Submissions:2025/Engaging with Gen Z-Alpha through Roblox
This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2025.
Title:
- Engaging with Gen Z-Alpha through Roblox
Type of session:
- Lecture (15-30 min)
Session theme(s):
- Missing pieces
Abstract:
Roblox game link: https://www.roblox.com/games/99320538920886/Wikispeedia-the-Wikipedia-Speedrunning-Game
Abstract: Future Audiences (FA), as the team at WMF that is concerned with reaching users who may not otherwise engage with Wikipedia. To ensure Wikipedia's longevity and cultivate the next generation of Wikipedians, FA has undertaken a number of Gen Z/Alpha-targeted experiments. Our experimentation is meant to be quick and cheap, with the aim of discovering best practices in reaching prospective new users. We distill these learnings into recommendations for other WMF teams.
One area we identified as a major opportunity was gaming. Since the vast majority of Gen Z/Alpha plays games at least once a day, we invested in creating a fun game based on the knowledge we have from Wikipedia. We honed in on Roblox, one of the largest gaming and publishing platforms, and have recently finished developing a game called "Wikispeedia: the Wikipedia Speedrunning Game." Current efforts are centered around promoting and marketing our game.
Author name(s):
Wikimedia username(s):
- DLin-WMF
Affiliated organization(s):
- WMF's Future Audiences team
Estimated length of session
- 30 minutes
Will you be presenting remotely?
- I will present in-person
Okay to livestream?
- Livestreaming is okay
Previously presented?
Special requests:
- The dataset referenced in this talk is currently under review as a submission to https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/NLP_for_Wikipedia_(ACL_2025)/Call_for_Papers