What is your idea?

As suggested in private (putting it here so that people can see that something may yet be in the works for the future and to discuss it further) I'd like to see a MediaWiki installed at StoryVault.MafiaReturns.com this wiki would be used for storing character profiles/biographies of past and present characters, npcs, businesses, events etc.  

Has your idea already been suggested in some form or another before? 

So far as I can tell, no.

What does your idea entail?

A searchable, user-created, database of information about the in game world of MafiaReturns. 

How can your idea be successfully implemented into the game as it stands?

This is a purely ooc resource for players who enjoy role playing so the media wiki could be installed and adding information could begin immediately.  Each crew could even supply someone whose task it is to be a crew historian - adding things to the wiki that relate to the game world and RP.  Like wikipedia it would be user moderated (nice thing about wikis is that they save previous revisions so we can always restore a page if a troll edits it to be a jerk.)  Also, like wikipedia, media wiki tracks WHO made changes so if someone does something troll-like, they can go to admin jail for it or receive a site ban if it violates site rules.

What major changes would be needed to make your idea work?

Media wiki will need to be installed on a subdomain of storyvault.mafiareturns.com  and the user tables in the database will need to be linked to the username table of the game's base installation so that when someone logs into mafiareturns, they are also logged into mediawiki.  The URL space on the profile page can be where people add a link to their media wiki character page!  

What is the positive impact of your idea?

This would allow roleplayers to create npcs that are usable by others (example:  If I say there is an alderman of the 15th ward in chicago and his name is Charles Brown, then that would be in the wiki for someone else to use in their rp rather than both us giving the alderman of the 15th ward the same name!)  It would make RP events MATTER in the game beyond the life of the individual writer.  Things established this year might still impact the game five years later.  It creates a more immersive world for those who want to RP.

What is the negative impact of your idea?

None that I can see.

How may your idea affect the rest of the userbase?

I hope that it would create a sense that people's characters are more than just a +1 wack stat for whoever kills them - establishing respect for story and contributions to the game world that extend far beyond the life span of a character and creating resources for the whole community to enjoy and use.

I like the idea!, Create's some sort of legacy/history book of the Characters that have come and gone. Although I don't know how the community as a whole could take to this. Moderators could be working over time if it's a wiki that anyone (trolls) can edit. 

I see an issue with this. Considering we have people reserving character names they have never used. What if you have a bio or history with a name someone else keeps claiming?

Not to mention new players wont know the history of said names and may use them from time to time. I think its a bit hard to manage this as a proper history/character thing.

I honestly hadn't considered naming issues.  Hmm.  I wonder if there would be a work around for this.  This would be a GREAT way to have a repository of story information (npc city leaders, mob enemies, family lineages so that people could be the grandson of so and so from the past) I love this idea but naming might present an issue.

I'd love to see if anyone has thoughts on a way around that.

My thought was that using a want ad system would allow people to take down their ads when they'd found what they were looking for, make it searchable and easier to read (without having to go through pages and pages of information to find what you want.)  Also it would allow for people to find story opportunities, ic events, etc without having to dig past the want ads.  Mostly the idea was for organizational purposes.