"Americacentricity" - is that a word?! Anyway, what I mean is the tendency for quizzes in QLand to be geared towards US topics.

I've heard some feedback from some of the non-US members that they're concerned about the fact that their interests are not as well represented. Or, that all the quizzes seem to be America based - American movies, actors, tv shows, locations, hobbies, etc.

Well, I have a solution! Create a quiz!!! If all you're seeing are US-geared quizzes, there's nothing preventing you from creating a quiz that's not. What you're seeing is the quiz creating from the people who have chosen to do so - and if only Americans are creating them, you can't be shocked that they're going to create them based on their own interests. And, you can't be offended by that, either. It's not like the editors are keeping other quizzes off, just because they're not America centered. We take what we get here.

One note that I'm not sure some people are aware of....our editors are not primarily from the US. We have editors from ALL over the world. Many of our editors speak multiple languages, many have lived in multiple countries of the world, and all are highly talented in the field of editing quizzes!

If you're not happy with the quizzes you're seeing, there is a remedy. But, YOU have to take the initiative in doing something about it!

One caveat to the above, though. You do need to realize that a great portion of the site's members ARE Americans. So, that affects the kinds of quizzes that are played.

However, that's fixable as well! This is (get this!), the WORLD WIDE Web. That means that your friends and family can actually join FT - even if they're not American born! Whoa! Pretty cool, huh? Get the word out about the site to all your friends - get the site recognized in your country. Tell everyone what a wonderful place it is to meet new people, play new quizzes, create new quizzes, etc.

See, there's no excuse for complaining that we're too "American" here!

It's funny, because FunTrivia is truly content-by-democracy. FunTrivia has the perfect balance of content because it truly represents those people who visit the site. It's not only not broken, but it's optimal

Terry

Another forum board I frequent that is for my favourite sporting team had a thread linked to the quizzes of that particular team recently - and it would have to be 99% Australians that go there. So if peopel see a particular interest of theirs represented it will hopefuly encourage them to explore the site further or make even more quizzes on that topic.

Wests-tigers forum

Maybe we should also point out that our American members don’t all confine themselves to American subjects for their quizzes. There are some fine quizzes on British subjects by Ladymacb, Morrigan716, LindaC007 and Junior The Jaws, to name only a few.

I have written a few quizzes with Australian themes. They are usually only done by Australians and I usually get quite a few compliments.

The only time I get annoyed by 'Americanisation' is when I do a quiz that I think is going to contain a broad coverage of a subject only to discover that it is an American quiz. For example perhaps a quiz is titled 'Famous Women' and all, or nearly all the questions are about American women.

I don't think the problem at this website, in regards to quiz content, is related to 'Americentrism'. I think there is an overall lack of interest and enthusiasm for cultures and topics outside the realm of the English speaking world. All one has to do is look at the number of times quizzes on Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific islands have been played, or better yet the number of quizzes created on those topics in general, to see that we in the Western world are rather insular in our thinking and in the attentions we pay to the rest of the world.

I have seen some of the complaints from those who lament the 'Americentricity' of the contents at Quizzyland, but rarely see their names among the lists of players who have tried quizzes on topics outside their narrow realms...

I could do a quiz on something like South American Pioneer Aviation (a subject I am actually interested in) but I doubt anyone much would do it. Likewise on many other subjects I am interested in.

I'd play that one, Kuu, if only to learn something.

I've been looking at every aspect of this question since I got here a while back, almost three years now.

Sure, I'm American but, perhaps not your typical garden variety as I've studied in the UK, France and the USA, lived and worked abroad and don't really see that many barriers between us all. Plus as a translator, I deal with the varieties of English (as well as French for that matter) in everyday life.
One thing I do try to implement here as an editor (and as a mod when I was one for a brief time) is to gently remind people when they write quizzes that they will be taken by people all over the world, therefore if their work is specific to one part of the world, like hit songs in the Australian market, then go ahead and say so.

Yes, I admit that Americans are probably the first to forget and put things like "Our president" because they haven't realized that the site is used by people all over the world.
There are diplomatic ways of mentioning this though. In most instances they are younger people but not always. If I see a quiz on a particular make of car, I always ask them to specify which market, UK, Australia, or US. These are just examples of how to minimize the country specificity.

One other thing you'll note is that if most Americans did the British version of Trivial Pursuit, they'd fail miserably at it as the sports and other cultural references would be obscure to most of us. We share a lot of cultural references but if one group used the other's version of the game, there would be a lot of gaps in our knowledge of television programs or very specific things we don't necessarily share. If you get a quiz here that someone has dreamt up for general trivia and it represents typically British or US style trivia, then perhaps yes, you might be a bit flustered. I personally enjoy it as my chances of knowing what on earth is going on in cricket or rugby or Terry Wogan's early career are hopeless. But I have fun guessing.

So I do recognize that in the past there were a lot of American style trivia quizzes here that didn't take into account that "our president" wasn't necessarily anyone else's president, but lots of progress has been made. The editing team really does come from all around the world.

I think the only answer to anyone who really objects to the Americanocentricity is to create their own quizzes that illustrate the opposite.

I have to agree with Agnes about writing quizzes that reflect your own interests, rather than what you imagine the interests of the majority are. I doubt that my quizzes on CBC radio, or Canadian Mystery Authors, will EVER get enough players to be rated, but I enjoyed writing them.
One of the things that drew me to this site when I first discovered it was the fact that there were quizzes on MY areas of interest, odd and obscure though some of them are. I have still not, after about a year on the site, ever been into the Celebrities or People categories, and I'm sure that there are plenty of players who've never ventured into the Detective and Mystery category of Literature, where I spend a lot of my time. There is room for all of us here.

