Our August Editor of the Month demonstrated his passion for wiki editing during ARK’s five-hour Survival of the Fittest Tournament. IllegalOpcode created a tournament page on the Official ARK Wiki and updated the page with live/dead status for each event participant, along with recording all the tournament’s Extinction Events. This wiki contributor provided thousands of ARK fans across the globe with updated tournament information, and his efforts with templates and organization on the Official Wiki are truly appreciated!
If you’re interested in becoming Editor of the Month on Gamepedia or if you’d like to nominate someone, you can learn more about the program here.
Where are you from?
I’m from Denmark. I was born and raised in Aarhus, but now live in Aalborg.
What’s your day job?
I’m a software engineer. My work is primarily software development, but I also manage our cloud infrastructure.
Outside of wiki editing, what are your hobbies?
Besides gaming, programming, and wiki editing, my hobbies are mountainbiking and building/flying RC drones. I don’t do as much of either as I would like due to being busy with work most of the time, but I try.
How long have you been a gamer?
For more than 20 years! I can’t pinpoint exactly when I became a gamer, but I remember the first time I played a snake game with my dad on our PC, and it was magical. Later on I tried the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and eventually managed to convince my parents to get one; what followed were many, many hours of Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and other classics. And then I finally got my own PC, and that has been my preferred platform ever since. I do have a couple of consoles, however, but I don’t use them much.
What do you enjoy about ARK: Survival Evolved?
I enjoy the core gameplay and the amount of progression paths available. Whether it’s leveling up my character, taming new dinosaurs, building or upgrading structures, or just surviving in the harsh environment, there’s always something to strive towards and look forward to.
I also really enjoy playing the game with my friends. We play on our own server with increased taming speed, otherwise taming simply takes too long for us given the usual length of our sessions.
Also, dinosaurs.
How were you first introduced to the Official ARK: Survival Evolved Wiki?
I often use wikis to get up to speed on new games that I’m playing, so I found the wiki using a targeted search.
What prompted you to start wiki editing?
The page about saddles, actually. I wasn’t happy with the way it was made, so I made an account and edited it a bit. It was surprisingly fun! And then I noticed that a lot of other pages had ample room for improvement and got to work on those as well.
Along the way I learned a lot about wiki editing using the Gamepedia Help Wiki and the MediaWiki documentation and from looking at pages and templates on other wikis. Some of the things I learned required changes to the wiki configuration (primarily enabling extensions) to use, but fortunately the Gamepedia admins are very helpful in this regard.
What do you enjoy most about editing the Official ARK Wiki?
Most other wikis that I use are already fairly complete, but because ARK: Survival Evolved is a relatively new game and still in early access, there is a lot of information to add and organize. The wiki is also young enough that it’s possible to influence the community and its policies, which I think is a lot of fun. I also enjoy reducing duplication of effort, which isn’t always easy on a wiki. This is primarily achieved through the use of templates, but I’m also working on a bot for the wiki that will help automate some of the more boring aspects of wiki management.
My endgame when it comes to this wiki is to get documentation, policies, and templates in place that will ensure the survival of the wiki and its community. In my opinion, ARK: Survival Evolved is only going to get bigger and better moving forward, and I want the wiki to evolve along with it.
Favorite dinosaur?
I don’t really have a favorite dinosaur as such, but if I had to choose one right now it would probably be the Pteranodon. The first time I took to the skies on the back of one completely changed my view of The Island, and flying around is still one of my favorite activities in the game.
Do you have any last words for your fellow wiki editors?
A wiki is not made by one editor alone; embrace the community and the community’s policies and rules, and help your fellow editors when they struggle! A kind, helpful comment on a wall or talk page can go a long way towards including new editors in the community and make them want to keep contributing.
And please sign your comments and use the preview button. :]
Know someone who should be our September Editor of the Month? Submit your nominations here.