Wil Wheaton Drops Dungeon Column

[Ranger REG]

OD&D is the fertilizer that the current game grew upon.

And we all know what fertilizer is, don't we?

My kind of sense of humor: dark and insulting on the sly.

 

[Yeoman99]

For what its worth I thoroughly enjoyed Wil's columns, and regularly bought Dungeon looking forward to that as much as some of the other material. I can't say I'm atrekkie fan, but the article resonated with me, a middle aged gamer and reminded me that I'm not the only gaming nut around.

I hope the nay-sayers on the Paizo board are not seen as anything more than a vocal minority. From what I hear the comments included some pretty vitriolic rubbish, which should not be representative of a supportive gaming community that cares about its hobby. Wil came across as an articulate and witty individual and I wish him well. I trust that those who did not enjoy his articles feel likewise in the cold light of day.

 

[diaglo]

I'm definetely with you on that!

ads wouldn't cheese me off in the least. i buy a lot of RPGs and related stuff.

an ad would serve the mission statement better for Dungeon. help defray costs. possibly lead to collaboration. etc...

 

[JoeGKushner]

Yawn.

This barely picks up on the radar.

Now if he said he was taking his own life because of bad feedback, that might be interesting. He'd finally have something to say.

 

[JediSoth]

ads wouldn't cheese me off in the least. i buy a lot of RPGs and related stuff.

an ad would serve the mission statement better for Dungeon. help defray costs. possibly lead to collaboration. etc...

I don't know what it's like at Paizo, but my company publishes a trade magazine for independant hardware retailers and we always have trouble selling enough ads (and just think how many manufacturers of tools, paints & sundries, hardware, etc there are). Advertising is expensive. Even people who pay for advertising space sometimes don't get the ads to us in time (though there are millions of factors why they can't meet the deadline).

JediSoth

 

[diaglo]

Oh, I hope that the majority of D&D players aren't complete pricks.

Sure, we've got a lot of geeks. Sure, geeks tend to have social... ahem... issues that are only aggravated by the Internet. But do think it's a vocal minority and not a vocal majority that are like that.

you haven't been to many RPG message boards, have you?

i'd say Erik is right on for the backbone of message board type hobbyists.

edit:

However, I think that ornery gamers make up a significant chunk of the "active" base of roleplayers, the ones who subscribe to magazines, post online, etc.

 

[diaglo]

Let me be clear.

I don't think that ornery gamers are the bulk of gamers, by any stretch of the imagination. As you said, I think most gamers are "average" folks with "average" lives, to whom D&D is just a diversion.

However, I think that ornery gamers make up a significant chunk of the "active" base of roleplayers, the ones who subscribe to magazines, post online, etc.

Again, these folks don't represent a majority of this "active" base, but there are enough of them that they help to keep the hobby alive, and cannot be jettisoned simply because they have inconvenient opinions. Without them, I'm not certain that the industry would be a success, or even viable.

Thus, I suspect they may form the "backbone" of support for the hobby.

But that's just a suspicion, and I'm not married to it.

--Erik

as one of those ornery curmudgeons, i totally agree. not that i had it out for Wil Save. as i said on paizo, i was indifferent.

edit: unlike Downer....

and of course, i let Dungeon know full well my opinion of Poly when it was added.

and i danced a jig when it was finally cut.

 

[diaglo]

I spent a good bit of time going through that Paizo thread today.

How appalling.

If those are the people that form the backbone of the D&D industry than I'm embarrassed to be a gamer.

I sure hope you are wrong about that, Erik.

that's not what Erik meant.

how many lurkers do we have on ENWurld?

how many "active" users?

so whose opinions do you get to read?

 

[Belen]

With great respect to the people who still mourn Polyhedron (hey, I put it together!), I have to say that the vocal dislike on behalf of some customers was merely one element that ensured its demise. The sales numbers were the main reason we made the change.

While Dungeon with Polyhedron brought a bunch of new people to the magazine, it also drove off enough people that, at the end of the day, it was pretty much a wash. And when your circulation trendline is heading down, down, down, a "wash" doesn't quite do it.

The numbers on Dungeon have been quite positive for more than year now, no doubt in part because Wil Save brought some people to the magazine. What impact the loss of the column will have on sales remains to be seen, but I strongly believe we're releasing very high-quality material useful in a wide variety of games, so I have every reason to believe that Dungeon will continue to improve its business fortunes in the months ahead.

Paizo as a company is very, very pleased with the sales trends of Dungeon magazine.

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon

Hey Erik, ever thought about replacing Will Save with a similiar column from game designers or maybe stories from celebrities in the field about their first gaming experiences or why they play the game?

 

[diaglo]

My kind of sense of humor: dark and insulting on the sly.

and good both ways depending on how you take it.

i like fertilizer. it is what makes the world.. and in this case imagination grow.

a healthy imagination is all you need to play OD&D.