I guess what really troubles me is the idea that WotC's marketing staff thinks I'm the kind of person that goes in for the manner of flim flam set down by Mr. Smith. If that's the kind of audience they think they have it seems only logical that they will produce products geared for that audience, which I would very much like to see not happen.
I understand also that Mat has editors and what not, but considering how no other WotC content segments it's sentences in an attempt to be "cool".
In annoying ways.
Like this.
Then I'm putting the bulk of style responsibility at the feet of Mr. Smith first and his higher-ups second.
The point has been made that it is a free feature after all and if I don't like it I can just not read it. That is, of course, true. However we live in a capitalist system and until demand changes supply will no doubt remain the same. Like I said in the opening post, I want to find out kewl stuff about the new books... there's stuff in Mat Smith's column that I would be interested to know I just absolutley despise having to wade through his self indulgant nonsense to get to it.
The point has also been made that the column is "free". I spend maybe $10-$40 a month on WotC books, so frankly I would hardly call the website "free". As a loyal customer of WotC I frankly demand high quality prodcuts, up to and including the website.
The point of the column is obviously to increase product and brand awareness, so obviously the job fell to the staff copy writer. That was just a bad move IMHO. Mat Smith writes two line blocks of copy for the ads, and that's what the In the Works column reads like... with every line I feel like he's trying to sell me something. It's like walking into a car dealship.
So with all the bitching and whining is there something I would actually approve of? Of course, starting with a massive scaling back of the personalization of the column. I want to know about the book, not Mr. Smith's feelings about it. Pulling back on the superlatives would help too. Describing the product without using "cool" or "neat-o" or "amazing" etc. would be a vast improvement. Chilling out on the apostophes would kick ass (no more with the havin', that'll, got 'em), as the author uses them frequently and rarely to any kind of purpose.
Basicly, the less cheesy and corney the better. Cheesy and corney has it's place around the gaming table, but in the actual written material I'd much prefer a more stately "tolkienesque" approach.
