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Stack Overflow's Area 51 Gaming Site
AveryZoe
June 22, 2010
T
he programmers out there may already be familiar with Stack Overflow, but here's a bit of background for the rest of you. Stack Overflow is a Q&A site for programmers, where you can ask questions and receive helpful answers from an expert community. Answers are sorted, so that users can quickly find the best answers without having to read through long, rambling threads stuffed with filler posts. Having shown that this model is very popular and user-friendly, Stack Overflow is now branching out into other topics, and that's where Area 51 comes in.
Anyone can propose a new site and then the community takes it from there. Once enough interest is shown in a site, users are asked to commit to using it by signing a petition. Once full commitment is reached, the site goes into Beta. Area 51's proposed Gaming site is already at 74% commitment and interest is high. Imagine a site where you could quickly find answers to such common gaming questions as, "How can I pass this [level/stage/boss/puzzle] in [game]?" and "Do I need a permanent Internet connection to play [gamename here]?" or even more complicated ones like, "In Oblivion, can I make the Thieve's Guild quest to retrieve the archmage's staff easier by becoming the Archmage of the Mage's Guild first?" The best part is that you won't have to read through a seven-page thread full of "haha ur stooopid" posts only to find that nobody ever answered the question. Nuisance posts are deleted by the community and the best answers are sorted to the top of the thread.
The Stack Overflow sites are completely free to use and create and you don't even have to register to use them (registering gives you a few perks, but is not in any way necessary). Users gain reputation by posting and answering good questions and also by referring new users. Committed users with a high reputation acquire basically the same privileges as moderators, including the ability to edit and delete posts.
Area 51's proposed Gaming Q&A site is a place "for passionate gamers from all platforms" to quickly find answers to all their gaming questions and to help out other gamers as well. There are many great gaming news and review sites, but it is often difficult to find good answers to specific gameplay questions. With Area 51's user friendly layout and easy question and answer format, gamers everywhere could benefit from a site like this. Check it out, and help bring this great site one step closer to beta.
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