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here is a very interesting quote from Randy about online Dragon/Dungeon. All bold emphasis was added by me:
Dragon and Dungeon Magazines are up and running and are now 100 percent driven by the D&D R&D team. We’re using in-house design and development resources to make sure every article is worthy of being an official part of D&D and we feel really good about the quality of the product that we’re publishing. The way it works is that multiple times per week new articles are published (as PDFs so that they can look every bit as good as our physical book product). By the end of the month a complete issue has now been unveiled, one article at a time, and that content gets collected together into an official issue of Dragon or Dungeon Magazine. These magazines are currently in free trial mode, but we intend to start charging for them in the near future. (See below for discussion of pricing.)
Now my questions are as follows:
1- I think it clear that only staff writers are writing for Dragon and Dungeon for the foreseeable future. Does anyone dispute this interpretation?2- considering contests like RPG Superstar, and the many talents that have been found by the old print mags, is this a good thing? Does the benefit of house writers outweigh the loss of new talent?
3- Where do aspiring writers for 4ed get a published venue? certainly not at Paizo. Kobald Quarterly seems unlikely. What's left?
4- Is this a wise move by WotC?
personally, I feel this is a mistake. perhaps all crunchy articles should come from in house, or a sequence of short encounter/advebtures could hilight new talent. The fact is, a lot of good writers had queries in at the print mag 'slush pile' and it now looks like they may never see the light of day. Especially considering that I feel many of the best game writers are not on Wotc staff, I see this as a real liability. If I have interpreted things correctly, I hope that they reconsider.
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1- I think it clear that only staff writers are writing for Dragon and Dungeon for the foreseeable future. Does anyone dispute this interpretation?
2- considering contests like RPG Superstar, and the many talents that have been found by the old print mags, is this a good thing? Does the benefit of house writers outweigh the loss of new talent?
3- Where do aspiring writers for 4ed get a published venue? certainly not at Paizo. Kobald Quarterly seems unlikely. What's left?
4- Is this a wise move by WotC?
1 -- seems likely.
EDIT: thinking about it more, It seems that while freelancers can write, WotC in-house work governs the final form of the content, which is almost as bad.
2 -- If you want to see how "good" it is, read the online magazines, then read a Paizo-made issue of Dungeon or Dragon. The new talent is frequently much better than the WotC house writers.
3 -- Online PDF publishing is likely the only way left. With any luck, it's enough for these people to get themselves noticed.
4 -- see my answer to #2.
1- I think it clear that only staff writers are writing for Dragon and Dungeon for the foreseeable future. Does anyone dispute this interpretation?
I do.
"Driven" =/= "write". I'm pretty sure that freelancers will still write for e-Dungeon and e-Dragon, but that WotC R&D will be keeping a firm hand in both the subject, content, and editing of any freelance article and/or adventure.
I do.
"Driven" =/= "write". I'm pretty sure that freelancers will still write for e-Dungeon and e-Dragon, but that WotC R&D will be keeping a firm hand in both the subject, content, and editing of any freelance article and/or adventure.
I agree. I imagine this is how things will work.
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Now my questions are as follows:
1- I think it clear that only staff writers are writing for Dragon and Dungeon for the foreseeable future. Does anyone dispute this interpretation?Yes, firstly as non-staff writers have already contributed and secondly because it doesn't say '100% written by...'.
the written by vs. driven by point you made is a weak semantical argument that appears, frankly to be splitting hairs. If you like sematical arguments, I would say that the word 'now' means that from this point forward. All prior freelance submission don't matter. See how fun that can be?
As the rest of your post, I will respond with this:
Your first point isn't supported so this is irrelevant.
Seems to be an appropriate response to the rest of your post.
EDIT: and my first point can be valid even in light of the submission guidelines. No one says that they currently have to be accepting freelance submissions. The rules are in place, and there is no need to change them, even if the channel is closed.
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Wow, what an utterly useless and insulting response.
If you don't understand the difference between 'driven by' and 'written by' then it might seem like semantics to you. Ohh, for your petty bit of semantics, you do know that articles and adventures this month are written by non-wotc staff, right?
If you didn't want people to disagree with you, then why bother posting in the first place?
Either way, you're wrong, non-wotc staff are writing articles, Dungeon and Dragon are soliciting for articles/adventures and have shown no signs of ceasing to do so (e.g. I know people who are doing so).
I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. I do have a problem with rude and unproductive responses. Which, in fact, is what you pulled me into responding to your initial snarky post. I will wait to see who is contributing to the mags in August's releases to asses the validity of your response. Right now, I intrepet it differently than you.
Thanks for your opinion.