Interviewed by I'm Aya Syameimaru!, Thibbs and Le Panini

This issue we interview TarkusAB, who has been hard at work for the past several years keeping our coverage on games and series like Night Trap, Resident Evil, and Phantasy Star tip top and current. A major contributor in some 50+ GAs and FAs, TarkusAB is an appreciator of games (video, retro, and Japanese) and music and can be found in many of the dark nooks WP:VG watches benevolently over.

1. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - What's the weirdest thing you did on Wikipedia?

   Well, I’m not sure what you mean by weird. I guess you could say the images I put on my user page might sometimes come off as weird or strange.

2. Thibbs - What do you consider to be your best work on Wikipedia?

   Probably Phantasy Star. Everything with that article came together so well.

3. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - How skilled are you at editing articles?

   Well I’d like to think I’m pretty skilled, but I probably would have said that years ago and I’ve improved a lot since then. I think it’s important to be humble and willing to admit you don’t know everything. Always keep a learning attitude! Look at the work of other editors for ways to improve.

4. Thibbs - What would you say is the most difficult part of editing Wikipedia and what advice would you give a new editor interested in working on video game articles?

   The most difficult part is certainly dealing with editing disputes. It’s really easy for me to get passionate about a change I made, and to get upset when someone else comes through and disagrees with me with just as much passion. My best advice here is to not strive for perfection. What is perfect to you will not be perfect to someone else. Accept that there will always be things “wrong” on Wikipedia and that the universe will correct these wrongs in due time if it needs correcting as much as you think it does. Plus, the more problems there are, the more likely readers will feel impelled to create accounts and become editors.

5. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - How do you source video game articles, and what are some of your favorite reliable sources? Also, what's the most unusual reference you've used in any article?

   The custom Google search engine at WP:VG/RS is helpful for finding web sources, and I love using retroCDN for print sources. My favorite sources out there are definitely old Japanese magazines like BEEP! Mega Drive, Dreamcast Magazine, and PC Engine Fan. I like the old photos of gamers and developers, and they publish lots of interviews and news articles that have never been translated. Who knows what secrets they hold? And most unusual reference? When I was researching the unreleased game Gun Beat, I found a developer interview published in Dreamcast Magazine. It was all in Japanese, so I spent a couple days transcribing and translating it myself to use in the article.

6. Thibbs - What drew you to Wikipedia, and what prompted you to begin editing? How did you become involved with the VG project?

   I cannot remember why I initially created a Wikipedia account. It was a long time ago (2006) and my early editing patterns don’t seem to indicate interests beyond fixing typos. Between 2006 and 2015, I did not edit very often. It was really only in 2015 when I seriously started editing and that’s when I joined the VG project. I cannot remember why I chose to start editing video game articles, but I stuck around because the community was active and helpful. We are the lucky ones, most other WikiProjects seem dead when compared to WP:VG.

7. Le Panini - Your most amount of contributions on the main page come from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft. Why is that?

   Probably because I rewrote it twice, once back in 2015 when I was still new to Wikipedia, and then again in 2019. I worked on the article because I grew up near Boston and felt the theft needed a better article.

8. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - What's the shortest article you've written, and what's the longest article you've written?

   I think the shortest that I finished was Girl's Garden. Now looking back at it, I think it’s remarkably short and I probably should not have nominated it for GA, and it probably should not have passed. But in the end, it doesn't matter. The longest article is probably Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft.

9. Thibbs - How did you think of your username, TarkusAB?

   AB are my initials. Tarkus is an album from 1971 by the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. I loved the album in my teens when I created the handle. I play piano and the pianist in the band, Keith Emerson, was an inspiration to me growing up. Unfortunately, he blew his brains out a few years ago because he was having issues with his hands that inhibited his ability to play. So it goes…

10. Le Panini - Is there a reason for what images you display on your user page?

    I like to share images from around the world to remind myself and page visitors that our world is a huge place full of beauty in every corner and so much to discover and learn.

11. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - What got you into gaming, and how did your interest in gaming change after that?

