Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Whitney "Strix" Beltrán

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. In addition to the consensus, WP:HEY seems to apply here. (non-admin closure) RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 15:40, 7 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Whitney "Strix" Beltrán[edit]

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Subject categorically fails to meet WP:GNG, WP:BASIC, WP:NACADEMIC, or WP:CREATIVE. The most compelling reliable, independent sources I could find regarding this subject are as follows:

An excerpt of a Polygon article: "Whitney “Strix” Beltràn, a high-profile indie developer responsible for the award-winning tabletop game Bluebeard’s Bride, is the project’s narrative director. [...] Beltràn also worked on Holovista, an ambitious mobile augmented-reality game that explored fantastical architecture and the culture of social media influencers. [...] Also on Twitter, Beltràn said she’s been working on the new D&D video game for some time."

Not quite plainly trivial and could maybe be construed as marginally advancing notability if presented alongside multiple other instances of much more significant coverage from other reliable, independent sources, but clearly nothing to hang one's hat on.

An excerpt of a PC Gamer article: "This was backed up by its project narrative director Whitney Beltrán, who has written for games like State of Decay 2 and Beyond Blue. [...] "Both Baldur's Gate 3 and Dark Alliance are set in the Forgotten Realms, but Whitney Beltrán has a writing credit on Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, a forthcoming supplement for the actual tabletop version of D&D describing D&D's underused gothic horror world, which would make a killer backdrop for a videogame."

Borderline trivial discussion of Beltrán. Akin to the first as far as establishing "Hey, this person exists and was credited in these three pieces of media", but coverage too insignificant to advance notability.

For those wondering about possible book sources, she does have a bio within the book Role-Playing Game Studies published by Taylor & Francis, but as best I can surmise, this is self-authored, as Beltràn is a co-author of Chapter 27 of this book and the biographies for other chapter co-authors read exactly as though they were self-authored, for example: "Edward Castronova wonders why vanilla ice cream is even produced in a world that knows chocolate. At Indiana University, he is Professor of Media, Director of the BS degree program in Game Design, and Chair of the Department of Media Arts and Production [...]". The second-most significant mention I could find of Beltrán in literature is in the self-published book "Analog Game Studies" Vol. II, and even this is trivial: "In this extreme example of prolonged immersion, [Patrick] Stewart was likely experiencing what Whitney "Strix" Beltrán terms ego-bleed, where personality contents of the character bleed-out into the player and vice versa."

There really is just no reliable, independent literature upon which to create an article about this subject, and the article in its current state reflects that. Every citation but one is primary, and the other one (which only contains a plainly trivial mention of Beltrán) is WP:FORBESCON, which per RSP should be treated as self-published. Half the lead is puffery based on a self-description published on the subject's website (there was even more obvious puffery before IceWelder removed it), and the already-short 'Career' section can be broken down as follows:

~30 words (~25%) about Beltrán's actual credited role in creating these games.
16 words (~14%) about a quotation of Beltrán's own description of the house in HoloVista.
72 words (61%) about what the game Bluebeard's Bride is, which in a longer article would function as good background information for the reader, but which in an article this short and bereft of detail about Beltrán herself functions as padding.

The only reason I appraised this as worthy of any discussion at AfD instead of just a PROD is because I sympathize with student editors who are thrust into the deep end of Wikipedia, and I therefore want to give this article the most fair shake I can. TheTechnician27 (Talk page) 18:26, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Women-related deletion discussions. Spiderone^{(Talk to Spider)} 19:37, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Video games-related deletion discussions. Spiderone^{(Talk to Spider)} 19:37, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