Agnes' quizzes on Derbyshire and the National Gallery were just lovely quizzes in every way. Everyone, no matter where they call home, would enjoy them. Agony is right. There is room for all of us. Variety is truly the spice of life here.

Bringing this up as it relates to another current thread.

Well, it's nice to have a variety, true, but I can't recommend bothering with a 20 question quiz on an author unless you're fairly sure that he's popular enough to get at least twenty or so plays.

Even though I did exactly the opposite once, it wasn't terrible. I learned a good deal about an author I like while writing the quiz. I doubt I'll do it again, though.

As for Americentrism, I'm sure it's frustrating. I imagine many people find the large number of quizzes about US presidents as uninteresting as I find quizzes about the London Underground. That's just the way trivia is, though. There are subjects that will simply always be a mystery to me, such as sports above a very basic level, or classic TV, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any number of topics.

The advice to write quizzes to counter-act flooding of certain topics is good, and I like that editors have put moratoriums on certain topics now and then. That probably helps a lot.

I'm pleased to say, Bruyere, that although I'm not Australian by birth I've yet to lose a series of Australian Trivial Pursuit. I think it helps that my favourite topics are Science/Tech and History. If it was sports I'd be hurting.

Time and time again I realize that if a quiz is well crafted it doesn't matter what the subject is. The trick is to get well crafted ones.
I did the French national one on TV recently and scored as well as booksellers and another group despite the strong cultural bias in which you must know names of breakfast cereals and radio programs people listened to sixty years ago. The questions were very well crafted and enjoyable to take however.
This is what I try to encourage in people writing quizzes here.

The issue I have with the Americanisation of the questions is the labelling of them! If i go to a general sports quiz and find it's about college basketball, ice hockey, baseball and so forth it leaves me guessing, if it's about American sports, american movies, american anything it should be labelled as such. If it doesnt have such a label it's not unreasonable to assume that we may get a spread of questions.
Given some off the ridiculous restrictions placed on quiz making, it's surprising ( yeah right!) that such a simple task as placing USA in the title isn't one of them.

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Given some off the ridiculous restrictions placed on quiz making, it's surprising ( yeah right!) that such a simple task as placing USA in the title isn't one of them.

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Not to sound cruel or anything, but why should it be just the American quizmakers who have to label their quizzes? Why not the British? Or the Aussies? Should they not label theirs? Sounds silly doesn't it?

Once you click "play" to actually play a quiz and you find that it is "American" then all you have to do is to click the back button on your browser bar to take you out of it if you do not want to play an "American" quiz.

But nevertheless, you are missing the fact that some "American" quiz authors have written diversified quizzes on numerous subjects of world interest.

Stressing that I am not knocking our quiz authors that come from Great Britain, Scotland, Wales, Australia, India and various other parts of the world, as they contribute greatly to the site...what I am saying is that everyone and I stress everyone is quite capable of expanding their knowledge. And when you think of it in those terms are quiz rankings really all that important? Me thinks not.

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Agnes (JTJ)

Well obviously all quizes should be labelled appropriatly but i think you'll find that non-usa topics specific to a country or region are labelled as such either due to the approach of the quiz maker or on request by moderators.
As to all i have to is backspace back if the quiz isnt what i expected, that's true but rather beside the point, all i have to do is sit at the back of the bus but that dont make it right.

Well no it's not the point at all if something is wrong you attempt to fix it you don't just put up with it. That's why i can sit anywhere on the bus now!!
Wrong is wrong it doesn't matter whether it's americanised or botwanaised.
What you have here is the thinking of the blind majority, if it's not an issue for most then the rest of you are just gonna have to deal with it. Strangely i thought the world had moved passed that mentality.

Most important thing I think that is being forgotten is that Funtrivia is a US based site to begin with.

Not that it matters really, but if it the American quizzes that are a problem, then the only thing I can suggest would be to create some of your own quizzes.

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Agnes (JT)

>> posted by quogequox:
>> If i go to a general sports quiz and find it's about college basketball, ice hockey, baseball and so forth it leaves me guessing, if it's about American sports, american movies, american anything it should be labelled as such. If it doesn't have such a label it's not unreasonable to assume that we may get a spread of questions.

This is a reasonable presumption; and a reasonable request. Categorisation was pretty well an art form when Quizzyland was in its infancy, but has improved markedly since. We get it right most times, but some do slip through. If you find one that's in the wrong sub-category, send a correction note to the author (editors of each category see all corr notes). If they're not brought to an editor's attention, the mis-categorisation can't be fixed. Ditto where the quiz introduction needs expanding, as it doesn't adequately describe its questions/content.

Absolutely. If adding a little statement to the intro would help people know better what's in the quiz, it can be done. It's not that big of a deal. And, not something that needs a lot of hooplah over! Adding in a phrase that the quiz covers mainly American sports (for instance) shouldn't be a problem. (Although, I hope that doesn't mean you'll limit yourself to non-US quizzes! Take some of them - even if it's just to learn something new about something American. You might enjoy it!)

I also would reiterate that we're always looking for quizzes from ALL over the world. As has been stated before, our editors are not all Americans. And, there is no rule that says only American quizzes get put online. Those of you who are not from the US, create some quizzes, so the field will be more level for everyone.