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Title: The Escapist Post by: Samprimary on July 06, 2005, 07:01:43 PM Of media groups and the highest form of flattery:
Check out the rules & guidelines. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/ What I have to ask is why they would call it 'The Escapist'. The concept of 'escapism' is pseudopsychologically slung about in reference to video game play enough already, why feed it? Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 06, 2005, 07:36:19 PM Reading through the Themis press release from 6/30/2005 (http://www.themis-group.com/view_news.php?id=38) mentions this nugget:
Quote The company also announced an additional business has been under development since April and will launch on July 12, 2005. Additional details will be disclosed at launch. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: MrHat on July 06, 2005, 08:05:21 PM The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312282990/qid=1120705447/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/102-9216481-8013740?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
The main catalyst is the forming of a comic book hero named "The Escapist". Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 06, 2005, 08:06:54 PM Yes, because Themis is original in every aspect of what they do. :roll:
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Krakrok on July 06, 2005, 09:29:47 PM Why are the guidelines .doc files? Morons. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Roac on July 07, 2005, 06:18:29 AM Why are the guidelines .doc files? Morons. Not in this case they're not, no. People who jump to conclusions though... Articles can be either emailed or sent by mail on a PC compatible disk in any of these formats: Word Document (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf) or Plain Text (.txt). Their guideliens require MS Word or Word-readable submissions, with an obvious preference for MS Word. If you can't read their guidelines, they probably don't want your stuff. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Lum on July 07, 2005, 07:58:49 AM And if you can't read .doc files (http://www.openoffice.org/), you have more serious issues than an inability to send submissions.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Toast on July 07, 2005, 08:08:36 AM I'm not feeling the hate here. It's just another online magazine. They do pay for submissions, which is nice and all.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Roac on July 07, 2005, 08:09:39 AM And if you can't read .doc files (http://www.openoffice.org/), you have more serious issues than an inability to send submissions. And for people who prefer Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=95E24C87-8732-48D5-8689-AB826E7B8FDF&displaylang=en), although it's only a viewer (same concept as PDF). Edit for Toast: I don't either. It's just another business that will help bring professional focus on the industry, which is something I'd think we all want. Now that they've moved past the bad move of dealing with a very ugly company, I hope this and some other ideas of theirs pan out. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 07, 2005, 08:16:25 AM My response (http://www.f13.net/index2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1120749320&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&).
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Stormwaltz on July 07, 2005, 08:51:57 AM I don't get it. Why have just the guideline invoked t3h hate?
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 07, 2005, 08:54:46 AM I don't really have teh hate for this project, I just think it's entirely too funny. I expect plenty of dev-fellatio articles, as well as advertorial on Themis's clients. Oh and some "culture of gaming" articles on a par with G4's shitty hipness.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Krakrok on July 07, 2005, 09:55:38 AM The point is, publishing .doc files on a web page is stupid. To lazy to click the convert to html button eh? Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 07, 2005, 10:04:22 AM Not to defend them but have you ever seen the shittastic HTML Word pushes out when you do that? It's like the W3C standard got eaten by Bill Gates, shit onto a plate that was then infused with 17,374 tag attributes just because they could. It turns slim HTML into bloatware of immense relative proportions.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 07, 2005, 10:05:43 AM Not to defend them but have you ever seen the shittastic HTML Word pushes out when you do that? It's like the W3C standard got eaten by Bill Gates, shit onto a plate that was then infused with 17,374 tag attributes just because they could. It turns slim HTML into bloatware of immense relative proportions. Or the other option is PDF which has its own set of problems... Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: CmdrSlack on July 07, 2005, 10:09:01 AM Wow, I'm amazed that y'all can judge a publication without seeing its content. Psychics, all of ya, I guess.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 07, 2005, 10:13:59 AM Wow, I'm amazed that y'all can judge a publication without seeing its content. Psychics, all of ya, I guess. Did you have to see MMOG Worlds to know the content? Would you have to see a copy of a Vanity Fair spinoff? Or Maxim Spinoff? Take a look at the people involved. Educated guesstimations are reasonably easy here. We are very interested in seeing the content though. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: CmdrSlack on July 07, 2005, 10:46:20 AM Wow, I'm amazed that y'all can judge a publication without seeing its content. Psychics, all of ya, I guess. Did you have to see MMOG Worlds to know the content? Would you have to see a copy of a Vanity Fair spinoff? Or Maxim Spinoff? Take a look at the people involved. Educated guesstimations are reasonably easy here. We are very interested in seeing the content though. Meh. The hate and its odd fusion with self-created highbrow/lowbrow classifications is not strong with me. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 07, 2005, 10:47:39 AM The dichotomy I built up in the above post is unintentional.
