User blog:The Vhampster/The Vhampster Self-Interview: What it's like being a leading guidewriter on Steam

Hi everyone! I get a lot of questions about what I do in addition to random friend invites on Steam. First of all I would like to point out what this blog post has to do with Wikia.

Well if you ever find yourself as the "first responder" to something new in videogames and such, you'll know that it takes both dedication and passion to keep people informed. Sometimes, this leads to a lifelong hobby or simply a one-off. Regardless, everyone who shares their experience with the world is a valuable community member. It takes initiative to make a path where there isn't one. Often Steam guide-writers, Wikia editors and bloggers ask the same questions as readers: "Where did we come FROM?" How do we get THERE?"

So without further ado, let me explain where I came from and why I joined Wikia! You can read the full interview here:

Question 1: Where did you come from? The Vhampster: I grew up homeschooled in California. I lived near one of the largest crime areas in the USA - Richmond California. That was intimidating and it caused many problems in my life, but it didn't stop me from attending Community College at the age of 11.

Question 2: What was it like growing up? The Vhampster: Since many students I interacted with were much older than me, I ended up quite the loner. I stuck to videogames, gardening and watching Food Network tv shows. While I kept myself busy, there were many unfulfilled areas of my life. When I went to UC Davis a few years ago, all I really wanted was the social aspect. I can't say I really got what I wanted - students there were actually not very friendly and I had to pay money to keep up with the Jones('s) in their Anime Club. I helped out with many events for them, even though they were ungrateful. With my 2 Associates degrees, I decided to quit school and went to work close to home (although I had moved away from the Richmond area a few years prior).

Question 3: Did you end up fulfilling your destiny? The Vhampster: I think by doing what needed to be done, I tied up some loose ends. I can't say it's the proverbial "happy ending", but it worked. My parents always had health problems, so working near and at home was helpful because they didn't need to hire external help. I also joined Steam and started playing Spiral Knights in my free time. Sometimes I would look for help on a game and there wouldn't be any. As Steam released Community Beta, the option to write guides became available and I wrote my one on Rock of Ages to share my tips. Perhaps that was my destiny.

Question 4: So how did you become a leading guide-writer? The Vhampster Well, as Sannse of Wikia once said - you don't need a shiny badge to help out. I keep thinking, "why isn't there a guide for this game?" And then I realized...well, I need to write one! Based on my gaming habits, I've been able to write approximately a guide every week since last Summer. It's worked out pretty well and some of my friends liked the idea so much they even donated games for me to write guides on. Currently I'm compiling a donor list and a sort of credits section for the guides on games that have been donated to me. As far as I'm concerned those users are equal contributors to my guides and other content because they bought the game and I wrote on it. It's a win-win!

Question 5: How does this relate back to Wikia? The Vhampster: Again, I go to places myself when I need help with a game. Wikia has always been a big part of my troubleshooting process as a gamer. In the past few years, I knew about some items that had not been written about yet on Wikia. I like the community process so far, so I expect to keep coming back to contribute screenshots and more. It's great that not any one person is expected to bear the entire work load, so taking on an entire game is definitely in the realm of possibility!

So there you have an abridged interview on what my life is like as a leading guide-writer on Steam and also a Wikia user. I hope to integrate my regular gaming habits with Wikia and upload whatever I bump into that isn't already on here. Feel free to check out the full interview linked above.

Game on! --The Vhampster (talk) 23:06, August 8, 2014 (UTC)