules as coded and all information from the manual would be maide available inside the wiki from the beginning.

And provided that the wiki would be kept reasonably up to date as patches and possible ad ons etc are distributed, i think that it would be very helpful, especially to players that have not been active enough on the forums to have caught all design decisions.

[composer99]

I think an MWiF Wiki is a good idea. I use Wiki sites for other computer games constantly.

[mavraamides]

ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

ORIGINAL: hakon

...
Have anyone on this forum set up a wiki before?

Cheers
Hakon

I don't want to be discouraging, but the key thing with any wiki is getting a critical mass of a large number of contributors who actually come to the wiki on a daily basis. I think that may be difficult because these forums here are already so healthy. I realize there are technical advantages to wiki, but for a wiki to work, the key thing the wiki is in fact (not just in aspiration) a daily stop for many if not most MWIFers. It may be easier to build on this forum than to add another place for people to go.

As a first step, someone could pour through the posts on this site and transfer them to the wiki. This could create the critical mass you speak of and make the information already on this forum much more easily accessible.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: GordianKnot

ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

ORIGINAL: hakon

...
Have anyone on this forum set up a wiki before?

Cheers
Hakon

I don't want to be discouraging, but the key thing with any wiki is getting a critical mass of a large number of contributors who actually come to the wiki on a daily basis. I think that may be difficult because these forums here are already so healthy. I realize there are technical advantages to wiki, but for a wiki to work, the key thing the wiki is in fact (not just in aspiration) a daily stop for many if not most MWIFers. It may be easier to build on this forum than to add another place for people to go.

As a first step, someone could pour through the posts on this site and transfer them to the wiki.[X(][X(][X(] This could create the critical mass you speak of and make the information already on this forum much more easily accessible.

Was that tongue in cheek?[&:]

If you are serious, the top thread which point to the tutorials and screen shots would be the place to start.[8|]

[hakon]

Actually, I think the Rules as Coded would be the place to start. Then other information from manual could be put in, and a strategy section, where one could put some of the post from the per-country strategy treads. The main work here would be to go through the text and create hyperlinks whereever there are interdependencies

Then the unit writeups could be made available, if desired, so that it could be updated. It would probably be best if this could be made directly from the in-game files, or something.

The initial goal would be for the wiki to have the standards of a decent online user manual at launch. If it can reach a level where it is preferred by most users over a PDF or hardcopy, it WILL have a decent amount of traffic. This alone should provide enough motivation for some people to start contributing when they discover bits and pieces of information that is not covered or well explained the original manual. As strategies develop, patches are launched, etc. relevant sections tend to be updated by *someone*.

As stated earlier, it would NOT be the role of the wiki to replace the forums in any way. The wiki should mostly have an objective point of view, while most forums posts are subjective. Only when a forum thread produces actual conclusions (such as some strategy treads), is the content suitable to be extracted and put on the wiki. As mentioned, even just putting up the links to the most important forum posts could be useful to someone learning the game. For instance, a tread treating the pro's and con's of stuffing the border with Russia could link into the relevant posts both on this forum, and the yahoo list, if actually typing it out is too much work.

As for the legal aspects, I think it's common that such sites are hosted by the community rather than the distributors. I am no lawyer, but I guess this could be due to the possibility of liability risks, etc. I guess that this would mean that it would not *officially* be part of what you buy when you buy the game. This means that any content provided by Steve/Matrix/ADG should probably have their licensing conditions set in such a way that it is legal to distribute this information. I guess that the Matrix legal department should get a say about this in any case.

The community would also have the option to set up such a site without help from Steve/Matrix, but given the complexity of the game and the somewhat limited number of potential players (this is not WoW),I think having access to the original manual text would make it much more likely that the wiki would actually be able to function of the de facto user manual, which would not only improve the customer experience of the game, but also possibly take some of the preassure off the development project

Cheers
Hakon

Cheers
Hakon

[Anendrue]

Nice idea if Matrix and ADG give it an OK.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: abj9562

Nice idea if Matrix and ADG give it an OK.

Yes.

[wworld7]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: abj9562

Nice idea if Matrix and ADG give it an OK.

Yes.

Yes as in nice idea or yes as in Matrix, ADG and you have agreed to this idea?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: flipperwasirish

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: abj9562

Nice idea if Matrix and ADG give it an OK.

Yes.

Yes as in nice idea or yes as in Matrix, ADG and you have agreed to this idea?

I underlined and bolded what I was saying Yes to.

[wworld7]

Thank you. Somtimes you can't see the forrest from the trees.

I'm loaded up on Vicodin today (arm surgey) and am fuzzyish.

Sorry for missing what you meant.

Keep up the good work!!!

[Michael the Pole]

ORIGINAL: flipperwasirish

Thank you. Somtimes you can't see the forrest from the trees.

I'm loaded up on Vicodin today (arm surgey) and am fuzzyish.

Sorry for missing what you meant.

Keep up the good work!!!

arm repair or flipper?
Best wishes on your rapid recovery!
And Steve, if I could have had clients like you I wouldn't have retired so soon. [X(]Wait a minute, what am I saying...
of course I would!
Concur on blessing the good work == would very much like to add my support when you expand the beta test pool - or the gamma if it comes to that.