And sort of creepy. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Krakrok on July 07, 2005, 11:39:46 AM Wow, I'm amazed that y'all can judge a publication without seeing its content. Psychics, all of ya, I guess. I did view the contents. With Open Office. After first unzipping them. Hey, maybe they could have required decoding the files manually in binary. Quote leet (not 1337) Do not use “1337 speak” unless directly quoting text Their own guidelines fail their guidelines. Quote African-American, Asian-American AP Style Guide notes that a hyphen is always used to indicate dual heritage. No hyphen however for French Canadian or Latin American. Where is the hyphen love for Latin Americans? Frankly the "style guidelines" are just plain weird. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: SuperPopTart on July 07, 2005, 12:53:22 PM Why can't someone involved in something that has to do with anything game related form an original thought?
An E-Zine. Yay. Stack it on top of the other 234234234234242343 ezines already out there. It makes a good virtual campfire. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Paelos on July 07, 2005, 02:30:30 PM If they want to pay me .25 a word, I'll send them things. Why? Because I have no job.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 07, 2005, 02:31:32 PM If they want to pay me .25 a word, I'll send them things. Why? Because I have no job. Don't be suprised if they don't pay you for months if at all. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 07, 2005, 02:32:55 PM If they want to pay me .25 a word, I'll send them things. Why? Because I have no job. Sending articles to a corporate journal, such as that, for cash, is a contract to shill. I don't care who's running it. These guys just happen to be paying you about half to a third (or even a quarter) of what you'd get in an ACTUAL magazine for a monthly column. Anyway, didn't you move to the mountains of Tibet? Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 07, 2005, 04:27:25 PM If they want to pay me .25 a word, I'll send them things. Why? Because I have no job. I'll pay you .25 a word to shut up. Why? Because I also have no job but I want to feel powerful. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Paelos on July 07, 2005, 06:20:21 PM If they want to pay me .25 a word, I'll send them things. Why? Because I have no job. I'll pay you .25 a word to shut up. Why? Because I also have no job but I want to feel powerful. I still love you. And Schild, it's the mountains of Colorado. It's like Tibet but with more stoners...or maybe less. I've never been there. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Samprimary on July 07, 2005, 08:04:08 PM And Schild, it's the mountains of Colorado. It's like Tibet but with more stoners...or maybe less. I've never been there. Probably more. Although we export stoner mountaineers to Tibet via Naropa programs. Ahh, I love Colorado. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Soukyan on July 08, 2005, 05:01:06 AM Wow, I'm amazed that y'all can judge a publication without seeing its content. Psychics, all of ya, I guess. Did you have to see MMOG Worlds to know the content? Would you have to see a copy of a Vanity Fair spinoff? Or Maxim Spinoff? Take a look at the people involved. Educated guesstimations are reasonably easy here. We are very interested in seeing the content though. Meh. The hate and its odd fusion with self-created highbrow/lowbrow classifications is not strong with me. You really are a Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: CmdrSlack on July 08, 2005, 07:54:44 AM Wow, I'm amazed that y'all can judge a publication without seeing its content. Psychics, all of ya, I guess. Did you have to see MMOG Worlds to know the content? Would you have to see a copy of a Vanity Fair spinoff? Or Maxim Spinoff? Take a look at the people involved. Educated guesstimations are reasonably easy here. We are very interested in seeing the content though. Meh. The hate and its odd fusion with self-created highbrow/lowbrow classifications is not strong with me. You really are a That's what the license says, yep. :evil: Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Typhon on July 11, 2005, 07:46:49 PM If they want to pay me .25 a word, I'll send them things. Why? Because I have no job. I'll pay you .25 a word to shut up. Why? Because I also have no job but I want to feel powerful. It's taken me a dozen or so times of you posting something this entertaining to get me to notice. You start with slapping someone hard, then manage to turn it into something personal and quirky about yourself that likely leaves the person you slapped feeling not slapped at all, which is just genius. Do you do it on purpose, or is it this an unconscious thing? Also, i'd suggest trying to see if you could sell whitty comebacks to devs so they could post on web forums - they'd get to say what they really want to say, without completely alienating the playerbase. I don't post here often, or incitefully, but I've got to say you are my favorite f13 poster. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 11, 2005, 07:50:45 PM She's everyone's favorite poster. She's our Katamari Damacy.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Velorath on July 11, 2005, 07:57:52 PM She's everyone's favorite poster. She's our Katamari Damacy. That's only because SirBruce, Geldon, and DV don't post here anymore. What can I saw, I like watching train wrecks. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Strazos on July 11, 2005, 09:01:35 PM She's not my favorite poster, for teh hate is strong with her.
