It’s not easy work building up a wiki, and today you get to meet the person behind the majority of the content you see on the Demeo Wiki page.
Buruko is a true gamer at heart and has a passion for both tabletop and digital games. “I like to say I’m a ‘grown-up gamer’ which means gaming is one of many hobbies as well as staying busy as a husband and father of two. I work in IT and have a long history with gaming from tabletop to video games so trying out VR gaming was totally happening”
Buruko got involved with the wiki when he tried to understand the underpinnings of Demeo and was seeking out information, but there weren’t a lot of resources available at that time. “I did see some of the early efforts so thought I’d try to step in and continue them. With an IT professional background, working with data and technical details is a familiar territory. I had no idea it would become a passion project to share information and the game with so many others.”
Working on the wiki involves many different aspects such as gathering information, formatting text, organizing content, finding and making graphics, proofreading, communicating with players, creating templates and updating articles. If you want to help out you can easily do so by signing up for a Fandom account to make edits and changes to the wiki. “There are a few pages locked to prevent malicious activity, but largely any data-driven content is something anyone can add or edit. I also love when folks share or send data directly to me or share it in the official Discord #wiki channel. They might not want to make an account, but want to help or share with others. If anyone is interested in contributing but has questions they are welcome to ping me in the #wiki channel or message me directly!”
“If the wiki can help someone then all that effort was totally worthwhile.”
We love the wiki and wonder what drives a person to put so much effort into a fan project like this. Buruko says that “VR gaming was a new experience for me and Demeo literally blew me away. After joining the Discord I realized I wasn’t alone, and tons of people were into the game, but I kept seeing the same questions over and over. So I started out trying to make the wiki a resource that made it easier to share that type of information quickly. Sharing that information with folks has been a lot of fun, and I’ve met all sorts of new people. Another reason was that I like the ‘game within a game’ meta and wanted to try to make the wiki the “Official Demeo Player’s Handbook” like any fantasy tabletop game would have.” He continues to say that the most rewarding part of his work is when he sees someone share a link from the wiki with another person. “That means people find the resource valuable and it just makes my day! If the wiki can help someone then all that effort was totally worthwhile.”
You can find information about monsters and heroes, exclusive lore and much more on the wiki!
So what challenges does Buruko face? “Organization, formatting, and time in that order. Trying to figure out how best to organize and present this information was the first big challenge and still is. As the game grows, how to organize it has changed too. I’d say the wiki has gone through probably three major reworks since I started tackling it. Formatting is another problem because presently I have to work in the Fandom wiki framework. I can’t install neat features or alter back-end code, so I have to get creative with the tools available. And time is a challenge because there just never seems to be enough of it. It’s the major reason I haven’t tackled the new module on the wiki just yet even though I’ve started organizing the information I have.”
If you’re an active member in the Demeo community, you might also have heard a thing or two about modding, and Buruko is no stranger in the modding group either. “I fell into the modding community after being contacted by Mex, and asked about working with him and another modder, Fecn, to come up with some ideas based on my interactions with the Discord community. There is a modding community Discord, Demeo Modding Group and there are a few folks working on various things, but the mod House Rules seems to have the most active development. Mex and Fecn are the real powerhouses behind the mod House Rules, I mainly coordinate, support, and promote the mod through various communities especially after the coding grew beyond my capabilities. Although a new modder by the name of theGrayAlien has been doing a lot of code contribution with new rules for the mod, they really dove in head first by starting and sharing modded games with the Discord community.”
To wrap things up, we asked if there is anything Buruko wants to say to the community. He said, “I look forward to meeting and playing with more of them in the future! This community has been one of the best I’ve encountered in my lengthy history of gaming, both online and offline. I hope we all get to overcome new and exciting Demeo adventures for a long time to come!”
A huge thank you to Buruko for joining this community spotlight! If you want to contribute to the wiki, make sure to check out the #wiki channel on our official Discord server.