Absurd Singularity

In my younger days I was a big fan of Battletech (robots of mass destruction!) and later on, Legend of the Five Rings (samurai CCG/RPG? I'm there!). What I enjoyed most about both wasn't actually playing the games (although the most recent Mechwarrior games were damn awesome), but the massive background and history that the creators came up with.

For Battletech, there's an entire line of easy-reading novels that take the reader through the most current developments in the Inner Sphere. I read a couple back when it first began a decade or so ago but lost track after awhile. Recently, I wondered how the story had progressed since then. Unfortunately, there's been a TON of books written since I last left off and attempting to sort out which ones deal with the main storyline is a real pain in the ass.

On the L5R side, what's cool about the story is that it's still being created and is dynamic. Because it started out as a CCG, major plot points in the ongoing saga are actually dependent on the clan affiliation of the winner in large tournaments throughout the year. That's a pretty good way of keeping people involved and interested. And even though the official site posts stories based on the outcomes of the tournaments, there's no historical timeline that one can easily read through to find out exactly what the hell's been going on in Rokugan.

Enter wikis. It's not just Wikipedia anymore. Content-specific wikis are sprouting all over the Interweb. A few minutes of rooting around brought up the L5R Wiki which seems to be pretty comprehensive so far. It's answered most of my questions even though I had to click around more than I'd like. Of course, being a wiki, the content is only as good as the people involved. The Battletech Wiki unfortunately is not as comprehensive and what can be found there is the same info that I already knew of.

But anyway, wikis seems to be the way to go when it comes to content sites (obscure topics or not). It's a quick and easy way to centralize information about particular topics provided enough enthusiasts contribute. And combined with some other Net 2.0 stuff, you wind up with sites like WikiMapia. Pretty soon, if not already (I'm not always 100% up-to-date on Interweb fads), "wiki" will just be another commonly used term. Like "google."