    Sonic the Hedgehog. I never owned a Genesis but I played Sonic CD and Sonic 3 and Knuckles on my PC obsessively when I was a kid. I watched the cartoons, read the comics, and practiced drawing the characters. I didn’t own a video game system until the Game Boy Color when Pokémon Red and Blue was released. The Pokécraze was real back then. My first home console was the Nintendo 64 after I saw Ocarina of Time at a friend’s house in 1998 and my mind was blown.

    I could write a novel about how my gaming interests changed over time, but in brief they grew organically after that. Final Fantasy XIII was another breakthrough game for me because it opened me up to the world of JRPGs which I never explored. I told my friends I liked FFXIII and they were like “haha yea OK you should play the earlier FF games” so I went and did just that, which led me to playing other old games I missed and getting into retro gaming and game history. Now I’m here.

12. Thibbs - How much of a gamer are you and what type of games do you gravitate toward?

    I have not been playing video games that much recently, maybe one every couple months. I was big into import retro gaming for a few years and collected up maybe 500 games but I’m in the process of selling most of them because my backlog was getting dumb and I’m preparing for a big move. My favorite genre is survival horror. Resident Evil (2002) is my favorite game ever made and I’m a sucker for all the old school tank control horror games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Fatal Frame. But generally speaking, there isn’t a genre I don’t play. I like all sorts of games made around the world and will play whatever is grabbing my attention at the moment.

    Outside nearly all the mainline Resident Evil games, some of my favorite games of all time are Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, Civilization IV, Killer7, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, DOOM, Alien: Isolation, Animal Crossing, and Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

13. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - You're very into Japanese games (and obscure ones), so I wouldn't be surprised if you're interested in anime. I wonder what kinds of anime are you into. I think you edit anime-themed articles, correct?

    You would think so! But actually I’m not interested in anime or manga very much. I have seen some of the Studio Ghibli films which were nice, and I used to watch Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon on TV when I was a kid, but beyond that I have not watched many. The last one I watched was Nichijou in 2015 when I started learning Japanese.

14. Thibbs - In which areas of Wikipedia have you involved yourself beyond WikiProject Video Games?

    I’ve edited some music articles and dabbled in film, space travel, fine art, and history. But I have not involved myself in any editing project anywhere near as much as WP:VG. A lot of that is because WP:VG is so active that it naturally pulls you in. We are really lucky to have such an active community. Also, once you've written a couple video game articles, you become familiar with the format and good sources so editing other VG articles becomes much easier than writing on other topics.

15. Le Panini - Why did you create the article For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have)?

    It’s a beautiful ambient album that I thought deserved an article. I created it last month when I was on vacation in the deserts of Nevada. I had known of the album for some time but the scenery there resonated with me and helped me connect with the album more than before. Once I saw there were enough sources to pass GNG, I knew what needed to be done. The article is short right now, but the sources are there to make it longer, I just have not had the time.

16. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - What's the weirdest game you ever wrote an article about?

    Well that would have to be LSD: Dream Emulator. It’s a first-person “game” (more of an interactive art experiment) that places you in randomly generated environments with strange music and colors. The idea was to give the sensation of dreaming, and I think they did a pretty good job.

17. Thibbs - As an appreciator of both retro games and music, what can you tell us about video game soundtracks? Which of the many bleeps and counterpoint bloops out there are the best? Are there any that we should be keeping an ear out for? And do you have any thoughts on the recent explosion of game music on vinyl?

    I’m thankful that video games make it easier for people to connect with music who would otherwise have a difficult time doing so. For example, look at the success of live classical concerts for Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, and other video games, and the amount of young people who attend compared to concerts for “true” classical music. It’s not that video game music is inherently better or more interesting than other music. Rather, the audience has already been handed a connection between the music and a tangible story with artwork. The emotions they felt when playing the game return when just listening to the music alone. With traditional classical music, you must paint the picture in your head and draw meaning yourself, and some people have a difficult time doing that.

