Video games and Wikipedia, perfect together
by Christopher Grant 
{ Sep 5th 2006 at 10:25AM }
We love Wikipedia. Whether it's worlds inside games, worlds inside comics about games, or blogs about games, Wikipedia's got what every video game fanboy needs: an endless stream of entries ... that you can edit.A short bit at the end of a recent MTV News column tipped us off to a recent article in erudite periodical The Atlantic Monthly covering the "most-edited articles" on Wikipedia. While video games might not be able to rack up Jesus or George W. numbers (Dubya's twice as popular as Jesus!), RuneScape made a seriously strong showing at number 8! So how did a humble, Java-powered MMORPG rack up nearly 11K edits? Vandalism!
Like Jesus, Islam, Christianity, and Britney Spears, video games inspire a sort of religious fervor. Of course, no company or brand is more familiar with this sort of devotion than The Big N, whose Wii console beat out Pope Benedict XVI to the number 19 spot (take that!).
For more on the popularity of gaming properties on Wikipedia, check out Wikimedia's top-100 most viewed charts for August. Again, the Wii comes in strong at number 11, with Fable, PlayStation 3, Final Fantasy VII, Mortal Kombat, and GameFAQs bringing up the rear. Depending on the relevance you would ascribe to Wikipedia's search results, a cursory glance puts gaming near the forefront of online interests -- up there with current events, television, and sex (yup, even on Wikipedia).
Read - The Atlantic Monthly on Wikipedia [via MTV News]
Read - Top 100 viewed Wikipedia articles [via Calacanis]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ritz @ Sep 5th 2006 10:46AM
Haha, I had just read about this on Wii's discussion page. Your image is actually quite dated now. Here's what it looks like now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Mostrevisions
Wii is more popular than Canada now =(
Chaotic @ Sep 6th 2006 7:32AM
I'd like to know of the Wii edits are vandalism, or valid updates.
botox salesman @ Sep 5th 2006 10:58AM
most edited just means most vandalised, so its quite suprising the Wii is ahead of the PS3, mind you im sure there were a good few thousand "wee" jokes to be used
Blammo @ Sep 5th 2006 2:03PM
All people who edited the "Britney Spears" and "Michael Jackson" Wiki-Entry have nooo live :P
mykie @ Sep 5th 2006 11:28AM
Wikiality!
Matt @ Sep 5th 2006 12:12PM
I'm surprized Chuck Norris isn't on that list.
Ok, I'll go now.
JRM @ Sep 5th 2006 12:14PM
That top-100 is hilarious! Sex, porn, penis size, circumcision, masturbation. At least the kids are learning from somewhere :) When I was 11yrs old, we'd look up the same stuff on book encyclopedias.
Some things never change.
White Rose Duelist @ Sep 5th 2006 12:55PM
So Pokémon and Silent Hill aren't video games anymore?
Psaakyrn @ Sep 5th 2006 1:11PM
to #2 botox salesman
Thw Wii has the advantage of having more information (and thus more pages). Also, the PS3 is a dead horse currently; As everyone knows, Wii is the most hotly gossiped console right now, what with it's difference from every console in existance, and its rumoured secrets.
CJC @ Sep 5th 2006 8:01PM
They're all touchy subjects: Politics, religeon, tragedies and... video games? Fanboys have more influence (at least on the internet) than I thought.