To be on topic, Haemish's entry was funny. Yeeah. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 11, 2005, 09:28:35 PM She's not my favorite poster, for teh hate is strong with her. To be on topic, Haemish's entry was funny. Yeeah. Oh you crazy boy. You know you love me. Oh yes. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Strazos on July 11, 2005, 10:19:09 PM Nuh uh, YOU'RE crazy.
Nicotine withdraw, etc etc. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 11, 2005, 11:44:43 PM But... but... we've always been so close. Hold me, Strazos. Hold me like you did that time by the lake on Naboo.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: SuperPopTart on July 12, 2005, 06:15:54 AM She's not my favorite poster, for teh hate is strong with her. To be on topic, Haemish's entry was funny. Yeeah. Oh you crazy boy. You know you love me. Oh yes. Signe, I love you. You are my favourite poster. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Strazos on July 12, 2005, 06:49:07 AM But... but... we've always been so close. Hold me, Strazos. Hold me like you did that time by the lake on Naboo. (http://www.rofl.name/asciiart/lollermanche4vz.gif) Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Soukyan on July 12, 2005, 07:56:19 AM Well, the site is live, but the links give multiple SQL errors... how... quaint.
[edit]And suddenly it works. Somebody is manning the DB server. ;)[/edit] Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 12, 2005, 08:25:31 AM EDITORIAL
Content Editor Julianne Greer Contributing Editors Joseph Blancato JR Sutich Research Manager Nova Barlow Contributors Tycho Brahe Jennifer Buckendorf Kieron Gillen John Tynes PRODUCTION & DESIGN Production Manager Jonathan Hayter Lead Web Developer Whitney Butts IT Director Jason Smith BUSINESS Publisher Alexander Macris Chief Financial Officer Thomas S. Kurz Director of Advertising Susan Briglia Associate Publishers Jerry Godwin Gregory Lincoln Volume 1, Issue 1, © 2005. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on July 12, 2005, 08:33:22 AM Buckendorff has a good point there...
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 12, 2005, 08:35:25 AM Contrary to popular belief, I am not John Tynes.
Edit: I bet Tycho got paid more than 25c a word. After reading it, all I can say is: (http://www.f13.net/images/simuexp.jpg) (http://www.mudmystic.com/whoa_small.jpg) Whoa. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 12, 2005, 09:08:39 AM The Escapist has Casual Fridays. We should have, like, silly hat day or sommat.
Just sayin'.... Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 12, 2005, 09:33:01 AM After having read one article, I can honestly say I REALLY REALLY HATE THE DESIGN.
The web is not a magazine. It isn't. It's vertical. It involves scrolling. I like pages that scroll. As a web designer, I hate horizontal, placard type design. I hate it when there isn't even a lot of text on the page. I hate it even more when there is a lot of text on the page that's all trying to fit horizontally. It makes my eyes hurt, and I don't want to read it anymore. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on July 12, 2005, 09:40:47 AM After having read one article, I can honestly say I REALLY REALLY HATE THE DESIGN. The web is not a magazine. It isn't. It's vertical. It involves scrolling. I like pages that scroll. As a web designer, I hate horizontal, placard type design. I hate it when there isn't even a lot of text on the page. I hate it even more when there is a lot of text on the page that's all trying to fit horizontally. It makes my eyes hurt, and I don't want to read it anymore. Stuck in the box? :) Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 12, 2005, 09:43:19 AM I like my box.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: WayAbvPar on July 12, 2005, 10:06:03 AM She's not my favorite poster, for teh hate is strong with her. To be on topic, Haemish's entry was funny. Yeeah. Oh you crazy boy. You know you love me. Oh yes. Signe, I love you. You are my favourite poster. Hawt. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Righ on July 12, 2005, 11:05:39 AM Yes, because Themis is original in every aspect of what they do. :roll: Such as the title of their gaming site (http://www.theescapist.com/) Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Soln on July 12, 2005, 11:14:30 AM EDITORIAL Content Editor Julianne Greer Contributing Editors Joseph Blancato JR Sutich Research Manager Nova Barlow Contributors Tycho Brahe Jennifer Buckendorf Kieron Gillen John Tynes PRODUCTION & DESIGN Production Manager Jonathan Hayter Lead Web Developer Whitney Butts IT Director Jason Smith BUSINESS Publisher Alexander Macris Chief Financial Officer Thomas S. Kurz Director of Advertising Susan Briglia Associate Publishers Jerry Godwin Gregory Lincoln Volume 1, Issue 1, © 2005. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. Well good to see they have someone with odd parents, or just a moose-fanboi with a fake nose (http://www.nada.kth.se/~fred/tycho/index.html). Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Lum on July 12, 2005, 11:18:02 AM Tycho Brahe is the nom de plume of Jerry Holkins from Penny Arcade.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on July 12, 2005, 11:18:59 AM Yes, because Themis is original in every aspect of what they do. :roll: Such as the title of their gaming site (http://www.theescapist.com/) Good lord almighty, Themis Group needs to give that "highly-skilled web designer of vertical scrolling" $50 and take his domain... Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 12, 2005, 03:17:38 PM I give up. The Escapist is just too damn professional. f13.net shutting down in 3... 2... 1...
