Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Adventure/ProjectPlan

Conception

Requirements

Platform independent
Browser based
Simple English
Uses the actual Vector interface
Real tasks that would be encountered during the first 2 weeks or 100 edits of new users
Mock-ups of realistic articles
Use of actual policy text and help documentation
Increasing inter-relation and density of real tasks
Choice-based, limited open world environment, increasing in openness as the game progresses

Goals

Users should become comfortable navigating back to their userpage as a home base, their usertalk as a personal meeting place, and around the interface generally
Encourage realization that help pages and helpful people exist
Introduce best practices of editing as such
Ideally, the game should be modular and expandable to include scenarios for advanced users or admins
Environment should not be game-able or defaceable
Present an encouraging but not unrealistic amount of editor interaction and praise
Offer a preparatory but not discouraging or BEANSy amount of editor disruption and incivility
The game should be useful, simple, realistic, and function as a teaching tool.

Ideas

Talk page options should be pre-selected (multiple choice).
Center the game around improving/creating an actual (fake) article
Bring an article up to FA status?
Help desk or IRC provides hints
Fake 'other editors' provide realistic positive and negative contributions
Create advanced modules for experienced editors or even admins
In addition to missions, intersperse brief exercises or quizzes, for topics like the CC/GNU license, or the founding principles
Provide help and policy links or help documentation in the game itself
Integrate tutorials, tutorial videos, videos from editors and WMF staff
Ability to replay lessons once they start editing for real, as an alternative/supplement/integration of help documentation
Ability for other editors/groups to adapt this model to create their own modules for specific tasks
Build the game on a shareable platform which could be used to create realistic, interactive non-game help tutorials
Allow free-text editing in limited fields but run a badwords regex filter over it to prompt a warning note

Real-world overlap possibilities

Actual in-game account registration
Actual barnstars for level/skill completion
Real 'I completed The Wikipedia Game' userboxes
Autoconfirmation upon completion of the game
WikiProject sign-up and userpage boxes

Questions

Development

Should it be more tutorial-like or more game-like? Or mixed? What's the game:learning vibe like?
How open should the game get? How dynamic should the paths to completion be?
Should skills repeat for practice, or should length be minimized, or should it sequentially fuse old skills with new ones?
Should the game guide/narrator be informative but one-dimensional or have its own quirks and personality? Give it a name?
Should the trouble scenarios be compound-scripted for realistic frustration i.e. after vandalism you're falsely accused of it, or just piecemeal
How to build realistic missions that are dynamic enough to be interesting but not too complicated for children or technological natives?

Coding

Can the game be lightweight enough to run quickly and error free without coding an entire gaming plaform?
Can we use a real(istic) Wikipedia interface? Built on Firefox and Mediawiki?
Can the browser itself be part of the game (i.e. back buttons, mock google search, address bar, multiple pages/windows/tabs)
Will the browser too be simulated 'inside the browser', with the wikipedia interface simulated inside that?

Implementation

How to present the game while making clear Wikipedia is not a game but an encyclopedia with real people and real impact?
Real-encyclopedia overlap? (actually registering an account, actually getting barnstars, etc)
How to get people to play it? (Trial with new accounts, offer autoconfirmation on completion)
How can users keep the game experience as a reference when they start editing (I forget how I did that..., build a supporting help page with links to the levels/skills/links/steps)
How to prevent participants from confusing real wiki pages with the game pages.

Dynamics

Cooperation

Single player with mock interactions from others.

Welcome messages
Pre-programmed talk page messages
Collaborative edits
Populated search pages (Wikipedia and Google)

'Real-time' components

Iterative, step-based events that happen as users make changes and progress through a scenario.

Welcome message
Talk page messages, integrated in the narrative (maybe some peripheral, not essential to missions)
Help page hints
Watchlists
Other user edits
Other user vandalism

Vandals and frustrated users

Present realistic encounters with unconstructive or unhelpful editors. Not so vile, disruptive or angry as to be discouraging. The balance should be 10:1 positive.

Vandal
Accusatory editor
Editor who doesn't know the answer to a question
Section deleting editor
Preemptive consensus claims
Wiki-lawyer

Incentives

Welcome note as a new user
Friendly note (thank you?) from another editor
Receive a barnstar
Receive a note on a mock article that someone appreciates the recent improvements
Receive a cookie
Interview in the Signpost
Interview by the New York Times
Receive an FA sticker
Note from Jimbo!
Receive a REAL userbox or barnstar for completing the course

Disincentives

Users may be informed in the game but not mock-warned or mock-blocked. The Goal is to remind them of policy and practices, not give much room for trying out vandalism or poor editing, or seeing themselves in that role. Show 5-10% of the dark side, and give clear explanations about policy and purposes for avoiding the negative aspects.

Limited open environment

Use actual pages, or realistic mock-pages.
Prevent second-degree linking from these pages; they can be landed on but not traveled through.
Realistic interface
Text on each page
Some links blocked or leading to a message about the limited environment
Highlighted or arrow-designated links, especially for newer situations
Going to the help desk can highlight necessary links or give tips

Environments

Userpage
Usertalk page
3-5 other user's pages
3-5 articles with talk pages and histories
help desk
irc?
watchlist
about Wikipedia page
main page
signpost
community portal
Jimbo's page

Production

Projects

will ask once first draft is complete

WikiProject Computing
WikiProject Help
WikiProject Games
WikProject Internet
Wikipedia:Welcoming committee
Wikipedia:WikiGuide
WikiProject Graphic design
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Account_Creation_Improvement_Project

Online resources

http://www.gameful.com Gameful
http://www.iftf.com Institute for the future (IFTF.com)
http://www.Zooniverse.com Zooniverse

Development

Flesh out this draft page
Recruit some wicked smart editors, helpers, and coders
Clarify the best educational model
Choose a coding approach
Build the necessary site/code platform
Write levels
Mock-up levels
Build levels
Test levels
Get feedback from Village Pump, Outreach, and WMF
Present version alpha/beta of the game

Coding and specs

Browser based
IE, FF compatible (6-9, 3-4 respectively), Safari if possible
PHP for a Mediawiki extension, Mediawiki API for parsing, Javascript for interactive elements (or AJAX/HTML5)

Name ideas

The Wikipedia Game
Be Bold!
Neutral Point of View