The Liquipedia Review #21 - Room to Expand
Good day fine ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Like a nerdy Santa riding a sled of StarCraft knowledge, Liquipedia has once more arrived on the rooftops of TL to shove some updates down your chimneys while at the same time trying to score a nomination for worst intro to a newspost ever. It's Liquipedia Review time!
A few weeks ago one of the staff pointed out a glaring problem.
This is scale 1:1 and there's tabs missing on the right.
Yes, the famous GSL Tabs had become too long, at least for people with smaller resolution screens.
So we had to go and find a new solution and to do this we got ourself a map and journeyed to the land of Wikipedia, where, beyond the swamp of templates, we found the treasure, the fabled Navboxes.
So the GSL "tabs" look like this now.
We have had a great number of Navboxes made since they were implemented. Most of them can be found, like on Wikipedia, at the bottom of the page. But some, like the GSL, are at the top of the page, with just the most recent event showing. If you want the full list just click on the [show]-link.
If you click the show button, the Navboxes will reveal all of their secrets.
We still have many pages that could use Navboxes, teams, players, tournaments etc. So if you would like to, feel free to try your hand at them, they're not that hard.
Some examples:
Top: MLG - GSL
Bottom: Team Liquid - Sheth
Arrows, who doesn't love arrows?
Since the days of yore, when Robin Hood used his bow and arrow, they have been in vogue.
So we thought "Arrows are cool things to have around, they are pointy, they can indicate direction, let's see where they take us". So they took us from one bracket to another, from a group stage to a play-off bracket, from GSL Code S to Code A. And we knew then and there that it was a like Cupid had shot us straight through our hearts.
So just remember, when you see one of those arrows, click on it and amazing things happen
Examples: GSL November Code S - NASL S1
Liquipedia 2 is well known for being a super reliable source for Tournament information, yet the Liquipedia for BroodWar is severely lacking in this department. Or was lacking I should say. A bit over a month ago we called the banners and man has a call ever been heeded.
I already wrote a small blog about the sheer amount of people volunteering to help out and it is with immense pride in my heart and a tear in my eye that today we can show you what has been done.
OSL - Some of these tournaments had pages (well, that's a start...). Since the start of the project proper brackets, qualifiers, VODs and much more have been added. The OSL section finally has a 1.0 version, though some qualifiers still have to be added.
MSL - Conversely, none of the MSL tournaments had a page and they have all been created. From scratch. Where Liquipedia used to refer readers to other sources like tlpd and R&S threads, it now has all the info itself. Results, VODs, Survivors - you name it. There's some work still left but the vast majority is looking better than ever.
GSL - The GSL section did not even do as much as refer you to alternative sources. No more! GSL Season 3 is nearing completion and we're starting work on the first two seasons.
STX Cup - Didn't exist before, but pages have been made for 2008, 2009 , 2010 and 2011
World Cyber Games - Those of you who have tried to find WCG sources on the internet know how difficult it is to find proper overviews of what games were play when, between who, on what map and why. No more, every WCG now has a proper page on Liquipedia and we're still expanding to include as many qualifiers as we can.
Proleague - This is our next big project. The most games, the most players, the most VODs. A fair number of Red Links still, but we plan on mending that. ZodaSoda made a post about it in the BroodWar forum. Let us know if you'd like to help with this!
I know I've been busy and haven't been keeping up with getting back to all the volunteers and I do apologize for that. Please don't let this radio silence be taken for being finished though. There's still much to be done and, as always, if you let us know you're willing to help out we'll get you going as soon as possible
This is probably my favourite part of overseeing the wiki: experiencing the creative stuff people come up with that wasn't in their job description. Now and then people have a flash of brilliance and it ends up being an awesome new feature for everyone to enjoy. Today I'm proud to present a couple of them
Galleries
Every tournament, be it in BroodWar or Wings of Liberty, comes with a soundtrack and sometimes even a hype video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og-gULrg1Jo
Seriously, who doesn't get hyped by this?
