Hello,
I don't know if someone mentioned this already but perhaps the issue can be
examined in terms of needs and how these are satisfied (kind of like the
requirements used in interaction design).
Gamers play games to satisfy certain needs. How many of these would be
satisfied if they were to use their time on Wikipedia? Could gamification
help? What if all of their online friends were present in Wikipedia as
well? Would that increase the likelihood of joining?
>From my experience, when I had a survey on Wikipedia and offered barnstars,
there were certain Wikipedians that loved to get one and valued it. This is
pretty similar to awards systems that one finds in games. Perhaps, a global
achievement scale for edit counts and other metrics would increase
participation and could even satisfy some of the gamers' needs (the
recognition part found also in Maslow's hierarchy).
But, it all comes down to primary needs. Games provide entertainment,
social opportunity and personal identity development (or role playing).
Writing articles provides personal satisfaction and social opportunities
(but perhaps less direct socializing). Also, the complexity of tasks has
increased along with regulations. Rules for e.g., WOW are easily explained
and forced upon players by the environment. When it comes to writing,
restricting e.g., people to write in neutral point of view is not something
that can be achieved by software. One has to learn npov along with writing
itself.
I think you touch something important here, but achieving it will take some
serious research to understand what both groups want and find a common
ground.
Michael Tsikerdekis
