Wil Wheaton Drops Dungeon Column

[GlassJaw]

I know how stressed and pissed off i get when i'm writing good content. When I know my stuff is relevent, and a hack of an editor tells me to change my stuff up because of a couple of readers. I'd just quit too. I'm not going to have my hand be the puppet of people not sophisticated enough to undertand my writing.

I think this is going a bit too far. First off, I'm not sure I would call Wil's column "good content". I mean, I certainly wouldn't call it bad but it wasn't anything special IMO. It was more like his stream of consciousness or a glorified, one-page blog.

Sophisticated? Come on now. That's just ridiculous to believe that the Dungeon audience wasn't "sophisticated" enough to "understand" Wi's column. Now I'm not saying the Dungeon audience is sophisicated at all but it's not like Wil was over everyone's heads.

Let's just keep things in perspective here.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I guess I'd rather see Monte Cook, or Robin Laws, or Ken Hite, get one page a month to do whatever they want.

And personally...I find Wil kind of depressing. He was on frigging ST:TNG, and he threw it away, and it still seems to eat at him.

And how did Wes end up a Starfleet Lieutenant [j.g.] in "Nemesis," anyway? I mean, that's swell and all, glad to have you back, Wes, but how did Super-Wesley, the Chosen One, who was piloting the freaking Enterprise at 16, end up at 32 as the third shift engineering supervisor on the Titan? And weren't you supposed to be, like, exploring the cosmos and such? And time and space?

I guess I kind of blend Wes and Wil together in my mind into one depressing underachiever...and I see too much of myself in that guy, y'know?

Well, as I mentioned above, I stumbled into a book signing he was doing (I had no idea there was going to be a signing of any kind in that store that day), where he was also reading from his book and discussing his career. He pretty much addressed the stuff that you're talking about, and he seemed like he'd come to terms with all of it. He actually seemed rather upbeat and positive, yet objective. He didn't candy-coat anything, but took responsibility for the mistakes he'd made, and seemed optimistic about his current situation and future. His book - which is made up of a lot of material from his blog - also addresses the issues you mention.

 

[rowport]

FWIW, I will join the chorus of "first thing I read every month". I really enjoy the column. And, I really could not care less whether he talked about D&D- I just like that he offered a sincere slice of life view from a "gamer" (or, at least, how I would define the term).

But, if the editorial decision was to stay focused on D&D (which is a valid decision, Erik, do not misunderstand me) then I agree that he would be much more limited in content and the writing would suffer for it. I am not sure if it has so far, but...

Anyway, I do hope that another *column* gets added to replace Will Save, rather than just another page added to an adventure. I did like the writing, and the human voice.

All that said, I have a gut-check suspicion that just like the vocal negative posters on Paizo's boards are not representative of the entire readership, neither are us touchy-feeling ENWorlders, either. Seriously, I trust Erik Mona to have his hand on the pulse of what his readers really want. But, I will miss Will Save.

 

[Mystery Man]

Anyway, I do hope that another *column* gets added to replace Will Save, rather than just another page added to an adventure. I did like the writing, and the human voice.

Doileys, macrame, or oragami as it relates to DnD. Serve 'em right.

 

[shaylon]

I really enjoyed the column, and am sorry to see that a group of people stuck in 1991 pushed him away from it. So it wasn't always about 3.5 D&D, so what? It was usually an entertaining and fun read. Insight into what other gamers are doing is entertaining to me, which is one of the reasons I come here. I enjoy reading what is going on in many of the posters' games here, and I can get cool minis tips and news that I wouldn't get elsewhere.

Sad to see Wil have to deal with that crap.

-Shay

 

[JPL]

Well, as I mentioned above, I stumbled into a book signing he was doing (I had no idea there was going to be a signing of any kind in that store that day), where he was also reading from his book and discussing his career. He pretty much addressed the stuff that you're talking about, and he seemed like he'd come to terms with all of it. He actually seemed rather upbeat and positive, yet objective. He didn't candy-coat anything, but took responsibility for the mistakes he'd made, and seemed optimistic about his current situation and future. His book - which is made up of a lot of material from his blog - also addresses the issues you mention.

I really hope you're right. Maybe I've just hit his blog on bad days. There are certainly days when I still feel bad about mistakes l made at eighteen.

I've heard it argued that Wil invented the blog. Nice to have that on your resume.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Good gracious, guys. It is only one page. I hope Erik sticks an ad in that spot to make some more money, and just to cheese you off.

Quasqueton

I'm definetely with you on that!

 

[Mark]

If we're not careful this thread will become like the procession around an open casket...

 

[WizarDru]

I really hope you're right. Maybe I've just hit his blog on bad days. There are certainly days when I still feel bad about mistakes l made at eighteen.

I've heard it argued that Wil invented the blog. Nice to have that on your resume.

That's a heck of a stretch, by any imagination, but he certainly was at the forefront.

I will miss Wil Save a great deal. Like many others, it was the first thing I read each month. As the parent of two, a lot of what Wil describes resonates with me. When my 5 year-old son begged me to play Heroscape with him or designs his own dungeon and runs my wife through it: yeah, I know what Wil's talking about.

Thanks for the effort, Wil. Luckily, we can use that space for....another Fast Food restaurant, office building or unidentified ruins map.

As for Wil, I think you've just hit him on bad days, perhaps. I highly recommend Just A Geek, wherein he discusses his battle and victory over said phantoms. It's a great read, regardless of whether you're a Trek fan or not.

 

[Vocenoctum]

It really is and its a shame they justify themselves. Some say oh he wquit on his own, but, as a writer, I know how stressed and pissed off i get when i'm writing good content. When I know my stuff is relevent, and a hack of an editor tells me to change my stuff up because of a couple of readers. I'd just quit too. I'm not going to have my hand be the puppet of people not sophisticated enough to undertand my writing.

I think you owe Erik Mona an apology, he's done wonders with the magazines, and he caught a lot of flak at the start for including Wil Save. The fact he asked for it to involve the PURPOSE of the magazine more, is not a "do D&D or get out" type of situation. If Wil can't write something peripherally D&D related once a month, then he's not really in the right place to write the column I think.

I liked a few of the columns, though I felt like some of them were too similar to each other, rather than something new and insightful. I won't miss it when it's gone.

In case no one actually has read them, there are plenty of good quality 1 and 2 page articles in the back of Dungeon right now. In this last issue, the 2 page "camping in a dungeon" article was much more useful and good to read than the Wil Save "Orc & Pie" article to me.