Advertorials with no game content in Dragon

[Alzrius]

There was a thread on this over on the Paizo forums, but as the debate has largely tapered off there, I wanted to bring it up here also.

Dragon #349 had an extra two pages in its First Watch column, dedicated solely to a review of Final Fantasy XII. This was even mentioned on the cover of the magazine. Said review had no D&D game content of any kind, and had no real fluff advice for using aspects of the game in D&D. It was, in short, an advertorial; an ad disguised as an article.

Several people, myself included, complained via letters to Scale Mail and over on the Paizo forums. Some interesting responses from the Dragon staff were found over there:

Final Fantasy's certainly not for everyone. But then again, neither are mind flayers or demon lords or gnomes or dwarven barbarians. While Dragon is indeed a D&D magazine, it's also, to a certain extent, a magazine about things that D&D players like. I'm not on the Dragon staff, but as far as I understood it, the Final Fantasy article was an extended section of First Watch, which is why it appeared near the front of the magazine. Most of the content of First Watch can't be put into your game, but that's not the point. It's there to tell our readers about cool things they might or might not be interested in.

The Final Fantasy XII piece kicks off a new subsection of First Watch starting that month and continuing after that. For a long time we've wrangled with how to handle video game coverage in the magazine. Enough good console and computer games release every month that a simple eighty word blurb cannot encompass the bulk of releases, yet to do a whole write-up on each game detracts from the table-top and D&D news that is our priority. Hence the addition.

Typically, the section will be one page featuring two write-ups and several pictures from the games being covered (as you'll see in #350). Games that are D&D-related but aren't huge events, like the upcoming D&D Tactics, will recive a spread. D&D games that are major endevors, like D&D Online or FR: Demon Stone were, will probably get more feature-sized pieces. In addition to these, role-playing games that are major industry events and have definite fantasy and D&D themes (like a new Final Fantasy game undoubtedly does) will also receive spreads. So, that's what it is!

If your into games, this setion will tell you about some of the biggest D&D/fantasy titles hitting that month (with room to show more than a single lonely screenshot or undetailed cover). If your not, we're hoping to point you toward some of the better fantasy titles available, which just might be perfect inspiration for your next adventure.

Check out next month for a one-page piece on Zelda: Twilight Princess and Pox Nora.

Just playing Devil's Advocate here:

What would you say if we approached this from a different vector and said that adding one or two pages a month of video game coverage generated additional advertising dollars from video game agencies and that we could use that revenue to further improve content and add-ons? Would that page then be worth it?

These are all good responses from the Paizo staff (and, of course, it's always great when they personally talk to us about issues like these), but I can't help but feel that these reactions all miss the point.

The point, for me at least, isn't about Dragon confusing its focus as a D&D magazine (though that is a legitimate concern), nor is it about ads disguised as articles (though that's also something worth talking about). For me, the point is that this article, and future articles, could easily be tied back to D&D by including some D&D mechanical material, even if only a little. Dragon has a rich history of "D&D-izing" computer games in their Silicon Sorcery articles (though I think those are called Divine Inspirations now), and to have the magazine engage in dedicated coverage of new video games that have a fantasy flavor, but not give us any D&D adaptations of those games is an opportunity that will be missed over and over again.

I don't have a problem with Dragon covering, to a small degree, video games (or books, movies, etc). What I have a problem with is when they use those pages to exclude D&D material, instead of creatively including it. I'm hoping that Dragon realizes what it's missing here, and starts to give us some material we can use in our games with these articles in the near future.

 

[el-remmen]

Being a Dragon-reader from the old skool days of other game reviews, book reviews, articles for games of different genres by different companies and the inclusion of non-D&D (or even gaming) short fiction - I don't see the big deal.

Unless, it is really an ad and not a fair review - in which case - it should labeled "advertisement".

 

[ColonelHardisson]

If Frost is telling us how it is, then yeah, I don't mind articles like this if they mean more and better content overall of pen & paper RPGs. You're right that it would be nice if they tied the article directly to D&D/d20.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Don't like it, either. For me, Dragon's not about things D&D players like. It's about D&D. D&D-related games, okay. Stuff like NWN2. Silicon Sorcery articles turning computer game stuff into D&D material, cool. Big computer game ads - disguised as articles no less. No. That's not the "genuine D&D content" I pay for.

 

[smootrk]

Like it was said in one of the responses... if a couple of pages mean more & better overall d&d content, then I am OK with it, especially when overall page count might go up as well.

But, much like taxes, if it is just the beginning of an ever increasing trend under the guise of 'making enough money to make ends meet'... then I think it stinks. Before long we have a 'fantasy (video)gamer magazine' with a couple of actual D&D articles in it.

I would like to think it is the first of my two scenarios, but my real-life experience tells me that it is the latter.

 

[Shade]

I was disappointed to see the return of the non-D&D-related review feature, although I'm sure many will welcome its return. I have zero interest in Final Fantasy. If it had some D&D material, I'd have at least skimmed it. The last time FF appeared in the pages of Dragon, we got the stats for a generic riding bird at least.

If it adds revenue to help keep costs down and keep the magazine's other great content, though, I can live with it. I'll still skip it, though...just like fiction.

Silicon Sorcery remains one of my favorite features of the 3E era of Dragon, solely because the associated crunch was often interesting (I love the primordial collosus and aelfborn, despite having zero interest in the games they came from). The creatures from Neverwinter Nights (like the eldritch archer, jungle spider, glyph guardian, minogon, and old one guardian) have all been welcome additions to my game. A review/advertisement of NWN would have no lasting value.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's not advertorial content unless Dragon is paid to run it, which I find unlikely.

And I'm another one of those longtime Dragon readers (so old that I still call it "The Dragon") who missed non-D&D content in the magazine. This bothers me not a whit, and I don't even like Final Fantasy.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I'm old school enough to yearn for the times when Dragon covered all kinds of other games in addition to its main focus of AD&D/D&D. This wouldn't bother me at all.

 

[bento]

I'm old school enough to yearn for the times when Dragon covered all kinds of other games in addition to its main focus of AD&D/D&D. This wouldn't bother me at all.

Although I'm not a subscriber, I would NOT want to see a five page interview with Kevin Sembedia on saving Palladium or a regular monthly feature on building space ships using GURPS 4.0 rules in the pages of Dragon Magazine! :\

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

It doesn't belong. Never did, but in the dark ages before the Internet, it was at least excusable because there weren't that many avenues through which gamers could get that kind of info. Nowadays, even the gaming magazines can't compete with the internet for providing computer-game info.

If it's advertising, label it as such, take there money and use it to provide something useful. If you're not getting paid for it, stop wasting the space. Silicon Sorcery and its ilk have always been the least useful aspect of Dragon.