Forum:Doctor Who: Worlds in Time

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I know I have not edited in ages, but I started playing Doctor Who; Worlds in Time, after seeing it advertised in Doctor Who Magazine, I typed in on google Doctor Who WIT (Short for WorldsInTime). I began an account and started playing, it is a really good game. I decided to do a search on here, but found an article had not been made, It is a really good game Hope you can help Catkind121 23:29, February 18, 2012 (UTC)

[Spoilers hidden in above message.]

The reason there's no article is that it's not been officially released. As far as we can tell, you're playing a beta or preview version, which means the game is therefore ineligible for an article. See this thread for more.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  <span style="">14:54: Tue 21 Feb 2012 

And just to confirm that they're still in beta, here's twitter exchange:

Michael French @Michael_French

They appear to have softlaunched the new Doctor Who online game - @DoctorWhoWIT - by Three Rings (now owned by Sega) doctorwhowit.com

Worlds In Time @DoctorWhoWIT

@Michael_French Yes! We are still in preview, but there is plenty of game for fans to play through. :)

9:24 AM - 8 Feb 12 via web

Wouldn't it make sense to create an article for it already when it's in beta stage, even if we don't add information from it to other articles yet? After all, we do have an article on Series 7. 78.8.48.6^{talk to me} 01:27, February 23, 2012 (UTC)

According to our previous discussions over the years on this matter, no. Series articles are specifically mentioned by T:SPOIL as the one area of exception within the main namespace for spoilers. This allows people who want to spoil a place to focus their energies. But it also says to those users who don't want to be spoiled a clear page to avoid. We really don't want this wiki turning into a place where spoilers are completely unregulated, so that we can benefit from the contributions of editors who don't want to be spoiled.

I understand the frustration with this particular video game story — because you probably think of it as being effectively released —  but wiki administration is simply easier if we have clear rules and we follow them.

We're going to need to have a discussion on what "counts" in this game and what doesn't, anyway. We've never had to deal with an MMORPG, and it brings up a number of issues over what parts of the story happen canonically and which don't. Obviously, different players will have different experiences in such a game. So does your run through the game reveal the canonical "truth" of the game? It's an interesting question that Wookieepedia have to deal with on a regular basis, but which our particular fandom never has.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  <span style="">02:41: Thu 23 Feb 2012 

Well this how canocity usually works in regards to MMOs. For starters, all the quests are clearly canon and aren't in anyway differed by the outcome. As for the players involvement, seeing as their gender and race is changaable, they can be simply referred to as 'an unknown traveller', 'spacer', 'unidentified companion' etc. which you can see acknowledges they exist but doesn't describe their appearance. --Victory93 ^{talk to me} 01:42, March 4, 2012 (UTC)

As this is the first DW MMO, there is no "usually". And we, as a community, kinda avoided the issue when we were first confronted with it on Attack of the Graske, the first new game following the creation of the wiki. We've never really settled the question of how games "work" as narratives. Sure, we can have pages about games as products. But given that different outcomes are possible, games don't quite work the same way that non-interactive narratives do. The problem is compounded, it seems to me, by an MMO, since you've got other players interacting with you, subtly changing the way that you experience the narrative. And, if it's like other MMos, you're probably not forced to do certain quests, so do all quests count, or only the ones necessary to advancing the plot?

I remember, too, that one big problem of Graske, that surely applies to this MMO, is that they have straight-up first person perspectives. I'm not sure about a lot of things having to do with games, but one thing I'm absolutely sure about is that the player cannot be considered a part of the DWU. For instance, in Star Wars: The Old Republic (that is, the original Xbox game), the player was playing a character within the GFFA. That's fine. We can write about that character. But in Graske, you're blatantly, explicitly playing yourself. The Doctor is talking to you, not a character you're controlling. I don't know how it works in DW:WIT, but if you're playing yourself (that is, if you get to actually name your character) then writing about the game is going to be very difficult, if not impossible. Your solutions of "unknown traveller", "spacer", "unidentified companion" are far too flimsy a disguise for the word "me", and don't work, as far as I'm concerned. The editors of this wiki are not resident in the DWU.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  <span style="">02:24: Sun 04 Mar 2012 

Well then for the time being, we can simply accept that the NPCs, locations, races and worlds exist. Although if you've noticed, the quests in the game are unlocked in order of completeion which include a small narrative. Like mentioned, each quest's story doesn't change pending on the player's choices, it's just experienced differently depending on how the user plays it. For example in The Adventure Games, the narrative is the same it just depends on how the player experiences it or what actions they take with no alteration to the narrative. --Victory93 ^{talk to me} 03:39, March 4, 2012 (UTC)

Not sure how that would work. Let's say there's an Ice Warrior in the game. How would we talk about the Ice Warrior without describing his opposition (you)? What does the Ice Warrior do in the game, if not oppose you? What happens to him, if not that which you do to him?
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  <span style="">13:59: Sun 04 Mar 2012 

Well I suppose we can just talk about the background of the encounter or appearance. For example, (here's a spoiler so be warned) there's a mission where the Vespiform have invaded Sardicktown which happens to be located on the planet Ember. Here's how the article entry could look like:

"At some point in time, one of the shards of time landed in Sardicktown on the planet Ember where the Vespiform had intended to capture it. (VG: Doctor Who: Worlds in Time)"

See it has no mention of the player's involvement apart from the background of the mission. Why no mention of player I don't understand as it isn't breaking the fourth wall but this I suppose is as close to how it could work. --Victory93 ^{talk to me} 03:08, March 5, 2012 (UTC)

It has now been officially launched. Can we have the article recreated? 87.105.191.40^{talk to me} 00:25, March 13, 2012 (UTC)

Yes, indeedy. Restored to the point of the last substantive edit.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  <span style="">22:14: Wed 14 Mar 2012