ThesaurusRex: a controlled vocabulary thesaurus for RPGs

Merci Faerandel !

Sébastien Delfino the ludographer invited me to design a controlled vocabulary thesaurus for indexing and retrieving informations in references database about :

• Research on role-playing games;
• RPG game designs;
• RPG techniques.

Browse and comment ThesaurusRex here

From now on, I will use it to index my database on RPG: ZOtRPG. This database will include more and more references on game designs and techniques (before it was more focused on academic research). Related topics are moved to another database : ZOtRPG_B-side (literature, video game, games, gamification, etc.).

 

You can use it for your own information system (blog tags, reference manager, etc.). The rules of a thesaurus are:

1. Only one keyword for all synonyms of the same concept possibles.
   Example: game master = used for GM, dungeon master, DM, arcane keeper, referee, etc.
2. If the keywords are organized hierarchically, it allows the user to navigate in concepts.Example: mechanics > task resolution > action > extended action. If the user starts a research with pacing + action, and if he wants to go further, the thesaurus shows him which keywords to combine with pacing.
3. « By using this keyword to retrieve informations, does the user will be satisfied by this reference? ». If the answer is Yes: you can attribute this keyword to your reference.