Rise of the Wikis

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the recent addition of Rhydin-based wikis to the Internet is that the additions of said wikis have been so very recent.  The Internet has been around for decades, and online role-play has been a facet of the web since some time in the late 1980s.  The success of the launch of Wikipedia in January of 2001 led to a virtual flood of Wikis based on all manner of subjects.  One can find entire wiki sites devoted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to the Constitution of the United States, to Homestar Runner.

Since September of 2007, three different wiki websites devoted exclusively to Rhydin have gone live:  Realm of Rhydin, Rhydin Wiki, and Encyclopedia Rhydinica.  The first to emerge was Realm of Rhydin, a site powered by PM Wiki and hosted by the player behind Panther and the producer of Dragon's Mark.   Realm of Rhydin was organized into five very user-friendly categories: The What, The When, The Where, The Who, and Out of Character.  As of October 29, 2007, Realm of Rhydin is no longer an active site, though during its short run, it amassed about 130 different articles, contributed by various players.

Two active wikis remain online.  In late October of 2007, Rhydin Wiki (http://www.rhydinwiki.com) went live.  This site is powered by Media Wiki, the same open-source software employed by the wiki juggernaut, Wikipedia, which gives Rhydin Wiki a clean, familiar look.  Its stated purpose is to chronicle the people, places, play-styles and other paraphernalia that compose the fictional realm of Rhydin.

Rhydin Wiki seems to have two main administrators managing the site: the player behind Alysia Skye and a second Admin.  This wiki advocates the submission of articles with clear relevance to Rhydin, proper use of language, and a uniform structure within the articles.  Guidelines like those undoubtedly aid in the coherent, professional look of this project.  Rhydin Wiki also has an extensive forum for support and discussion of things related to the wiki.  The 163 articles on this site are sorted into four in-character categories: Characters, Organizations, Locations and Events; and two  out-of-character categories: Mundanes and Library.

To contribute to the Rhydin Wiki, a person must first register and request access to the wiki.  Anyone is welcome to view the articles posted there.  Although the administrators of the site declined to comment for this article, this quote from their community guidelines seems to sum up the image they present: "Those who add and edit in good faith, show civility, seek consensus, and work towards the goal of creating a great encyclopedia should find a welcoming environment."

Mid-November brought the third offer of a wiki to the online role-playing community.  Encyclopedia Rhydinica (http://www.rhydinica.org/wiki/doku.php), powered by DokuWiki, was started by Steff, perhaps best known as the player of Harold Lowe.  Taking a page out of Realm of Rhydin's very intuitive book, the in-character categories are divided up as: Who, What, When, Where and How.  There are also two out-of-character categories dedicated to reference: Reference Library and RPG Resource Links.  These categories house 321 articles, thus far.

There are notable differences between Encyclopedia Rhydinica and  Rhydin Wiki. Rhydinica is operated as a democracy.  Twenty-three of the twenty-five users are currently administrators of the wiki.  According to Steff, "As soon as we get to know the two newer people, they will be too."  Though it is recommended, it is not required that users register to contribute articles to Rhydinica.  Also, users are encouraged to use any format that they like for articles, rather than something standardized.  Rhydinica also stresses that copyright for individual articles shall remain as individual as the writer of the article.  Some articles are public domain.  Others have all rights reserved.

"No one gets to trump anyone else, or act heavy handed.  We all make policy together.  We all make any decisions for the wiki together as a team.  Thus far, we haven't had a single argument break out," says Steff, about the philosophy and success of the totally democratic approach.  "Overall, it's about the people.  That's the philosophy: Cooperation, fun, democracy." 

We are fortunate, as players in this day and age, that we have so many options and choices for ways and mediums in which to express ourselves.  These two wikis, though different in many ways, ultimately have the same function: to support and enhance our experience as players, and allow for better transfer and maintenance of information in this increasingly scattered play-community.  With luck and with work, the community will continue to support these two sites, and allow them to flourish into truly rich resources.

-- The Signal
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