Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter/20090701/Interview

WikiProject Video Games Newsletter

Volume 2, No. 4 — 2nd Quarter, 2009

Changes to Featured and Good content | News items and announcements | Feature | Featured editor

Interview with User:Masem

This issue we are starting up the "Featured editor" again as a regular feature. This is a chance to learn more about the various editors who contribute to the Video games project and the roles they fill.

MASEM is a long time video games editor that has contributed to a large number of the project's Featured articles. He is ranked on Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by featured article nominations, and has assisted in reviewing and editing many more. Masem is probably best known for his work on the Guitar Hero featured topic and Wikipedia:Notability (fiction). He can normally been seen on the project's talk page offering advice and his input on the various discussion taking place there.

What drew you to Wikipedia, and what prompted you to begin editing?
I can't remember exactly what event it might have been , but at the time I joined there was something positive in the general computing news about Wikipedia, and while I knew about the project long before, never considered the need they have for editors. I poked around a bit, found out there's enough places that I could contribute, and worked from there.
How did you become involved with the project ?
Video games were probably my strongest interest, and once I got the hang of how the editorial structure worked within Wikipedia, sought out membership there.
What do you think is the most difficult part of editing on Wikipedia?
For myself, it's copyediting. I generally think in big, wide, expansive thoughts, so when these get put down to digital pen on paper, they end up as rambling sentences that are coherent to me but may make no sense to others. I find it difficult to go back and review my own writing because I just don't see the issues, usually. Once they're pointed out, they're obvious. The best way I've found to overcome this is to make sure to read other articles on Wikipedia - not just video games but random topics, particularly those that are featured as well. Getting around one's own personal writing and thinking style into a mode more appropriate to a general readership is not an easy habit to break.
What got you involved in writing Featured articles?
My first article that got any type of new assessment was Okami, which I started intently working on a few months after joining. When I sought it for a Good Article, I had feedback that it was very close to Featured, and so I took the next step and found, though a lot of work, was able to get that. Realizing this was something that I enjoyed - learning more about my favorite games while bringing articles about them to a high level of quality - I continued to work on improving articles that I had a strong interest in, mostly video games but I've begun working in other areas too.
What article(s) are you most proud of writing or exemplifies your best work?
There are three that I particularly like:
- Okami - not only for being my first Featured, but because I think this is an article that does a good job to balance both gameplay, story, and development and reception sections. Okami is a huge game, with 30 hrs of gameplay, probably close to 100 unique characters, most which can be pointed to to ancient Japanese legends, and everything else that could make for long gameplay and story sections. Yet, I was able to reduce this to about 4-5 paragraphs for both. I think from this one, I've developed a good sense of style for how much plot is appropriate for a video game article (for example, as of writing, most of the plot for the story-heavy Chrono Trigger is based on a reduced cut of mine from a very lengthy discussion of it.)
- Grim Fandango - This one I'm particularly proud of - not only is the game a strong classic but there's a sufficient wealth of information on its development to make that section very informative, particularly for a game before the onset of internet sources. Part of this is due to this being Tim Schafer's work, who is quite verbose - I've already got an impressive section on development for his next game Brutal Legend. But Grim Fandango really has a near complete development section, not only the concept, the art, puzzle design, programming, and graphical approach are all present, a near perfect set that one would want for development. I'm really happy how that fell together.
- The World Ends with You - This one was probably my most difficult to date (though Braid is approaching that) not necessarily due to information on development and reception (this was available in spades), but on the gameplay and story. TWEWY is a game-within-a-game, and this took quite of bit of patience and precision editing to make sure that to the non-gamer reader that they understood where the game, as the person picking up the DS and controlling the characters, and the Game, what the characters are to play through, were thoroughly distinguished from each other. There's a reason this took more than one FA attempt and that's primarily it. It's also got the issue that one could go into story and gameplay all day long, but I am pleased how with the help of others these sections became limited to what they are now - just enough to establish the core game for the development section without minimizing it.
How do you pick the articles you work on?
Most of the ones I have worked on are those that have a great deal of interest in; typically, as most of these are video games, these are the ones that I have a strong interest in such as Portal or Okami. There are others, however, that I come across in reading through video game news that I find one or more sources that clearly have sufficient means to build out an article beyond the typical "starting" point for released video games - specifically having information for development and more beyond reception to make them viable Featured material. The World Ends With You was partially that - the game moved me, but being a heavily Japanese game, I was completely surprised to hit on various English sources that talked with the developers, and I took the bull by the horns and brought that article to the Featured state. Similarly, LocoRoco was less a love for me though I've played the game and enjoyed it, but I ran across a recent interview with the developer that went into depth on its development, and found a bit more to make the development section very strong. It's still only a Good Article due to some lack of sales and reception, but that's a far cry from what it was.
Do you have any special projects in the works?
My biggest current project is trying to maintain the Guitar Hero Featured Topic, which I would say Activision is not making my life any easier in that aspect. That's a matter of managing all the games and, where appropriate, the soundtracks, getting those all to quality in a reasonably short amount of time. The series was a lot easier to write towards in the past when it was "new" but as some degree of overexposure sets in, it's becoming more difficult to expand upon. However, in a similar vein, I'm seeking to do the same for Rock Band, particular once The Beatles: Rock Band is out. I'm also seeking ways of where we can include some of the more problematic games in terms of notability into here: stuff like Flash games or Xbox Live Indie Games which may get a mention or two, but not enough for a full article. It would be nice to still cover these.
What advice would you give to editors seeking to write quality articles?
If you are writing for a future game or even one recently released, the first step is to configure your RSS reader to bring in Google News hits for that game and to follow it religiously. Some things may slip through but likely, for larger, more important games (ala The Beatles: Rock Band, you'll find gaming sites repeat news from other sources as to be able to find it. Sourcing that development section while the game is being produced is much easier than trying to hobble it together after all is said and done. You should also watch the RSS of any of the major blogs - even the ones that aren't reliable. Not that these will necessarily give you information you can directly use, but often may supply you with enough to go out and find more articles. You don't have to read every entry (unless you really want to) but scan the headlines, look at the pictures, and you'll likely catch something that will fit into one of the articles you are working on (I recommended Google Reader here as you can then "star" such items, and come back to it later if you're not in the editing mood at the time).

I also encourage editors to review their articles of quality (whether it be a B-class, GA, or FA) once in a while, and do a cursory web search. This helps to revert any major problems that could have slipped by you on your watchlist but at the same time, may point you to looking for information that you were lacking, ok at the time, but feel it necessary to include now.

That said, for any other general case, is just to remember that the average reader will likely never ever play a video game, much less the video game you're writing about, but they are still going to read about it. It's a matter of stepping back and understanding where the boundary of being an encyclopedia article and being a video game guide can sit. It is very easy to write how gameplay in a video game works; it is much harder to write how this works to the average person, but it can be done, and once you've gotten the hang of it, becomes rather easy.
Anything else you would like our readers to know about you?
I actually do have an post-graduate degree (PhD) in an area completely outside of computers or video games and probably older than most people think (I witnessed and despaired the Endless September) for a person normally associated with video games; as this usually comes with a lot of writing, I've actually found that editing WP particularly when you head towards a Featured article, has helped in reverse in my own career writing. It's not perfect, and there's times I need to avoid video game cliches, but it's still a benefit.

Also read about our previous Featured editor: David Fuchs