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 12, 2005, 03:23:14 PM /.vertised (http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/07/12/1812244.shtml?tid=10).
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 12, 2005, 03:24:02 PM Hush. I read every one of their articles. I don't think anyone has anything to worry about.
(except maybe the 2 lawyers who own Themis if that name is protected under a copyright) Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Strazos on July 12, 2005, 03:53:33 PM I would expect as much from Slashdot...
Can someone please instruct them on proper web design and color combonations? It's like the person who does their designs has a constant supply of LSD and/or E. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Righ on July 12, 2005, 04:14:34 PM /.vertised (http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/07/12/1812244.shtml?tid=10). Bill Walton of theescapist.com confirmed that he is not involved with the Themis games site of the same bloody name. I pointed out their cheek on the slashdot advert thread. Just count yourselves lucky they didn't go with f13 for a name. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Hanzii on July 13, 2005, 05:30:33 PM I would expect as much from Slashdot... Can someone please instruct them on proper web design and color combonations? It's like the person who does their designs has a constant supply of LSD and/or E. Nothing wrong with the colours (unless you're talking about Slashdots?) But it's a stupid design nonetheless. Wan't to make a magazine? Go make a magazine and fucking print it. Want to make a website about gaming? Use links, use hypertext, use the tools of the net (and while I don't NEED the text to scroll, like Haem, there's nothing wrong with scrolling text.) Even if you imagine this as a printmagazine, its badly designed. The illustrations serve no purpose. Illustrations are good - most webjournalism could do with more - but illustrations should illustrate (d'uh). It's a diffrerent way to tell the same story, an added entry point to the story (both the picture itself, which should have something to tell, easily decoded, and the text accompaning the picture... which only really arty magazines are allowed to do without... and in most cases it's a bad idea even for those magazines) Here there's no additional text. The pictures, just break the monothomy of the text (and badly so) and add nothing, because it's just stock-illustrations. Crappy webdesign and crappy web-writing ...oh wait, The Contrarian (When gaming is everywhere, gaming is nowhere - WTF?) has a few links... so that's allright then. well, it's a job for Joe... bully for him. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Strazos on July 13, 2005, 08:01:55 PM Nothing wrong with the colours (unless you're talking about Slashdots?) I was referring to the Slashdot link, yes. It makes me stabby :mob: Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: jinxer on July 19, 2005, 10:35:08 AM Ok, Issue 2 of the escapist is out and there's an article where-in the DS, PSP, and N-gage powered smartphones are ranked. DS takes top slot! And guess who takes second, according to the writer? You'll never believe it! www.escapistmagazine.com
LoL. I kindof agree with the DS part, I have one and love it. Don't know about the rest, though. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Also, there's an article about RPGs on phones and portables, I don't understand it. I'd much rather play RPGs on my PC, sometimes a console, but mainly PC. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: stray on July 19, 2005, 10:39:30 AM Not linking directly to the article tells me that there's more to this post than just an interest in the DS.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 19, 2005, 10:43:32 AM Pathetic.
