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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 4220309" data-attributes="member: 19857">RPGs are awfully complex beasties in general.&nbsp; Gaming books are reference books, how-to manuals, and general reading material.&nbsp; I'd imagine they combine the worst qualities of technical editing with the worst qualities of prose editing into something nightmarish that I wouldn't want to touch with a 3 meter pole.&nbsp; My hats are actually off to the folks who have to edit these beasts - even with high-tech assistance this can't be an easy job.As for why Wizards has the same problems as other companies despite having more money and people - that's usually an indication of a problem that doesn't scale linearly with the addition of more resources.&nbsp; Anyone who's ever worked on a large scale software project knows how that goes (or, for that matter, anyone who's ever read &quot;The Mythical Man-Month&quot;), and judging by the number of folks who show up on the credits page of any given Wizards book, I'd imagine that the integration required to build these books is probably comparable to a mid-sized software project.You ever worked as a grad student for a professor who was writing a textbook?&nbsp; I'm not sure of what it's like in humanities, but I know folks who have in engineering and physics.&nbsp; If you have the status to write a textbook, then you have a sizable lab where you have legions of underpaid proofreading monkeys known as &quot;grad students&quot; who you get to force to read your drafts and find nitpicky errors to correct.&nbsp; And that's before the book ever gets touched by the publisher.And as far as errata in textbooks - in certain areas it's awful.&nbsp; Especially in mathematics but also in computer science.&nbsp; It shows up most often in the exercises and in the solutions to the exercises in the back of the book.&nbsp; Low level math textbooks are particularly horrid in this regard, despite the math in them ostensibly being simple.Is THAT what that image is supposed to mean?&nbsp; Every time I see that stupid thing I think it's someone saying &quot;if you only had a brain&quot; and meaning it as an insult.&nbsp; Thanks!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jer, post: 4220309, member: 19857"] RPGs are awfully complex beasties in general. Gaming books are reference books, how-to manuals, and general reading material. I'd imagine they combine the worst qualities of technical editing with the worst qualities of prose editing into something nightmarish that I wouldn't want to touch with a 3 meter pole. My hats are actually off to the folks who have to edit these beasts - even with high-tech assistance this can't be an easy job. As for why Wizards has the same problems as other companies despite having more money and people - that's usually an indication of a problem that doesn't scale linearly with the addition of more resources. Anyone who's ever worked on a large scale software project knows how that goes (or, for that matter, anyone who's ever read "The Mythical Man-Month"), and judging by the number of folks who show up on the credits page of any given Wizards book, I'd imagine that the integration required to build these books is probably comparable to a mid-sized software project. You ever worked as a grad student for a professor who was writing a textbook? I'm not sure of what it's like in humanities, but I know folks who have in engineering and physics. If you have the status to write a textbook, then you have a sizable lab where you have legions of underpaid proofreading monkeys known as "grad students" who you get to force to read your drafts and find nitpicky errors to correct. And that's before the book ever gets touched by the publisher. And as far as errata in textbooks - in certain areas it's awful. Especially in mathematics but also in computer science. It shows up most often in the exercises and in the solutions to the exercises in the back of the book. Low level math textbooks are particularly horrid in this regard, despite the math in them ostensibly being simple. Is THAT what that image is supposed to mean? Every time I see that stupid thing I think it's someone saying "if you only had a brain" and meaning it as an insult. Thanks! [/QUOTE]

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