Seriously, who doesn't get hyped by this?
What stops us from adding information like this to Liquipedia articles? Absolutely nothing! The TSL3 article already included the hype video - but why stop at that?
Full-fledged media and gallery sections have been added to existing tournament articles and on LP2 we're starting to keep track of track lists.
Examples: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/EVER2007_OSL#Media - http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/2003_Stout_MSL#Gallery // http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2011_Track_List - http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2010_Track_List
Eventually we'll have a great resource of just being able to find that one song that you associate with that one great match or finding that one great hype video that got you all pumped for the tournament you were about to watch. So linger no longer, and jump right onboard the Adding-stuff-like-this-to-Liquipedia train.
Spoilerfree
The idea of having Spoilerfree section on Liquipedia is pretty counter-intuitive. I mean... the thing we do best is provide info and if you just look at any random article there's probably some kind of spoiler there.
Yet...
The idea of having Spoilerfree resources is awesome. What if people get into StarCraft2 five years from now and haven't seen the TSL3. What if people like myself would like to properly experience some classic BroodWar tournaments? What if, over time, your memories of certain events kind of fade away, but you know that reliving the experience will be worth it. What do you link your friends to get them into going to a Barcraft with you?
Right now there are no good ways to go about something like this. You can piece matches together from Youtube, but this is far from ideal. The Small VOD thread would require a lot of searching through endless posts and, while the TSL3 does a really good job at providing spoilerfree VODs in a single, designated topic, something is still missing.
So yeah, there's a bit of a hole in the market here - why not try to fill it with Liquipedia? We've been trying some things out. For example, take a look at 2011 Pokerstrategy.com TSL3/spoilerfree For each round, a link to the VODs plus a current bracket is provided. That way, you can easily watch the games spoiler free, plus keep track of your progress. There are a couple more examples over on LP1.
At this point, we are definitely still in the try-out phase. I'd like to try and have Liquipedia work together with the Small VOD thread to at least do some work for the BroodWar section, but as this newspost kicks in and people like the idea, who knows how far we can take this
The extra things are awesome. Liquipedia truly thrives by people who go that one step further to make our articles just that one bit better. In this light, there is one person who actually went an extra mile and who deserves being singled out and praised in this newspost. This week I had the chance to sit down for an interview with Gecko[Xp] (aka SethGecko, iCCup.Gecko). Even if you don't read everything, be sure to click the links and get a glimpse of his contributions
Gecko used to be a staffmember at Broodwar.de, Broodwar moviemaker and News Super Admin/Replay Admin/GFX Development ad iCCup in 2010/2011. On September 29th he made his first edit to Liquipedia and there's been no stopping him ever since. He has mostly been doing work on the BroodWar WCGs and its qualifiers as well as a bunch of other foreign tournaments.
You PMed me when I posted the recruitment post and you told me that you're mostly interested in old foreign Broodwar events, like WWI and Sandlot. How come that's where your interest was?
Because the Korean scene never interested me that much, compared to the foreign events. Especially since I got like ultra low broadwith until late 2004, so I couldn't watch VODs. Then you had to download reps from foreigners. Easier to access, smaller in size, and still a lot of entertainment value. And actually, back in that time you were overwhelmed by the number of small tours, events and such, so you didn't see that much from Korea.
Do you remember what page you first worked on?
Fisheye (e/n: Fisheye was a German BroodWar player who won the Silver Medal in WCG 2003)
Why him?
I wanted to add the WCG detailed results and was shocked to see there was no article about who might be one of the best foreigners before Mondragon. At least from a German perspective
So I think I remember it was FishEye first and then a lot of edits to the various World Cyber Games. What was that experience like, making your first edits? Like, did you know what to do, did you have a plan or a goal, is it hard to get started?
