Social Media/Community Manager

DnD Class: Ranger

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Pokemon Go Team: Valor

Empire or Rebellion: Rebellion

Turtle: Donatello

When did you first get started in games and how?

My family moved to Japan when I was about ten years old in the late nineties, and if there was ever a time to grow up a ten year old in Japan it was the height of Pokemon fever. My friends and I were feverishly devoted to our gameboys and our pocket monsters, so that was my big introduction not just to games as a medium of entertainment, but also games as the foundation for building social communities. It’s funny to think of trading Golem for Scyther on the schoolyard as something leading me to working in games today.

How did you first get started in the game industry?

My very first introduction was writing for a couple small sites for free. I was doing game reviews, had a little column and an even smaller readership, but it got my foot in the door that brought me to Square Enix. After five years working in the community department for Final Fantasy XIV, I’ve come to Akupara!

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Seeing a good movie, playing a good game, or listening to good music always gets me into a ravenous mindset where I’m thinking a million thoughts a minute. That kind of mood is one that I cherish whenever I can find it, because that kind of focus and energy isn’t something I want to squander.

What is your favorite video game or series?

Mass Effect 2 is my favorite video game of all time and the best video game of all time. Fight me! The really special thing about Mass Effect is how they were able to sneak a thoughtful, character driven story into one of these massive AAA backbreaker games. To successfully deliver on that kind of thing is one of a kind. That said, the games I find myself playing most often are World of Warcraft because of my friends, Total War: Warhammer because it’s precision focused on appealing to my specific tastes and Hearthstone because I loathe my bank account.

What is your favorite tabletop game?

I want to say Dungeons and Dragons because it’s the foundation of all of my tabletop gaming, but I think the real answer is the iteration on it called Pathfinder. It’s rare to find a system so massive and complicated that whatever character you tease out of it feels like a unique discovery, this diamond in the rough that only you have ever thought of. Because the game and its mechanics are so expansive, I always feel like I’m expressing myself through gameplay in a way that nobody else has ever done before.

If Akupara could partner with any person, who would you want to work with?

I’m a giant fan of the folks at offline.tv, Scarra, DisguisedToast and all of rest. I think the project they’re working on is really cool, really fun, and something that’s really pushing the boundaries of streaming, youtube and the online media age as we know it. If I could get any of them to try out Star Vikings or Chicken Assassin, I think I’d be a happy camper!

What is your proudest accomplishment in your career?

So, a few years ago, I started podcasting with one of my best friends and we’ve been putting out episodes without missing a beat ever since. We’re almost to episode 200 after about four years! The podcast is really special to me because it allows me to thoroughly and exhaustively document my thoughts on whatever topic we’re talking about. It’s really cool when someone asks you a question about games and I can link to a whole podcast episode where we dig deep into complexities of the concepts at play.