tylerthehobo
Explorer
In light of all that's afoot with Dragon and Dungeon, I thought it might be interesting to post some stuff I remembered reading back in the day:
From issue 122:
and even more to the point - here is the request in the letter's column of issue 153 (1990) and the response from Editorial:
Response from editorial in issue 153
So... Discuss?
From issue 122:
I would like to present an idea of mine in this column. There have been many people writing
to DRAGON Magazine concerning how they could obtain out-of-print issues of this magazine.
Perhaps these people would be satisfied by a modem service.
What I have in mind is this: DRAGON Magazine could create a computer modem service to
provide validated members with access to all articles which have been printed in DRAGON
Magazine over the years. These would be on disk and would be printed out at the user’s
command. If the user has a printer, he could print out the information received. All validated
users would be given a half hour of time on the system per day.
This service could also be used as a bulletin board on which TSR, Inc., staff members could
post any information on upcoming products, take surveys of role-playing gamers on various
subjects, and many other such things.
One problem that I foresee is how the text of all the articles could be stored. If it were on
disk, many disk drives would be needed in order to make access to the articles automatic.
The information could be put on hard disk, but that would be very costly. Perhaps there could be a systems operator who would have the necessary library of disks available and insert the one needed for the information the caller asked for.
I think a service such as this would be extremely useful and well worth paying for. I am interested in knowing how many people agree with me and if this system seems plausible
to those of you at the magazine.
to DRAGON Magazine concerning how they could obtain out-of-print issues of this magazine.
Perhaps these people would be satisfied by a modem service.
What I have in mind is this: DRAGON Magazine could create a computer modem service to
provide validated members with access to all articles which have been printed in DRAGON
Magazine over the years. These would be on disk and would be printed out at the user’s
command. If the user has a printer, he could print out the information received. All validated
users would be given a half hour of time on the system per day.
This service could also be used as a bulletin board on which TSR, Inc., staff members could
post any information on upcoming products, take surveys of role-playing gamers on various
subjects, and many other such things.
One problem that I foresee is how the text of all the articles could be stored. If it were on
disk, many disk drives would be needed in order to make access to the articles automatic.
The information could be put on hard disk, but that would be very costly. Perhaps there could be a systems operator who would have the necessary library of disks available and insert the one needed for the information the caller asked for.
I think a service such as this would be extremely useful and well worth paying for. I am interested in knowing how many people agree with me and if this system seems plausible
to those of you at the magazine.
and even more to the point - here is the request in the letter's column of issue 153 (1990) and the response from Editorial:
Do it on disk
Dear Dragon:
This is yet another letter about computerizing DRAGON Magazine. Instead of a bulletin board,
I would suggest writing the magazine in disk form, like the UPTIME disk-of-the-month subscription.
You could still have ads, fine graphics, and art work incorporated on the disk.
With the price of disks so low these days, it wouldn't cost too much once the operation was
set up. Shipping would be more costly, but I for one would be willing to pay a few extra dollars per year for DRAGON Magazine on disk.
Dear Dragon:
This is yet another letter about computerizing DRAGON Magazine. Instead of a bulletin board,
I would suggest writing the magazine in disk form, like the UPTIME disk-of-the-month subscription.
You could still have ads, fine graphics, and art work incorporated on the disk.
With the price of disks so low these days, it wouldn't cost too much once the operation was
set up. Shipping would be more costly, but I for one would be willing to pay a few extra dollars per year for DRAGON Magazine on disk.
Response from editorial in issue 153
Your idea certainly has a new twist to it, though I doubt that you will see it done. It's too
easy for us to simply ship the magazine on paper. (And you don't have to plug in your
computer to read each issue.)
easy for us to simply ship the magazine on paper. (And you don't have to plug in your
computer to read each issue.)
So... Discuss?
