Getting the Word out about OSRIC

[TRP]

This is a good summary of what's wrong with Wikipeida:

http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=4288

It would be more convincing if it was a screen grab from an actual Wikipedia page.

I can't even tell what they're talking about.

[dcs]

I can't even tell what they're talking about.

It's a joke Wikipedia "talk" page about a fictional anime show called "Thunder Straps."

If you want to put information about OSRIC into Wikipedia, why not target pages dedicated to the OGL instead? "The power of the Open Gaming License is demonstrated by OGL games such as Troll Lord Games' Castles & Crusades, Green Ronin's True20, and the indepedent game OSRIC, each of which bears almost no mechanical resemblence to the D20 system." This allows you to make a neutral statement about OSRIC, but still get the word out.

It was nice to see (mostly) gentlemanly discussion of OSRIC on ENWurld.

[xyanthon]

Hrm, it's strange that it would be seen as an advertisement. If that is the case, then there are several articles that would fall under the same criteria. How long ago was it tried to put something on Wikipedia? It maybe that OSRIC has gotten more attention since that time and become more of a phenomenon and thus the article seem less like an attempt to advertise. It seems that OSRIC has some grassroots momentum and it'd be nice to see that get some recognition. I agree with DCS, maybe a good angle would be to target the OGL pages. It seems to me that OSRIC is becoming just as important as an idea as it is about being a game system or a publishing tool.

[Contrarian]

As someone who has dabbled in Wikipedia entry-writing (I wrote all of this, God help me), I can summarize the problem with getting an OSRIC entry on Wikipedia:

Wikipedia policies are intentionally biased against Internet-only phenomena. (This is a policy that actually makes some sense, otherwise Wikipedia would be filling up with entries about websites, neologisms, and other stuff that's easy to write about, but not worth writing about.)

That's the biggest difference between C&C and OSRIC -- C&C is sold in game stores. C&C has convention booths and events. C&C has players. (OSRIC, on the other hand, has AD&D players who pretend they're playing OSRIC.) OSRIC, unfortunately, is still too "internetty" to be taken seriously by the standards of Wikipedia.

If you want to get OSRIC into Wikipedia, you have to make sure OSRIC has more of a real-world presence. Anybody want to spring for the OSRIC booth at Gencon? Yeah, I can't afford that, either.

On a more positive note, I'd suggest getting some OSRIC events listed at conventions. Who wants to be the first person to run an OSRIC tournament?

[TRP]

As someone who has dabbled in Wikipedia entry-writing (I wrote all of this, God help me), I can summarize the problem with getting an OSRIC entry on Wikipedia:

Wikipedia policies are intentionally biased against Internet-only phenomena. (This is a policy that actually makes some sense, otherwise Wikipedia would be filling up with entries about websites, neologisms, and other stuff that's easy to write about, but not worth writing about.)

That's the biggest difference between C&C and OSRIC -- C&C is sold in game stores. C&C has convention booths and events. C&C has players. (OSRIC, on the other hand, has AD&D players who pretend they're playing OSRIC.) OSRIC, unfortunately, is still too "internetty" to be taken seriously by the standards of Wikipedia.

If you want to get OSRIC into Wikipedia, you have to make sure OSRIC has more of a real-world presence. Anybody want to spring for the OSRIC booth at Gencon? Yeah, I can't afford that, either.

On a more positive note, I'd suggest getting some OSRIC events listed at conventions. Who wants to be the first person to run an OSRIC tournament?

Well, since people are spending real money on OSRIC compatible products, I'm not sure how much more real world you can get than that. Enworld and Amazon.com both have wikipedia entries, and you don't get much more internetty than that. Apparently, some internet phenoms are okay.