[Foundation-l] MMORPG and Wikimedia

[Dan Rosenthal]

The obvious example that comes to mind is the 3D virtual world physics as a tool for disseminating knowledge. For instance, I was looking up various model Porsche race cars the other day on Wikipedia. No amount of text can truly describe the intangible differences in control between driving a Porsche and a Ferrari. If one could go into a virtual world and drive a virtual representation of one, we've filled a knowledge gap.

Don't get hung up on the fact that this (used) to be a game, but rather view it as an open source 3D virtual world environment that can scale to an extremely large number of simultaneous users. It's a framework, which can be evolved over time -- that's something we should at least be keeping an eye on and encouraging, while exploring what ways we can integrate our content. 

-Dan


On May 6, 2010, at 7:42 PM, Nathan wrote:

> I think the MMOEnvironment (not really a role-playing game in this
> context, is it?) is an interesting forum for experimentation, but
> non-game uses are still completely undeveloped. It's ripe for an
> entrepreneur, but I'm not sure what the WMF could do with such an
> environment. How would a vast knowledgebase be visually represented in
> a navigable world? What advantages would that offer? Given the
> comparatively high costs of maintaining this sort of effort, and the
> unknown potential, I can't see the WMF moving into MMOEs soon. I'd be
> interested to sign-up with any organization that makes the attempt,
> though.
> 
> Nathan
> 
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l