I'll let Haemish or schild go batshit insane and wield the banstick. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: jinxer on July 19, 2005, 10:46:22 AM Not linking directly to the article tells me that there's more to this post than just an interest in the DS. In case you didn't notice, yeah, there was a bit more interest than just the DS. The RPG article I mentioned above, also. I don't agree with putting RPGs on mobile platforms, but that's just my 2 cents. I didn't feel like putting two links in to each of the articles, so sue me. *bounces around* Sorry, too much coffee this morning. :) Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Hoax on July 19, 2005, 11:01:32 AM Wait is this in the Den or not.... I'm confused :mob:
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Samwise on July 19, 2005, 11:03:47 AM The posts are not in themselves denworthy, but they didn't require a brand new topic either.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: jinxer on July 19, 2005, 11:05:46 AM Sorry, that was my bad. I should have replied to this Escapist thread to start with. :oops:
Like I said, too much coffee does bad things to me. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on July 19, 2005, 11:10:23 AM Yeah, so anyway, the new issue taps Tom Chick and has him blow out a review 1/3 the size of Schild's PSP rantings.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/2/16 Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 19, 2005, 11:13:42 AM I despise the layout more and more as each "issue" is released.
I did notice that Joe got to write something for last week's "Casual Friday". Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: stray on July 19, 2005, 11:16:16 AM Yeah, so anyway, the new issue taps Tom Chick and has him blow out a review 1/3 the size of Schild's PSP rantings. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/2/16 With a name like that, he should be doing game commentary in the form of a Jack Chick comic. I'd probably read it then. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Yegolev on July 19, 2005, 11:24:20 AM I don't know about Jack Chick, but Tom wrote one of my favorite articles on Qt3 (http://www.quartertothree.com/) titled something like "Aliens vs Predator is better than sex". Hilarious.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: stray on July 19, 2005, 11:35:01 AM I didn't mean that I actually like Jack Chick.....Just in case anyone's wondering. I just like the format. It'd be a great parody is all I'm saying (so long as the one doing the parody is just as batshit insane).
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 19, 2005, 11:41:47 AM After trying to read Tom Chick's article on the PSP (or whatever the fuck that article was about), I clicked on the cover link. I can safely say that I now FUCKING HATE THIS MAGAZINE. Really. And Truly. And it's Tuesday.
I've said my piece about the design, but did I mention once again that IT IS FUCKING RETARDED FOR THE WEB. It's fine for your PDF version, but if you can't muster the effort to redesign it for the web version to actually fit the fucking medium, DON'T FUCKING TALK TO ME. It's extremely hard to read, it makes no good goddamn sense, and it is the same kind of art fag wannabe magazine design bullshit I have to deal with in the advertising world every day. The web is not a magazine. It's not a piece of paper. It's a melding of form and function. You've forgotten the function part. I can only assume it's laziness, not wanting to do two designs for one piece, but I think it probably takes more work to do it the way they have than to just design it for the web and flow copy in. But then I see the cover image. Oh joy, it's Ad Week's latest geek stereotype, the dissheveled, unshaven skinny white fucker with a clueless look, an ill-fitting tie and suit, and the requisite piece of geek gear to let you know he's not only a social misfit, he's a gamer as well. It sucks when advertisers use it. You suck more for co-opting it. Stop it. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Strazos on July 19, 2005, 11:49:22 AM In summation:
"The Escapist" is done by a bunch of industry-whoring know-nothing dipshits. In other news, the sky is still blue, and EA is still "teh EVILE!!1!" Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on July 19, 2005, 11:52:12 AM Can someone send Haemish a new mouse, I'm sure he either threw it or ate it, or both this time around. Maybe they should write an article about their layout entitled "Ode to the scroll button". :dead_horse:
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Bunk on July 19, 2005, 12:27:51 PM In summation: "The Escapist" is done by a bunch of industry-whoring know-nothing dipshits. In other news, the sky is still blue, and EA is still "teh EVILE!!1!" Getting a little bitter aren't we? Haemish was going off about the formating of the site, not the content or contributers themselves. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 19, 2005, 12:31:39 PM Not one negative in the letter's to the editor section! How very amazing!
Why don't we have a letters to the editor section? Did I miss silly hat day again? Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 19, 2005, 12:33:09 PM Why don't we have a letters to the editor section? As soon as we become a print magazine wannabe, we'll start publishing them. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 19, 2005, 12:45:45 PM Our letters to the editor must all begin with the words:
"Dear Editor, I never thought things like this could happen to me." Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 19, 2005, 12:47:34 PM Our letters to the editor must all begin with the words: "Dear Editor, I never thought things like this could happen to me." No way, I'm all for: "Long time, first time." Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: WayAbvPar on July 19, 2005, 12:57:09 PM Our letters to the editor must all begin with the words: "Dear Editor, I never thought things like this could happen to me." "I found out about this incredible farm in Enumclaw, WA..." Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 19, 2005, 01:05:20 PM Quote DEAR EDITOR, FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'. I AM SURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR ABILITY AND RELIABILITY TO PROSECUTE A TRANSACTION OF THIS GREAT MAGNITUDE INVOLVING A PENDING TRANSACTION REQUIRING MAXIIMUM CONFIDENCE. WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA. IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TRANSFER INTO YOUR ACCOUNT THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 19, 2005, 01:57:19 PM I just got home. Can't get past the cover. I was looking on the side to see "Suit from Hecht's - $77. Tie from TJ Maxx - $13.99. Gameboy from EBGames - Used - $59.99."