Actually, the wiki code or whatever you call that is very easy, so no turn downs there. I totally went facepalm whenever I had to work on WCG's page, because, as is tradition, their page sucks ass, especially when you had to find something pre 2005. Besides that it's ultra annoying to use archives if you need detailed things and it really is annoying that I still haven't found a grid for WCG Germany 2003. And there still is so much I could add, but I can't remember everything. It's like there is this ocean of events and you don't know where to start, so I just randomly add whatever comes to mind, or what can be found quite easily.
You had to get quite resourceful, looking up archived websites to find information right?
Depends. Some pages like GG.net, BW.de have good archives for 2004 to today. Then MYM has a terrific archive which is easy to handle. But then there is WCG... Not to mention the dead leagues like Giga, old ESL archives, GGL, ESC 2004 and so on.
After WCG, you worked on pages for Pimpest Plays. For those who don't know, can you tell us what those are and what motivated you to write pages for them?
Same as with Fisheye. I wanted to look up in which year the cannon rush took place on Korhal, because I wasn't sure, and there was nothing. Couldn't be, seriously. Especially with all the "spam the best vod" threads every second week in BW General forum. So Pimpest Plays are an article series made by SCLegacy.com for the years 2002-2007. Every year the best 10 or 15 plays/games were presented. Those were really good, entertaining and featured only the best players. It's a legendary thing, and if you're really into BW you should have seen all of them.
So you'd recommend all the starters of these kinds of topic to check our your articles? ^^
No, but it's pointless to open a topic asking for the best bw plays "ever" when those are already there in Pimpest Plays. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of good plays after 2006, when the last submission wave took place. But the real gems, like Nal_rA's drop are already in there. It's the kind of Broodwar that had the most impact on Meta Games for seven years.
Like the Muta stacking?
Muta Stacking, Pylon Prisons, Plague against vessels, several smaller tricks like vulture jumps, not to mention the Nal_rA recall... (e/n: Arbiter Reloaded)
Do I sense a personal favorite?
No
What's your favourite PP then?
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Pimpest_Plays/2002#Honorable_Mentions this one or Nada's Amazing Mace: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Pimpest_Plays/2003#Place_1:_H.O.T-Forever.27s_Divine_Wind_.26_Nada.27s_Amazing_Maze. This one is good too. Those three share first place I guess.
So after that I think the next big thing was WCG Qualifiers
Nope, http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/2006_Sandlot_tournament (e/n Sandlot was a tournament in which Blizzard invited communities. TeamLiquid, among others, played, as well as a lot of future pro gamers such as fantasy, In_Dove and s2) Then wcg qualifiers, because some little bird told me "YOU COULD ADD MORE THEYRE NOT DONE!!!11one"
*cough* Do you think you're gonna end up adding all the Russian/Polish/Swedish/USA etc qualifiers too? :3
Maybe :3
The last thing I need to touch upon are your pages on Hacks and Bugs. Especially Bugs, since they are such a big part of BW, plus I didn't goad you into making the page. Can you tell me how you came up with the idea
No idea.
Editing LP causes memory lapses?
I think I saw a cast where someone complained about broken replays, and re-hosted it three times and then said that replay would be unwatchable. The issue was the pause-text thing described in the article. Somehow it's always surprising people don't know about it. It was really a big issue when the patch that caused it was released. IIRC (not looking up) it was the Patch 1.16, one of the less-nice patches. That cast really did cause me many facepalms, as the streamer said he would be so ultra oldschool.
So mad...
Yeah :D You had 10k raging people after the patch, so don't tell me you been into bw for 10 years and dont know about it
OK >_>
Even kespa reacted to that patch and used 1.15.3 instead of 1.16
What would you say to people who are considering starting to contribute to Liquipedia
Dodge WCG pages.
That's not very motivating ;_;
Don't be a dummy, be a smartie and join the LQ party? Honestly i dont know what to tell them
...I am just gonna take that quote and make it look like you said it like that
Actually one part of me is writing that with the remote hope that somebody not knowing the scene reads and thinks "hey lets try that game"
Thanks for reading, see you on the wiki!
- Liquipedia staff
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