Editor's Note: Connecting the Dots for Fun and Profit

[Russ Pitts]

Connecting the Dots for Fun and Profit

The magazine that started The Escapist is undergoing yet another change - it's growing.

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[vxicepickxv]

The only thing I would advise against is trying to post an article Wednesday afternoon, at least not until you can handle the traffic that's going to be coming in first.

 

[Sabrestar]

This actually sounds like a good idea. In the past I've often felt pressured to read all the articles quickly on Tuesday as soon as they're up, feeling as if my count of unread messages on my RSS feed were forcing me to read them before I felt mentally up to giving them the attention they deserved. Spreading it out may be good to give us all a more steady diet of cool stuff.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Epitome]

I'm here everyday anyway Be nice to have the content a little more distributed and digestible Congratulations on coming so far and for the much deserved recognition and praise you are receiving for your works.

 

[Kanlic]

Great idea. I'm interested to see what kind of creative muscle exists in the Escapist community outside of their post antics.

 

[ccesarano]

I imagine this will actually help in terms of the sheer volume of pitches you doubtless receive. I think it's a good idea and am 100% behind it.

 

[Quintin Stone]

Expansion's all well and good, but if you guys can't even afford to pay your freelance writers, who's going to produce all this wonderful new content?

 

[F1ak3r]

It'll be a shame in some ways, but I've seen it coming for a while now. The low comment counts on the featured articles, the dwindling article counts in the individual issues, the increasing familiarity of the writers - this has been a while in coming.

In September 2005 I found the PDFs of the first 4 issues of The Escapist on a physical magazine cover DVD. I read every one of them cover to cover, over and over again, entranced at just how thought-provoking they all were. I eventually stopped buying the aforementioned physical magazine in favour of reading The Escapist, because I was far more interested in articles and opinions than reviews and previews.

I skipped a whole bunch of issues in between issue 4 and 185 or so, due to the unavailability of internet, but I've read most every issue since then. I'm going to miss reading through the magazine with a coffee every Tuesday afternoon, but that's just how it'll have to be. If changing things around is the way to bring the readers more excellent content, then I can't really complain.

In a way, the change sort of mirrors the way my usage of this site has change. In the past, I came here every Tuesday and read the magazine, but as I explored the site more, I became interested in the columns, the videos, and all the other miscellaneous stuff you guys have to offer. Now I visit The Escapist at least daily!

However, it might be nice if you kept the current issue page, and collected the week's feature articles and other notable things on it - that way binge readers like myself could sit down and read the week's content all in one go on a Sunday (or even the following Tuesday!).

Whatever you end up doing, I'm excited to see the results!

 

[Lorechaser]

I remember the old issues. So amusing. Weren't they in PDF form? I know I have old pads of The Escapist in my gmail....

I find that I can't find time to read the entire Tuesday spread, but can read articles as they show up in my Twitter feed, so this works for me.

As it is, I have 4 unread messages in my gmail total, and they are the last 4 issues if the Escapist, just waiting to be read

 

[Sartan0]

I'm here everyday anyway Be nice to have the content a little more distributed and digestible Congratulations on coming so far and for the much deserved recognition and praise you are receiving for your works.

Basically my thoughts. Keep up the good work!

 

[PlasticTree]

Oshit. I can see the benefits of this new approach, but it also looks like it could be a very bad move for the most important reason why I enjoy reading articles on the Escapist: the quality itself. This won't be the case for every article, but a lot of the articles will be written based on new, daily developments in the industry, which means you guys have less time for thinking about what you are going to write, but also for the actual writing. The same goes for the editors, who might very well have less time for editing the crap out of all those articles.

Russ, could you relieve me of those worries?

 

[HydraMoon]

Boy, I do not want to see that inbox in a week. It'll look like me after Thanksgiving.

I think this is a natural progression and makes sense. I do hope this means there will be more articles than in recent times. I also agree that I hope the quality stays high. Beyond that- no fears here.

I do have a question about the Kindle subscription though; is that now going away or simply moving to a 'this was the weeks articles' type service? It's a lot easier on my eyes to read on the Kindle than on the computer.

 

[Magnalian]

This just doesn't feel right without the /Fingergun...

 

[Invariel]

I am looking forward to this change.

For too long, I've felt that Friday is the "slow day" on The Escapist, and am glad that there will be some current-"magazine" content to look forward to.

 

[Stevey M]

Expansion's all well and good, but if you guys can't even afford to pay your freelance writers, who's going to produce all this wonderful new content?

Um, I didn't see Russ mention anywhere that they're going to stop paying their writers.

 

[BrotherRool]

Change is good and it's good to see you changing, I hope the articles manage to be highlighted and sort out without a schedule though, I've learnt and thought so many interesting things reading them

 

[BgRdMchne]

I'm concerned that the "magazine" content and the "news" content will start to look the same. By changing formats, you risk that the magazine content will be diminished, and that some of the big topics that are important, but not necessarily sexy, in gaming will be neglected in favor of the topic du jour.

 

[The Random One]

It's too bad that the weekly thematic articles will no longer exist, or at least no longer be specifically written with a week's theme in mind. Even though when I started posting heavily on #esc the theme wasn't very proeminent, and it could sometimes provide articles with a flimsy connection and sometimes the opposite of four nigh identical articles, it still was something dear to my heart. I am sad to see it go, even if I trust the editorial staff to still pluck the best of- wait, you're accepting stories now? As in, fiction? OH GOD TAKE ALL I HAVE WRITTEN EVER

 

[Switchbreak]

Expansion's all well and good, but if you guys can't even afford to pay your freelance writers, who's going to produce all this wonderful new content?

Um, I didn't see Russ mention anywhere that they're going to stop paying their writers.

Technically they would have to start paying freelancers before they could really stop.