Valve Developer Community talk:Wikichievements

I'm kind of confused about how these fit on the VDC in their current form

According to Template:Wikichievements, the VDC's Wikichievements are inspired by a similar framework from the TF2 wiki, which in turn are inspired by Wikipedia's Barnstars. If I understand correctly, the TF2 Wikichievements were created by the TF2 Wiki's administrators and have been in use since 2010. On the other hand, the VDC Wikichievements were created by one editor a little over a year ago, with some minor changes from others since then.

I'm all for giving people an incentive or recognition for contributing to the VDC, but the VDC is not the TF2 wiki, nor is it Wikipedia. It's primarily meant to be a quick reference for developers across several different engine branches, and the community which centers around it is extremely loose. Even the definition of what belongs on this wiki isn't completely clear.

I'm not necessarily calling for the complete removal of Wikichievements, as many editors (including some of our new moderators) seem to display and use them, and I'm not necessarily calling for changes either. I more-so just don't understand how the current set of Wikichievements can be effectively awarded in this environment. For example, how exactly do you "help new and old users regularly"? Wouldn't "fixed/Updated Documentation that was incorrect/incomplete" apply to basically any edit to any existing article? Would "writing articles and theories related to Hammer" apply to articles related to level design, logic entities, or the Hammer software itself? How would anyone at Valve benefit from the "Valve Employee" Wikichievement if they already have "VALVe" plastered at the top of their profiles? Are we just going to look for every editor on the VDC who has >500 or >1000 contributions to give them Crowbar Awards?

I apologize if this comes across as hyperbolically pedantic or like I'm stuck in the past, but I'm not asking for a consensus as much as I'm asking for more information. Is there a better or more effective use to these that I just don't understand? --Blixibon (talk) 15:31, 24 June 2024 (PDT)

I agree with you that the 'wikichievements' just feel out of place on the VDC. They don't help anyone coming here looking for documentation and aren't related to the Source engine itself or other related engines platformed by the website. In my opinion, nothing of value would be lost if they were removed. --FrozenH2O (talk) 19:48, 24 June 2024 (PDT)

If it doesn't break the wiki nor obfuscate anything, there's no special need for action. Maybe nothing of value (subjective) would be lost, but nothing would be gained either (other than dissatisfaction of several active users). And it does come down to "how does/can it meaningfully work" rather than "what's the point of it". Cvoxalury (talk) 02:20, 25 June 2024 (PDT)

"They don't help anyone coming here looking for documentation" - and those people don't see them. 90%+ (maybe 99%+) of visitors don't enter user page space at all. Like, yes, I'm for cleaning up the wiki, but this is a bit overzealous. There's, no joke, thousands of pages that should be getting attention instead. Cvoxalury (talk) 02:48, 25 June 2024 (PDT)