In a message dated 6/19/2007 3:02:09 PM Central Daylight Time, erik@wikimedia.org writes:

Perhaps something for en.wp to emulate: de.wikipedia has recently started a new type of writing contest where two contestants challenge each other to write the equivalent of a "good article" in de.wp:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Achim_Raschka/Spielkiste

A more or less random user is selected to choose a topic to write about (can be anything). The contestants then can choose a specific article they want to start / bring to "good article" quality. Whoever's article is declared to be of the necessary quality first through the usual community review process, wins the duel. There is a ranking of the "players" who have won the most competitions.

The game was started in June and seems to be quite popular already.

This sounds like a good way to encourage participation. Volunteer projects require motivation through personal satisfaction; contests and recognition help this.

- Deckiller

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