The Star Wars Saga carries arguably the largest fan base of any one particular work of fiction. Fanboys and uber-geeks have made the Internet their platform to engage in endless debates surrounding topics such as the exact specifications of the X-Wing Starfighter to whether or not the destruction of the first Death Star was an inside job.
Celebrating its two-year anniversary, Wookieepedia has become the new sounding board for Star Wars aficionados looking to weigh in on the stories, characters, gadgets, and locations depicted in the universe created by filmmaker George Lucas. Wookieepedia is yet another sterling example of the growing prevalence of niche social communities.
“Wookieepedia is a lavish and stunning homage to the Star Wars pop cultural phenomenon,” says user Abel G. Peña. “Thanks to its professional appearance, the scope of its content, the quality of its writers and diligence of its administrators, Wookieepedia has become a valuable resource to fans both casual and obsessive, as well as to Star Wars authors. It’s becoming the new nexus for everyone who wants to know as much as Yoda about that galaxy far, far away.”
It shouldn’t be any surprise that niche wikis are beginning to really take off. Heck, even the latest update to the Oxford English Dictionary includes the term “wiki” along with 287 other updated phrases that were recently added to the widely utilized reference.
Of course, this particular vertical is probably one of the more prominent, and ultimately polarizing, niches that one could ever expect to find in a wiki environment. With the sheer volume of Star Wars merchandise available, however, such a widely utilized site could become very fertile marketing ground should the Wikia platform ever allow such practices to take place.
