Comments on: WoW: The Magazine about more than the Future of Print

By: Nicholas Lovell

Nicholas Lovell — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:10:04 +0000

You make some interesting points. There is definitely value in material being “canonic” rather than “community created”, since communities go off in so many different directions. And I certainly find it easier to imagine someone paying for a high-quality WoW magazine than I can, in the long run, imagining someone paying for a review magazine.
In the end, it will be about “shared experiences”. So perhaps when we discover that the WoW magazine carries fiction, teasers of new content or new ways to play, that will reinvigorate the “water-cooler moments” that the games industry so badly needs.

By: The Dark Power

The Dark Power — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:09:21 +0000

Cool article. I wonder if you're aware of White Dwarf? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Dwarf_%28mag...

There are quite a few parallels with the WoW mag. It's a mag produced about the Warhammer table top game series created by Games Workshop. It's aimed purely at Games Workshop customers and features only Games Workshop products and Games Workshop events. It generally covers activities associated with the hobby too (painting miniatures, model making etc) using only Games Workshop products of course ;0)

It's been going for almost 30 years and I would imagine it's the ready made audience that keep it in business, perhaps also with a subsidy from the sales of the companies other products.

The WoW community seem pretty fanatical - I remember a DVD was released a while back featuring a WoW convention and even a WoW band! So you never know this may well take off.

On the issue of online only - I dunno I think there is a tendency to value print journalism more so than online only articles. The physical product does somehow give it a degree of gravitas beyond what the online space can deliver. I'm sure that will change over time....

By: deftangel

deftangel — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:52:46 +0000

Those of us who have grown up with magazines probably appreciate their worth a lot more. The generations after us, perhaps not so much. My 14yr old cousin doesn't buy mags and wasn't interested in them when I asked. He watches Inside Xbox & Sent U A Message on his Xbox dashboard instead and he'll engage with @SuperKaylo & @MrPointyHead on Twitter instead.

So whilst a printed version of content we can get online might have some intangible worth to us, it's not necessarily going to be true for others. If the *only* selling point of WoW: Magazine is that it's physical, then I think that's a lot more risky. Not that I'm saying that is the case. I'm interested to hear what WoW fans themselves make of it.

By: deftangel

deftangel — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:41:07 +0000

Ok, I changed the title from “Video Games need journalists” so people have a better sense of what this is about. Also made some brief tidy up changes to one or two sentences. It was late when I finished this last night

By: Phaethon

Phaethon — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:18:20 +0000

Just for the record, I've never disagreed that online sites don't have similar problems to my issues with print. My point is that I can more easily forgive them because they're free and readily available. But I think that might be the argument's one crux. Given how much time we spend on the internet, sometimes its just nice to sit back, open a magazine with lot of content in one readily available package and unwind. I might not get as much out of it, but sometimes I just don't care.

My current favorite printed magazine right now is Wired. I love that publication to death. Variety of complex topics, really profound articles, and it's really filled with useful information. And then I pull out the note card and see $10 subscription and I say to myself “Wow, how can they do this?” It might have a lot to do with their context and field, but some magazines are just worth more. Video game magazines are just worth less to me.