Wil Wheaton Drops Dungeon Column

[Henry]

The numbers on Dungeon have been quite positive for more than year now...

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

Erik,

If it's not being too forward, how are the sales trends on the other titles, generally? Dragon/ Undefeated? (Any others I'm not remembering?)

 

[Henry]

I stopped buying Dungeon after Poly was dropped, as it no longer offered useful content for me. The same can't be said of the people who complained about Poly's inclusion - they still had useful content in every issue that included Poly, but that still wasn't good enough.

Are you absolutely certain of this? I say this because I had reduced my purchases of Dungeon during the Polyedron years, because the adventures just did not seem of equivalent caliber to what they are since the Redesign in September. After Poly was dropped, they still did not appeal to me as much, but with the more recent changes, I found stuff I could more easily adapt and use, or was just plain entertaining reading. Poly wasn't bad, but there was even less content in there for me than in Dungeon, so I had no reason to read it. It's why I stopped picking it up.

 

[atom crash]

Perhaps the first column could be Vin Diesel lol... no i'm not kidding.

Hey, buddy, don't make me come over there.

(see post #17 in this thread)

 

[The Shaman]

Are you absolutely certain of this? I say this because I had reduced my purchases of Dungeon during the Polyedron years, because the adventures just did not seem of equivalent caliber to what they are since the Redesign in September. After Poly was dropped, they still did not appeal to me as much, but with the more recent changes, I found stuff I could more easily adapt and use, or was just plain entertaining reading. Poly wasn't bad, but there was even less content in there for me than in Dungeon, so I had no reason to read it. It's why I stopped picking it up.

That's a very interesting statement, Henry - since I was content to buy the magazine for Poly I didn't pay much attention to the quality or lack thereof in Dungeon.

That makes me wonder: did sales really slip because of Poly, or were Dungeon quality issues equally (or more) culpable? You suggest that the quality didn't improve immediately after Poly tanked - could the quality of Dungeon been improved without sacrificing Poly?

This is a whole new dimension that I hadn't even considered. I wonder if Erik Mona can tell us if quality issues were a factor or not in sales - that seems like the kind of thing focus groups and surveys could answer.

 

[Mercule]

I started off thinking, "Why should I care?" His columns really did grow on me, though.

 

[takasi]

I can't believe that Dungeon would have picked up new subscribers based solely on an article by Wil Wheaton. I can see them picking it up for the increase in quality content. I know several MMO players who picked up the Eberron content for D&D Online. I could also see the removal of Poly as an influence. The launch of 3.5 might have had an influence. I would believe it if Erik said any one of these things increased sales. Ed Greenwood, Gary Gygax, Monte Cook, or Keith Baker maybe, but Wil Wheaton?

Anyone here decide to buy because of Wil Save? That would be an interesting perspective.

 

[DonTadow]

I honestly can say i decided to subscribe to dungeon because of wiil's column. NOt because the adventures wernt great but they were random for me. I liked the quick content. MOnte's articles and Will's articles. I thought ot myself even if i don't use the adventures this subscription will still provide at least twp orettty good articles a month which i'd glady pay 8 bucks for.

Until i subscribed, i would just buy magazines like that depenidng on if they had an adventure i liked or not.

The columns provided a consistency to hte magazine. I knew what i'd get from them every month and i knew i'd enjoy them. I cna't say that about the adventures. NOt that they arnt good but that they 9 times out of 10 are something i can't use or can only use for no more than descriptions

 

[Steel_Wind]

That makes me wonder: did sales really slip because of Poly, or were Dungeon quality issues equally (or more) culpable? You suggest that the quality didn't improve immediately after Poly tanked - could the quality of Dungeon been improved without sacrificing Poly?

The last interview with Erik on Mortality Radio late last fall discusses the likes, dislikes, turn-ons and turn-offs of Dungeon's readers (Mortality Radio - remember that?).

Erik confirmed that Dungeon and Dragon's readership care about the current version of D&D. Even Star Wars D20 is unacceptable to them. The numbers went down - the complaints went up - way up - and there was no misinterpreting that data according to Erik. And no - he did not give hard numbers - neither WotC nor Paizo ever do.

The interview is still available for download off of Mortality.net.

Speaking of which - seeing as the hiatus from Mortality Radio has gone on for long enough that a reasonable person would conclude the word "hiatus" ought to be changed to "ceased altogether" I REALLY wish someone else would take up the torch and give gaming radio a try.

 

[Samothdm]

Anyone here decide to buy because of Wil Save? That would be an interesting perspective.

I guess I'm your guy. I had never bought an issue of Dungeon until Wil told me that he was writing the column in the back. I sent off for a subscription immediately, but then again, he's a friend so I wanted to support him. I figured giving my dollars to Dungeon with the commencement of his column would be a way of saying, "Good job!".

Wil is definitely a gamer (despite what some folks seem to think). I know because my night elf bard/hexblade had to save his tiefling soulknife's sorry butt when he got knocked unconscious by an animated tapestry. We were on a pretty regular every-other-week schedule through last fall, but then the game kind of went on hiatus during the holidays and it was slow getting started up again.

That said, Wil has more than 20 years worth of gaming stories to share with people, so I honestly think the fact that he wasn't playing regularly should have been a detriment. He is a voracious reader of the hobby, and knew a ton about 3.0 before it even came out officially. On the way back from a friend's bachelor party in Vegas, he surprised me with an in-depth discussion of GURPS and how much he loved SJG's "Cardboard Heroes". He is really into gaming.

Of course, he (like all of us) is a three-dimensional person. He is not just a gamer. He's a husband, step-father, actor, writer, reporter, friend... Given the pressures on my own time these days, I find my reading has become very limited. Having a column in Dungeon by a gamer about life was a refreshing and welcome change.

I doubt I'll renew my subscription to Dungeon. I think it's a great magazine, but I honestly don't really need all those adventures. I play in 2-3 games but only DM one, and we only get together about twice a month. I haven't even used a Dungeon adventure in-game yet. My group has been slogging it through the Banewarrens for more than a year.

If I could just get the articles in the back, without the adventures, I'd reconsider. But, given than I don't really use 90% of the magazine, the space they take up alone is reason enough not to renew.

FYI, for those that care, I'll make sure to tell Wil about all the nice things you guys/gals said about him.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Speaking of which - seeing as the hiatus from Mortality Radio has gone on for long enough that a reasonable person would conclude the word "hiatus" ought to be changed to "ceased altogether" I REALLY wish someone else would take up the torch and give gaming radio a try.

You know, I've been considering the concept of getting into podcasting, and this just might be a way to do it...