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 19, 2005, 02:40:31 PM With the tagline "Whoring it up like WIRED Magazine?" on the side?
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Paelos on July 19, 2005, 03:02:52 PM Can't we launch an ezine guys? Pretty please? We can fag it up in our own special way!
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on July 19, 2005, 03:04:47 PM Can't we launch an ezine guys? Pretty please? We can fag it up in our own special way! Haemish, you heard the monkey. Get to shitting out a crappy print-to-web design template... STAT! Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Krakrok on July 19, 2005, 03:05:27 PM I keep moving my mouse over to the disabled scrollbar so I can scroll down and see if there is any hidden shiny before I press the back button.
Am I the only one that doesn't give a shit about handhelds and game consoles? Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: WayAbvPar on July 19, 2005, 03:17:15 PM I keep moving my mouse over to the disabled scrollbar so I can scroll down and see if there is any hidden shiny before I press the back button. Am I the only one that doesn't give a shit about handhelds and game consoles? Nope. I may care even less than you do. No, it is possible. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Rasix on July 19, 2005, 03:20:18 PM Am I the only one that doesn't give a shit about handhelds and game consoles? If your home computer was dead, you'd care a lot more. My PSP and Xbox are filling my gaming void nicely. The PSP has especially turned out to be an ever impressive tool for amusement. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Bunk on July 19, 2005, 03:25:23 PM Ok, I apologize for defending the content, nobody told me that the whole "issue" was about fucking heldhelds. Fuck stupid handhelds, I haven't had any interest since playing Tetris on a B&W gameboy about 10 years ago. If I want something handheld to keep me entertained, I'll spend $20 on a handheld Texas Holdem machine, not some $300 taco phone thingy.
Though I still don't have any hate on for the people involved themselves. Except the model on the cover page. What the fuck is with those eyebrows? Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Margalis on July 19, 2005, 04:22:27 PM Honestly, there's just no real content there. It's 3 poorly justified charts and a bunch of rambling.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 19, 2005, 05:04:04 PM Dear Editor,
Today I had to go to the mall for cheese and fruit. I hate going to the mall. I guess all the poor people came up from the city to get out of the heat. It was awful. Everybody smelled bad. I'm considering giving up cheese and fruit during the summer. Kind Regards. PS Every word of this is true. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 20, 2005, 10:01:24 AM Signe is the winner of the first non-annual Letters to the Editor award. Your award entitles you to one free clearing out our Sex in Christ Tent.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Signe on July 20, 2005, 10:33:01 AM What an honour. I'd like to thank my fan.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Venkman on July 20, 2005, 06:25:09 PM Honestly, there's just no real content there. It's 3 poorly justified charts and a bunch of rambling. But they get paid for it. Paid!How they get the money to do that, I have no idea. Probably some VC or something. It is Themis after all. I personally don't hate it. I haven't read an article yet that interests me, but the handheld market is huge, just got jacked some massive new bling, and ain't going away no matter how much I wish people would shut up about them. Theoretically enough people care. Another thing to keep in mind is each issue is themed (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/files/EditorialCalendar_Escapist.xls). Don't click that link though. Like so much other ill-thought stuff, it's an Excel file. I guess it's hard to use the "Save as Web Page..." option. Anyway, I copied the themes and will take the rap from the staff if I waste their server space doing so. They just did "Mobile people", so I imagine we'll see some Nick Yee stuff next issue. Quote Games have usurped other forms of media as the choice for entertainment Again though, what I don't get is where they expect to get the cash to do this. Their issues are very light in content, and it doesn't take talent very long to put together a fairly not-ugly layout (obviously designed for print), but still, they seem to be funded somehow.Games for mobile people. Not everyone who plays games falls into the gamer stereotype. Content is king, and players are the kingmakers Gaming in the future - where will we be in 2020? Games turing into movies turning into games. A look at how media is blurring together into franchises. Games of yore that may have fallen through the cracks; classical gaming revisited - you CAN go home again. The money behind games; publishers, retail, virtual property, intellectual property Pen & Paper designers permeate the gaming industry at every level - especially the top. A look at guilds - shaping gaming by numbers Government & Gaming - America's Army, the upcoming government designed MMO, ESRB, pending legislation. Franchises and companies that created one piece of brilliance and then fell off the map Franchises and concepts begging to be turned into games. The rise and fall of Electronic Arts; how EA won everything but lost its soul The considerable crossover between the gaming and hip hop cultures. Labor is shipped to second world countries to drive down production costs, as their own new games break out. Women play games. We talk about their influence (or lack thereof) on gaming. How Japan influences American entertainment culture. Not just for technology, but also in terms of art and feel. The people everyone loves to hate: People who seem to exist only to make your gaming experience difficult. Gaming moves closer and closer to becoming integral to the human experience. Is the generation gap closing as young gamers look to Mom and Dad to see what games are cool? Why war games are so captivating. Honoring veterans in a digital medium. Games with low time and/or money investment, and the people who love them. Writers detailing their best holiday experiences involving gaming. Taking a look back at the year; big events, releases, falling outs. Wal-Mart's influence on gaming culture and economics. Why genres/games are addicting. Profiles of great addicts. They still working with that RMT service? Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 20, 2005, 06:34:09 PM The big problem with that list is how uninspired it is. Each of the topics could be morphed into things that are more interesting but instead they go for the obvious because they are Warcry. They owe it to their advertisers not to be candid. I mean seriously - players are the kingmakers? No. No. No. No. I PAY for good content. See: 99% of the fan-designed NWN modules (or any mods). They suck ass. Most of the good ones had funding. Funding is the difference between player and designer. Or Wal-Mart - yes, their archaic politically correct structure is slowly eroding the marketplace. EA Never Had Soul as far as I know. Ruthlessness, yes. Why war-games are so captivating? No, kthx. We're talking lack of original IP and content here, not why what's available to buy is captivating. Or the guild one - how guilds shape games? No. How guilds ruin games is much more interesting to read. Personally though, I can't wait to see the "Money behind games" issue. I think that's where they could really show us they've got some balls.
But they won't, because they can't. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Strazos on July 20, 2005, 10:12:16 PM That list makes me want to vomit in disgust. It's just mental masturbation, and is so anti-critical that it should be criminal.
How guilds shape games? Muthafuckah, please. Schild is right; reading on how they Ruin games would be more interesting. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 21, 2005, 08:20:08 AM Wow, that list is the Vanilla Diet Coke without Caffeine of Gaming Commentary.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Paelos on July 21, 2005, 02:09:12 PM I wonder if I submit an actual article how long it would take for them to tell me that my ideas don't match their demographic or some marketing-asshole-fellation-speak.
First article, "Why SWG was always a pile of vomit" Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Toast on July 21, 2005, 02:40:11 PM That list makes me want to vomit in disgust. It's just mental masturbation, and is so anti-critical that it should be criminal. How guilds shape games? Muthafuckah, please. Schild is right; reading on how they Ruin games would be more interesting. You can write about how guilds ruin games and submit an article. This is actually a good topic for discussion. I'm not going to spell it out here, but player organizations have dramatically impacted MMORPGs as well as online shooters like the Battlefield series. What's wrong with an issue about classic gaming? That single topic has enough content to support hundreds of dedicated websites. The layout doesn't work well for the web, and the writing hasn't blown me away. That being said, if you can do better, submit something and get paid. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Hanzii on July 21, 2005, 03:55:11 PM That being said, if you can do better, submit something and get paid. That's an interesting concept, but not how magazines work, not even on the web. No professional writer sits down and writes something, and then go look for a buyer (not counting fiction writers). You'd be broke quickly if you tried that route.The editor approaches them and I'm quite sure neither Tom Chick or Kieron Gillen submitted an article. They might have suggested one, but most likely they were approached. I'd love for writers to submit me finished articles for me to read and only pick the best - in the real world I suggest a topic, a pagecount, a price and usually quite detailed description of what the article should cover (now the magazine I edit for is quite extreme in how much we control our freelancer, but trust me, no professional writers begins an article before he has at least agreed with the editor on length, topic and price) Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Pococurante on July 22, 2005, 09:50:34 AM Don't writer keep safed stories to serve as boilerplate? If not that seems pretty dumb.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Hanzii on July 22, 2005, 10:29:25 AM Don't writer keep safed stories to serve as boilerplate? If not that seems pretty dumb. Thanks for making me Google up the term boilerplate and learn a lot about press release writing in the process (now I know why 99,9% of the 100 I revieve every day fail their job). But I'm still not exactly sure what you mean. Please to explain with more words. My point was, that for a freelancer writing without a buyer in place, is like a taxidriver driving without a fare. You might pick up a story that is news and yours solo, but instead of doing all the legwork and writing it, you'll cover the basics and sell the premise (if you're really good/crafty youll sell it to two or more buyers, that aren't directly competing). If you'd allready written it, your time spent would be wasted, if nobody wanted it or you'd end up rewriting (perhaps reinterviewing sources and whatnot) to make it fit your buyers publications. Securing the buyer and making sure you know how to deliver your story in a way the like, is the way to spend a minimum of time on the story - which is absolutely necessary if this is your main source of income and not some amateur hobby. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Pococurante on July 25, 2005, 09:57:13 AM Sorry Hanzii I forget sometimes the cultural barriers to slang. What I was getting at is wouldn't an industry writer basically just keep writing whether on a job or not, building up a library of articles they want to specialize in or otherwise be known for... then when a contract comes out for bid they already have a work that just needs to be adapted to the contract and updated to refresh changes in the world around them since they write the earlier draft.