~~Comment~~ Keep The sources I have found so far indicate she has received a prestigious honor (2021 member of the The Game Awards Future Class), what appears to be a notable award (2018 Game of the Year and Best Art from the Indie Developer Game Network), has been recently announced as a notable part of a team for an upcoming D&D game 1, 2, and has engaged in public commentary about innovations in the gaming industry. It is looking like per WP:CREATIVE, she has "created or played a major role in co-creating a significant or well-known work or collective body of work" and "is regarded as an important figure or is widely cited by peers or successors." Beccaynr (talk) 20:48, 29 March 2021 (UTC) Also in The Verge: "The pair set about building a formidable development team, including [...] award-winning narrative designer Whitney “Strix” Beltran, [...]" Beccaynr (talk) 20:54, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comment – I'm aware of the list, as I saw it in a press release published through Gamasutra. However, while I'm aware that The Game Awards are in and of themselves a notable awards ceremony, being one of fifty names with no further description in a brand new category of award that has received scant reliable, independent coverage at best marginally contributes to notability and frankly in my opinion does basically nothing toward notability. That somebody writes articles for the Internet ("engages in public commentary", if we want to euphemize it) has an impact of "literally nothing" on notability if said articles aren't actually covered in significant detail by reliable, independent sources. As far as notability for her role in the D&D game is concerned, I'm aware of the game, but once again, scarce little mention of her role is made, and furthermore, "The person has created or played a major role in co-creating a significant or well-known work or collective body of work" doesn't exactly fly when referring to an early development game that would likely be removed for being WP:TOOSOON if an article were created about it here. Obviously the wording in WP:CREATIVE criterion 3) is a bit subjective, but not so subjective as to seriously consider this as a reason to create an article. I reviewed the article again, and there's nothing new here that can even be construed as pushing the subject over the notability threshold. TheTechnician27 (Talk page) 21:50, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I am still working on it, and adding reviews and coverage of her work that are not referenced in the nom, biographical information, and additional honors and awards. The first source cited in the nom, referring to her as "high-profile", seemed like a clue that additional sources supporting notability could exist, and the way that she is similarly referred to in other sources further seems helpful for establishing WP:CREATIVE notability. And it is taking awhile to compile and review all of it, e.g. Vice interview with commentary, Dread Central review, report that she created an advocacy organization, Gaming as Other (VoiceAmerica) etc. Beccaynr (talk) 22:12, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comment – I appreciate that it's still a WiP, but the Vice article is both far more about Bluebeard's Bride than Beltrán, gives little actual information about the subject herself, and as an interview is a primary source. While Dread Central may or may not be a reliable source, their article is solely a review of Bluebeard's Bride and doesn't mention the subject even one time. "VoiceAmerica" sounds impressive until you realize it isn't actually Voice of America and is instead some obscure Internet podcast. TheTechnician27 (Talk page) 22:40, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comment She is a writer and designer of the significant work(s) that have won a variety of awards and acclaim, so when there is commentary offered about the writing, e.g. by the Vice article, or the several reviews, it does seem to be about her, i.e. per WP:NAUTHOR. Nevertheless, even with the sources offered in the nom, there also appears to be sourcing available about her past career, and I've been continuing to develop the article. She operates in a somewhat niche industry, and appears to be quite well-known within it due to her accomplishments, and background information about her and her career appears to be available, so an article is looking justified. Beccaynr (talk) 23:35, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the Article Rescue Squadron's list of content for rescue consideration. Beccaynr (talk) 22:27, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I changed my first comment above to a keep !vote per WP:CREATIVE/WP:AUTHOR, because Beltran "has created or played a major role in co-creating a significant or well-known work or collective body of work" i.e. BlueBeard's Bride and the related titles as a writer and designer, as documented by the awards, including the 2018 IGDN Best Game of the Year (also reported by Geek & Sundry with a brief review), the 2018 IndieCade Grand Jury Award, "the best of IndieCade’s best" (also with a review), and a 2019 ENnie Awards nomination for Best RPG Related product, and per WP:CREATIVE/WP:AUTHOR, these works have "been the primary subject... of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews," including Dread Central, noted above (and apparently "founded in 2006" and "dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews," Dicebreaker (a Gamer Network editorial website - their flagship website is Eurogamer) (part of a larger review) , and Vice, as noted above, which includes commentary in addition to the interview. Also, per WP:CREATIVE/WP:AUTHOR, Beltran "is regarded as an important figure or is widely cited by peers," e.g. in the Polygon article above, noting she is "a high-profile indie developer," and a similar description published by GameRiv, i.e. "part of the new D&D game team is Whitney “Strix” Beltràn. popular indie developer responsible for the award-winning tabletop horror RPG, Bluebeard’s Bride," and she was selected by the prestigious Game Awards for inclusion in what is described as "50 talented individuals around the world who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future of video games," and she was chosen as a presenter for the 55th Annual Nebula Awards.

In addition, background on her video game writing career has been highlighted in e.g. PC Gamer, noted above, including State of Decay 2, Beyond Blue, and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. In addition, further biographical information going back to her childhood and including her education is emerging from interviews with BoardGameGeek 1, and RPGG 2, as well as her published academic writing, noted above and now included in the article's Works section, along with two publications from Wyrd Con that she contributed to in 2012 and 2013. And her WP:CREATIVE notability does not appear to be WP:BLP1E, because not only is she recently receiving coverage about her role as narrative director in the upcoming D&D game, she has not otherwise remained WP:LOWPROFILE, due to her founding the initiative Gaming as Other, which has included a variety of outreach activities, such as her participation in panel discussions and videos, and her written commentary published at the online science fiction and fantasy magazine Tor.com. Beccaynr (talk) 12:51, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Keep Beccaynr makes a convincing argument. I wasn't convinced before, but seeing this reasoning, I agree she meets the requirement for the subject specific guideline for creative professionals. Dream Focus 16:11, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Agreed, it seems like a valid argument. Oaktree b (talk) 00:39, 7 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.