    One thing I hope people can understand is "video game music" is no different from "real music". I say this because I have friends and see people online who say they "only listen to video game music". Video game composers don’t write music in a vacuum, friends, they pull inspiration from a whole beautiful world of music. Like the quirkier side of Final Fantasy tunes? Try out Saint-Saëns's The Carnival of the Animals. Like that head-boppin' Streets of Rage techno? How about some Chemical Brothers Dig Your Own Hole. Silent Hill ambience? Taylor Deupree. Chill Animal Crossing vibes? Getz/Gilberto. DOOM? Herzeleid. Funky Persona jams? Asako Toki. A lot of Japanese composers for retro games were inspired by progressive rock, stuff like the aforementioned Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, and Pink Floyd.

    It’s hard to say what the best video game music is out there. It all depends on your personal musical tastes. I will say that I think Final Fantasy soundtracks are particularly notable. I've been playing piano for years and the only sheet music from games I ever print out is Final Fantasy music written by Nobuo Uematsu and Masashi Hamauzu. The final boss theme from Final Fantasy VI, Uematsu's masterpiece "Dancing Mad" [1], might be my favorite piece of game music. It elevates the game from being just another RPG to something on the level of fine art. As one of the YouTube comments said, "Uematsu used Crayola crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." They are referencing the limited tracks and MIDI options the composers had to work with. Once you have an understanding how game music was made back then ([2][3]) it will help you gain a greater appreciation for 8 and 16-bit music like "Dancing Mad".

    I don’t collect vinyl, but the surge in video game vinyl releases is interesting. I think it might be more of a testament to the popularity of vinyl collecting than video game music popularity.

    In conclusion, understand 8/16-bit composer limitations, listen to Final Fantasy music, and above all, remember that video game music is not created in a vaccuum. There's lots of beautiful music outside the world of video games to discover that's just as good, if not better.

18. Le Panini - Why was your only draft, the "Characters in the Super Smash Bros. series", deleted? Were you the one that did so?

    I don’t remember. I think I used the draft article as a sandbox and then created the article instead of going through the draft process. Once the article was created I deleted the draft.

19. Le Panini - Additionally, numerous articles that appeared in your sandbox were deleted as well. Was it a lack of commitment?

    No. Most of those were building spaces for article rewrites which I completed. I don't create articles as much as rewrite existing ones. When I want to rewrite an existing article, I create a sandbox to gather the sources, take notes, and write the article. After that I essentially copy/paste over the existing article. Once that’s done, the sandbox has served its purpose and I delete it.

20. I'm Aya Syameimaru! - Even though you're focused on good articles (GAs), your only featured article, Knuckles' Chaotix, was a collaboration with TheJoebro64. Is it possible for you to do more FAs, even without collaborations?

    Maybe, but probably not. I don’t strive for perfection as much as I used to. I feel the work needed to bring an article through the FAC process does not bring proportionally worthwhile improvements to the article.

21. Le Panini - You claimed to have retired in December 2019, but returned in August 2020. What drew you back?

    I think I just needed a break and always knew I would come back. I was spending too much time on Wikipedia and needed to focus on other things in my life for a while. After I had taken a good long break, I was able to approach Wikipedia in a health way so it no longer interfered with other things in my life.

22. Thibbs - Have you any WP:VG or Greater Wiki plans for the immediate future? Do you have any final words of wisdom and sagacity, jest or japery?

    Well if my paperwork goes as expected, I will be moving to Japan next year to learn Japanese. I hope to use my Japanese abilities to do more translations and adding more information on Japanese games. Between getting ready for the move and everything else, it's hard to find time to work on any major Wiki projects.

    My advice for other editors: We each have a finite amount of energy we can expend on Wikipedia every day. Choose carefully how you ration it. It's easy to get caught up in editing disputes and long talk page discussions which lead nowhere and deplete your energy which could have been used improving articles.

    I also want to say I know my messages can read as discourteous and curt sometimes. That’s just how I write, I'm sorry. I don’t hold hard feelings towards any editors.

    In closing, thank you to Thibbs, Aya, and Le Panini for conducting this interview! Much love.