Wiki gaming: Act or you lose

From WikiSym 2008

That openspace session was a starting point for creation of poster sequence with PostIt notes placed on the wall. Results you can find here -- http://tinyurl.com/wiki-gaming

Nikolay Yaremko presented some research work done by him & his colleagues on multiplayer collaborative gaming. Some people joined him and asked questions that allowed us to refine ideas -- thank you all for contribution! Below are Nikolay's notes on questions asked, insights found, etc.

Contents 1 Wiki gaming 2 Economic wiki game ruleset 3 Blank cards wiki game ruleset 4 Next actions

Wiki gaming

Basically we introduce wiki-gaming as playing with rules -- wiki games are such multiplayer games where players change rules collaboratively during the game. Scheme below illustrates decision point, where some players accept common rules that defines nearest future of the gameflow.

Wiki is known for idea of "sharing" -- but wiki-game example have showed us that sharing of information is not a necessary part of collaboration over the rules: when each of players have some private knowledge of upcoming events, they will try to cooperate in a way to receive much benefit from common rules.

Wiki game as a framework of collaborative action can be used in many domains; for example, agile planning process is an example of wiki game.

There are several well-known wiki-games as Nomic and 1000 Blank White Cards. We have developed and tested several prototypes based on these games:

• economic wiki-game (shortly described in posters above), which is pretty similar to Nomic, except it contains an additional layer of base activity -- economic simulation, like simplified Monopoly. That layer is used as a deception for players, providing them with a quest of discovery Nomic behind it.
• very simple game of blank cards, which is oriented on social side of gaming, but can be hijacked by hardcore gamers as well.

Main derivation from a wiki gaming model: player that does not act on changing rules, has no chance to win.

The insight we have got because of various discussions was about role of wiki-gaming in human development. It seems that wiki-gaming (as playing with rules) is the most "human" activity; it hardly can be simulated with robotics (because requires not only rules invention, but rules accomodation by social environment).

Economic wiki game ruleset

Economic wiki game mentioned in posters is still on prototyping stage; printable PDF will be available here as it arrives. If you want to be notified/receive PDF directly -- please contact me via email.

Blank cards wiki game ruleset

This is a small & funny game, that requires players to create new rules by designing game cards during the game. This game can be played with 4 and more players; optimal number is around 6.

The complete rules of this game are described in Wikipedia here: 1000 blank white cards

We have played with some modification of rules that allows other players to join game in progress at any moment.

Next actions

• To play wiki game on Wednesday