[WikiEN-l] The sandbox incubator

[SJ]

This is fascinating.  Some of the wikipoetry is hilarious. 

But these should definitely not be subpages of the sandbox.  I suppose
they can be linked to from there, though I'm also not sure why that
should be.  I certainly find the interest in these pages fascinating,
not offensive.  Such pages could clearly can be part of someone's user
space.

I can imagine these being subpages of WP:FUN. Better to play games
with other wikipedians than with random jerks on yahoo! games...  as
for the killjoys who think game-playing will Destroy Wikipedia... I
think any time users spend on en:wp, monitoring their personal
messages and checking their watchlists while waiting for the next
move, is  an efficiency win for the project.
 
> 1) Eventually, these gaming activities will attract users who do nothing
> *but* playing games, 

I know that wiki was originally intended as a "fast gaming platform",
but it has come a long way in a different direction since then.  When
the users you imagine arrive, I want DNA samples; they will surely be
cunning alien clones sent to take over the wiki.
 
> 3) The Wikipedia: namespace is meant primarily for policies; an
> abundance of gaming-related pages complicates browsing and searching.

It also serves as a meta-space for projects of all stripes.
 
> 4) The more visible these activities become, the more they become a
> reflection on our project to outsiders.

This may be a reason not to link to games in particular from the
sandbox.  On the other hand, letting passing visitors (who are
unlikely to become contributors) see that we also have fun, may do
more to attract long-term contributors than you think.
 
> In other words, I would strongly argue in favor of shutting down the
> sandbox as a VfD-resistant incubator for games which distract from the
> purpose of building an encyclopedia. There is value to wikigames as
> entertainment and as an artistic effort, but there's a separate wiki

I think the purpose here is to use wikigames to give editors a break
without forcing them to leave the wiki...  which has positive
side-effects for community maintenance.

-- 
++SJ