Web Service Access to BoardGameGeek

A few of us over at the BoardGameGeek tech Yahoo group are exploring some ways to use web services to provide programmatic access to BoardGameGeek. Even if you aren't a developer, there are some very interesting applications that could come from this capability.

• Some of you like to use programs like GameTracker to keep track of gaming collections and session reports. One challenge with "unconnected" software like this is that it is always out-of-date. With a web service to BoardGameGeek available for programs like this, they can synchronize their game databases with what has already become the authority.
• Do you like to perform offline analysis of your collections, sessions, game rankings, etc.? With a web service interface, you could integrate programs like Excel directly into BoardGameGeek using toolkits designed by Microsoft.
• If we make web service available for modifying the database (e.g., submitting new entries), some cool offline submission tools could be developed.