DW: gossip & player folksonomies
May. 22nd, 2005 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mirrorshardRecent thread on the DW witchesguild board suggested that witches could be given a 'gossip' ability allowing them to learn, or propagate, information about other players.
So basically it's like photo tagging on Flickr, or meatspace meta-tagging, or whatever the current folksonomy craze is, but for people - an interactive reputation system, but only interactable-with by one guild.
Some discussion (or rambling, rather) follows.
I like the idea, and it's very Witchy, but it also seems subject to two opposing forces which could kill it off.
First, lack of participation could mean that only a few people start doing it, and therefore that the comments which did get made were all of one type, and show the same social biases.
Second, it's easily spammable by the malicious or just plain bored - or simply in favour of your friends.
There are, of course, a few other aspects.
Are there anywhere near enough people able to join in for it to have even a hope of becoming self-sustaining?
Secondly, the primary mode of social interaction is at a distance, not face to face. One idea suggested was being able to add a witch-only extra-look line. This won't work - looking at someone is rare enough for it to be worth a comment, or indeed a stab in the face if you're both PK.
So basically it's like photo tagging on Flickr, or meatspace meta-tagging, or whatever the current folksonomy craze is, but for people - an interactive reputation system, but only interactable-with by one guild.
Some discussion (or rambling, rather) follows.
I like the idea, and it's very Witchy, but it also seems subject to two opposing forces which could kill it off.
First, lack of participation could mean that only a few people start doing it, and therefore that the comments which did get made were all of one type, and show the same social biases.
Second, it's easily spammable by the malicious or just plain bored - or simply in favour of your friends.
There are, of course, a few other aspects.
Are there anywhere near enough people able to join in for it to have even a hope of becoming self-sustaining?
Secondly, the primary mode of social interaction is at a distance, not face to face. One idea suggested was being able to add a witch-only extra-look line. This won't work - looking at someone is rare enough for it to be worth a comment, or indeed a stab in the face if you're both PK.
