Idea: SoD-DB.com aka SoD's "WoWhead.com"

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poisonedscreams

Dalayan Beginner
Hey guys.

I had this idea recently. I feel like SoD is a great game but it is sorely lacking a more "spiffy" collection of data on an external website.

I know we have the wiki which is maintained by users, but I rarely find it useful myself.

So I had the idea to make a SoD version of a Wowhead.com type of database website. I've already started preliminary front-end design and database design, but I wanted to get the opinions of a few of my fellow SoD gamers.

Do you guys think this could help vault the game into a better place among MMO's?

My preliminary front-end design consists of a comprehensive search bar where one can search Quests, Items, NPC's, Zones, etc. as well as a toolbar that has more information on each of the aforementioned categories, as well as Class, Race, Tradeskill and Installation information.

A lot of the data would be copied from the wiki, but I would need a team of players willing to help expand the database by reporting their in-game findings at regular intervals. So, in essence, the SoD-DB (Shards of Dalaya Database) would still be player-run with a level of moderation in the middle.

But before we get there, what do you guys think? Do you think this is a worthwhile project (I have time on my hands) or are you guys content with the wiki?



Thanks for reading!

Mistress Bellabrie Heart
Level 65 Dark Elf Magician
<Dominion>
 
Why don't you just help expand the existing wiki...? Players have themselves to blame for any lack of information contained in the SoD wiki.
 
Understood...but I'm of the mind that the wiki is not visually pleasing enough for a great game like SoD. I feel like it deserves something a little better in all aspects (namely functionality and presentation).
 
Lol I hope not :/ Not trying to hurt anyone's feelings...I just think that perhaps no one has the time or wants to devote the time to getting something like this started...I really think it could help to take the game into the next realm.

I think new players would benefit the most right off the bat, and perhaps some new players that would normally be turned off by the difficulty of the game would find that this project is helpful and aesthetically pleasing enough to keep them going.
 
Bud said:
Why don't you just help expand the existing wiki...? Players have themselves to blame for any lack of information contained in the SoD wiki.
Click to expand...

What I don't like about the Wiki is that anybody can change what you did.
About 5 years ago, I spent a LOT of time updating the "Cleric Spells" wiki page. It was very organized, provided a lot of information (including mana cost), and was still pleasing to the eye. Since then, it has been redone by other players (who I guess would rather have the layout differently). Now, the "Cleric Spells" is very simple and not very informative. It's like all that hard work I put into it was for nothing... so why the heck should I add content to or update the wiki if someone is just gonna mess it all up anyway? This may be a reason a LOT of people don't keep it updated.

I don't know, it would be nice if maybe there was someone in charge of the Wiki (a Wiki Dev) that had to approve of a page's changes before it became public.
 
Your mind is operating under the illusion that the current wiki can't or won't be modified with the intent of becoming more aesthetically driven. I'm sure if you wanted to collaborate with Rari|Wiki, being the fine gentleman that he is, to create something that is visually attractive, you'd be received with open arms. Remember that beauty is subjective, and I think simplicity is beautiful... even if you don't.

I'm sure everyone would like to see a fair bit of moderation about the wiki (at least enough to ensure the information isn't total bullshit), but the limited staff is too busy creating new content and fixing old content to govern information that you could attain by simply playing the game instead of reading.

That said, Rari|Wiki, being the fine gentleman that he is, puts quite a fucklot amount of time into making the wiki a better place.

kencussion said:
I don't know, it would be nice if maybe there was someone in charge of the Wiki (a Wiki Dev) that had to approve of a page's changes before it became public.
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You realize that a "wiki dev" in the form you suggest would have to possess intimate knowledge of most, if not all, of Dalaya's content, right? That's not likely.
 
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In all fairness, when I revamped the spells, they were all shitty, and mostly full of porn. But that was the old wiki for you.
 
Obviously I'm willing to work with whoever runs the Wiki. I wouldn't want it any other way.

I'm not sure if the Wiki is capable of supporting Ajax "search as you type" functionality that is so popular these days, as well as relational database queries and things like that.

If it's not, then revamping the Wiki wouldn't really fall under the category of what I wanted to achieve in my original post.
 
The wiki is capable of supporting anything, in theory. Why wouldn't it?

Rari|Wiki is basically the Hitler of wiki though. Talk to that guy!
 
Well the Wiki database would have to be built a certain way (at least third normal form) in order for the tables to associate with each other correctly for the kind of queries that would be run.

It's probably not impossible, but it also might require a complete revamp of the wiki to the point where doing this project would be more worthwhile.
 
You realize that a "wiki dev" in the form you suggest would have to possess intimate knowledge of most, if not all, of Dalaya's content, right? That's not likely.
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Not necessarily... they just need to see if someone is making changes for no apparent reason, adding stuff to it that isn't relevant (porn), or "dumbing down" the page (as what happened in my situation).
 
Your welcome to go for it. The wiki is run on our servers, because old resources, like the one you're proposing, have eventually just faded. Can't expect people to host things forever, but we did have a DB like you mention hosted off site, for spells and items. It doesn't exist anymore. The old wiki was also independently hosted, but had very many problems. Just don't expect any 'official' support so to speak.

Personally speaking I'm not sure
http://www.wowhead.com/?items=2.7

is really that much better than
http://wiki.shardsofdalaya.com/index.php/1H_Slash

aside from maybe speed of the response.
 
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kencussion said:
Not necessarily... they just need to see if someone is making changes for no apparent reason, adding stuff to it that isn't relevant (porn), or "dumbing down" the page (as what happened in my situation).
Click to expand...

The strength of the wiki lies in the fact that, if you notice someone messed up your work, you can change it back, or contact them and ask whats up. Some may see that as a weakness as well, I suppose.
 
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Yeah, I can see that as a weakness because that means you have to check on what you've done pretty often. After I updated all those cleric spells, I was pretty much done with my cleric and didn't look at it for a loooong time... when I finally saw it again, it had been changed too many times to do anything about it. :p
 
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Losing the history pages from the old wiki was the biggest loss of the move personally. Could dig through that and find every old edit before, but no more. Now its whatever it was like before the move+. Though personally with the DPL templates, the spell class page is probably due for another overhaul. If I only had the time lol. It'd be near trivial to include mana cost, and pulling out the icons automatically would be great.
 
Well that's understandable. I guess when I did the Cleric spells it was on the old wiki... and changed several times... then lost forever when the new wiki came about.

By the way, is there a way to view the Wiki differently? I personally would much have bright-colored text on a dark-colored background. I've checked the different "skins" under my user preferences... but they're all black on white text.
 
Not sure. A few more alternatives would be nice for those who want them though. Rari! Miitru! Can we add skins? HALP!
 
btw we are fine with any third party website about SoD. In fact I whole heartedly welcome it. That being said any data collector program that hooks into the client is very much disallowed.
 
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