I recently got into this new game, Satisfactory, and have been spending a lot of time reading the wiki. That got me thinking about the Yoyo wiki and how underdeveloped and outdated it seems.
While I now know that the modern yoyo database concept actually got made into a thing (https://throwdex.com/)(and while it’s not comprehensive and kinda dead, it’s pretty much the best one out there), I don’t know if there’s such a thing for yoyo tricks. Sure, the yotricks website has tons of good resources, but I don’t think it manages to keep up with most modern tricks, elements, and trends. For example, it doesn’t have any category for modern META tricks or complex tech elements. A more wiki-like approach to cataloging all modern tricks and elements would be an invaluable learning resource for players of all skill levels.
So ideally, these efforts would be in the form of a community project, where a wide variety of knowledgeable players can contribute their expertise and experiences. But I also think projects like these need the support of existing yoyo organizations. If a company like yye were to have integrated the yoyo cataloging project into its website, like with the forums, I think it’s likely to have become a much more established resource.
Would be awesome if the creators and representative yoers would actually create the content and explain and give examples, but also could have yoers (like @Scales for instance, they are awesome at that) analyze and break down existing content.
It kind of goes with the size of the endeavor. Stuff like Throwdex is awesome, but there are also remnants of other projects of their time period that just do not get pro-longed support. Anything that requires community support to endure is ephemeral and will eventually die out.
Though I agree it would be cool to have a pooled resource trick tutorial/archive, I have my doubts on how feasible it will be to have even 1/4 of all popular tricks archived.
Call me a cynic, but ive seen way too many online communities talk about this kind of thing and are never able to realize it. The Throwdex was an awesome idea, but you have the older and dead yoyo museum project that has 10 times the amount of throws. In modern days a yoyo trick database would need to be a community of itself. Im not sure that it could ever work, but the idea is nice.
It’s kinda self-limiting in the fact that the people who know the most about this or that spend nearly all of their time pouring themselves INTO this or that. It’s really hard to push the boundaries of something and simultaneously reflect on it objectively. The idea of “META” is constantly adapting, and for the ones evolving it to simultaneously keep tabs on it, it becomes like trying to bite their own teeth.
Not saying it couldn’t be improved or not worth trying, but these efforts always rely on a few really dedicated yo-yo “historians” (or “journalists”) motivated by documenting the art for posterity.
In All the years I’ve been on Earth, I don’t ever remember a single time I had a ‘Shower Thought’ about yoyo wiki.
I usually just focus on the day ahead: work, eating, checking mail, lowering my neighbors driveway with a Backhoe so his 4 wheel truck won’t look so tall, etc…
But never spent even a moment having a Shower Thought about yoyo wiki.
Yeah, I’m also worried about that happening here. That’s why I’m saying this project needs the support and publicity of established yoyo companies/personalities. I still think it’s crazy that I’d never heard of the Throwdex until someone brought it up on the forums a bit ago when this project is the sort of thing that should be very present in the yoyo pop culture. And I think its current position is due to a lack of proper marketing, rather than some exterior malicious intent.
I think that for all the hardcore players out there pushing the boundaries of yoyo to the point where they don’t have time to log what they know of what they’ve done, there are just as many “casual” people who enjoy keeping up with the trends and might already keep such logs mentally. It seems to me that the issue is the lack of an established platform.
But I also think these people have lacked a proper incentive to contribute. Throwdex is great and all, but one of its biggest flaws is the lack of personalness. Accounts only enable you to add to the yoyo encyclopedia and don’t serve any social purpose, not even enabling users to see logs of what they’ve contributed. A platform that allows for personalization and profiles would not only give its users more reason to be invested in their contributions but could also see use as a digital record of yoyo collections, facilitating digital yoyo socialization. Outside of these social incentives, tying contributions to users enables them to be credited for their efforts, possibly through money. For example, if yoyoexpert were to promote a trick-logging website, it could use small gift cards to reward users that make a certain amount of meaningful contributions, incentivizing people to not only participate but also encourage thoughtful responses. That said, it’s just a hypothetical right now, and I don’t fully understand how introducing monetary incentives could impact the longevity or stability of the system. What are your thoughts?
I know you were asking Ed, but my additional thoughts are that a Throwdex-like site would only thrive if it were set up like a Goodreads, RateYourMusic, or MyAnimeList. It needs people to be able to establish their own collections, contribute to the database, and have social media interaction. Like being able to track the yoyos you have played, owned, have eyes out for, write and comment on reviews, favorites lists, etc. This would require a tremendous programming effort and probably not have nearly enough traffic to succeed, but it would be cool. Translating this idea into tricks would likely not succeed imo. Tbh I think yoyo is a bit too niche for it to work, which would be much easier than tricks.
Exactly, there’s a lot of potential for a yoyo-focused social media-type platform here.
But yeah, I did completely gloss over how much coding would be required for a project like this. I know if the application is good and the publicity is there, the site could easily see thousands of users, but I don’t know what constitutes a healthy amount of traffic.
Which sucks, since I’d rather have a more comprehensive resource for learning about tricks than an overdeveloped yoyo wishlist at the moment, but hopefully we can have both in the future
