The folks at Massively have a nice story about the recent shuttering of EON Magazine, written all about EVE Online. These magazines take a tremendous amount of effort to create and any game that has fans and writers dedicated enough to create them should be applauded. But since games come and go, the closures are sadly inevitable.
Warcraft Magazine only last five editions, but I have all five and they were very well done. I was sad to see the writing stop publishing it, but they filled the remaining subscription time with PC Gamer Magazine, a decent read in iteslf.
See more at EVE Evolved: End of an EON
Something tells me the player base for Pathfinder Online will have a similar publication, but it will likely take a non-physical form (blog post, regular player run wiki and website, etc...). These pubs are labors of love, but they can get expensive to operate. I "published" a strategy guide for about a year for my alliance in a Play-by-Mail game (Into Infinity) back in the early 90's using WordPerfect back in the early 90s. Made "free" copies at my work copying machine, reducing it to 75%, and folding it into a 32 page booklet, landscaped. Free to produce since I worked in a government office and I was subsidized by the taxpayers. (Shhh...don't tell anybody!)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The problem with EON was that its cost $15 per issue is the same as a monthly sub for the game itself. Way too expensive and should have been scaled down to make it cheaper to produce..
I think the problem was simply that it was published physically. It's a costly medium, and a business strategy that is quickly dying with the availability of the more portable/accessible e-publications. I'd say that about any of the numerous magazines/newspapers that have shut down in the last few years.
Free to produce since I worked in a government office and I was subsidized by the taxpayers. (Shhh...don't tell anybody!)
I laughed.
And now everybody is getting furloughed! The sequester is a hot topic at home since my girlfriend works for the military. I hope it isn't hitting you too hard if you still work for the gov't.
These magazines all suffer from the same problem: in a rapidly changing environment ("fotm") the information that they provide can be considered outdated by the time the magazine arrives at the customer and any and all informations within are easily found at the interwebs and then some.
Finally the few game magazines that have survived so far usually cover everything of interest for the few people who like to read their strats on the loo and favor paper there.
And now everybody is getting furloughed! The sequester is a hot topic at home since my girlfriend works for the military. I hope it isn't hitting you too hard if you still work for the gov't.
Going to four day workweek on 23 APR which equals a 20% pay cut. Would be nice to have a 3-day weekend every week, but I work far away from home and can't afford to go home regularly (gas costs way too much), so my wife told me to get a second job. Guess I'll be pushing carts at Kroger or handing out credit applications at Home Depot on my "weekends".
"back in the early 90's using WordPerfect back in the early 90s."
Did I mention this was back in the 90s? Yes I did!
For her, I think it's every other week, also starting in April sometime. She seems to know surprisingly little about it, and I think half of what she tells me is workplace gossip. She's going to start working at Victoria's Secret.
I'm not all that bummed about the sequester ;-D
She should get a furlough letter later this week. Friday as I understand it.