A new Dragon Quest Wiki has just launched, with its editors committed to becoming the go-to site for fans of the series.
When a video game speaks to your soul, it feels like a higher calling. There could never be any other reason, in my mind, as to how someone would dedicate a substantial amount of their lives to being a part of a fandom. And not only that, but to lend their time to write article upon article for a fan-made Wikipedia page. I am, of course, talking in this case about Dragon Quest, the legendary Japanese role-playing franchise that makes employees miss a day of work each time a new entry comes out.
With eleven mainline entries, spinoffs, anime, manga, and more, it is a prime example of a series that continues to build upon its mythology. Its latest entry, Dragon Quest XI, subverted expectations of the hero’s journey, honing in on what the Luminary—its ever-present chosen one—was supposed to sacrifice in times of need. In short, what became a referendum on what the JRPG, turn-based video game genre meant, also looked at itself in the mirror, constantly trying to change and present its core in new ways.
It is no surprise, then, to have such a passionate conversation with Tigali, a nonbinary university student and founder of the French Dragon Quest Wiki, which recently turned 11 years old. In my brief interview with him, he goes on to explain what inspired him to be a part of it and what they hope to achieve with the launch of the brand-new Dragon Quest Wiki.
“My main DQ Wiki-related activity is being the founder and main admin of the French DQ Wiki, which turned 11 years old last August. But the thing with wikis is there’s a feature called interlanguage links that redirect from an article in one language to the same article in another language on another wiki. It’s very useful, hence the need to form partnerships between wikis on the same topic but in different languages. My approach to the English side of the equation was thus at the start that of a potential “professional” partner, though it’s nice to make friends too.” they introduced themselves.
Talking more in-depth on the ins and outs of the site itself, he explained, “Since it’s a wiki, everyone can join and edit. We have a standardized set of rules, of course, but we welcome newbies; nothing is irreversible, so even if you’re not comfortable at first, you soon will be, and many people can help you along the way. There are plenty of activities, from writing to researching niche stuff to even data mining some games for sprites and the like. Of course, if you just want to have a chat in Discord, it’s okay too! Our goal is to be comprehensive and up-to-date; it’s a tall task, but nothing insurmountable with a little help.
Forking a wiki is copying its contents in their entirety. It’s totally legal because wikis operate under the CC-BY-SA license. Creative Commons, Attribution, Share Alike. Share Alike means the shared content must remain under that same license, which it does, and Attribution means credit to the original author—since the fork preserves the page history and thus the usernames who made the individual edits, we’re good on that front too. Media files don’t belong to us anyway, but to Square Enix, they fall under the academic provision of fair use.”
“A wiki is a fantastic place to share knowledge and experience and build friendships. The French wiki may not be that big, but it’s a very chill place, and I’m proud of everyone who joined… And I want that to happen to the English community too. And I’m pretty sure my colleagues share that same ambition,” they concluded, reminding us of their commitment to the website.
The newly launched Dragon Quest Wiki can be visited now.