Most other trades I know work this way. But your thought is that the time spent is wasted. That surprised me. Maybe the divergence is my expectation that the earlier draft would definitely need to be refreshed. That's why I referred to it as boilerplate - really just something that primes your thoughts and saves you some of the grunt work of organzing the ideas. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 25, 2005, 11:30:17 AM That's not how the creative process of writing works. When it is, you get stuff like The Escapist.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Pococurante on July 25, 2005, 01:42:48 PM Well... it certainly explains why most industry articles are cheese wiz on a cat turd.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Margalis on July 25, 2005, 03:45:52 PM I don't think writing articles is really a creative excersize as much as it is a factual and analytical one.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Hanzii on July 25, 2005, 04:07:09 PM I don't think writing articles is really a creative excersize as much as it is a factual and analytical one. Then you'd be wrong. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 26, 2005, 09:33:26 AM I don't think writing articles is really a creative excersize as much as it is a factual and analytical one. You'd be surprised. Reporting, despite what I think of most journalists, isn't just a rote regurgitation of facts. Opinion articles are even less so. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on July 26, 2005, 02:41:37 PM Is this someone from F13? Someone's pen name? http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/3/13 Grats?
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on July 26, 2005, 02:43:17 PM He used to run Waterthread.org before he got something quite like a real job.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on July 26, 2005, 02:56:31 PM Yea, it's Joe. In other words, he's a gamer. He just got burnt out. I'd like to be the first to call bullshit on that article. Ran Waterthread, ran f13 with me for a stint, works for
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on July 26, 2005, 03:08:24 PM Ah, guess it was before my time. /walks away
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Hanzii on July 27, 2005, 02:26:03 AM Well, that was bloody pointless.
I've warmed a bit to the layout, and they clearly have the pictures done for the mag (I think, where's the artist/photographers byline?) so even though I still don't feel they're that good, it's clearly a conscious style choice. But I could have edited all of those articles down to one page (sorry Joe). Actually, the one about spawncamping I would have edited out completely (hard to do when the editor in chief is writing) and the only one with actual newscontent (the one about the horse racing arcade game) I might have kept (but shorter). Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: jinxer on August 02, 2005, 10:36:38 AM Hmm, the article about Second Life in their latest issue is , um, rather interesting. It actually kind of makes me want to check out SL, just to see some of the creepy things he talks about. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/4/8
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on August 02, 2005, 10:42:06 AM Their articles have gotten far too long for me to care.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Samwise on August 02, 2005, 10:54:44 AM Second Life is another game I keep meaning to check out. Emergent gameplay is very much my bag, baby.
This Garry's Mod also intrigues me... Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Yegolev on August 02, 2005, 11:12:00 AM I played some Second Life before they "fixed" it. I totally got that MUSH vibe. I rode on some sort of machine at an amusement park and started to just float out of the building and away into space. I mentioned this to one of the Lindens, while it was happening, and the response was "Yeah, that happens sometimes."
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Toast on August 02, 2005, 11:13:50 AM Their articles have gotten far too long for me to care. That's what happens when you pay by the word, i guess. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: HaemishM on August 02, 2005, 11:56:19 AM Hmm, the article about Second Life in their latest issue is , um, rather interesting. It actually kind of makes me want to check out SL, just to see some of the creepy things he talks about. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/4/8 I can't read through even half of that article without wanting to smash in the writer's face. Some people (like me) need an editor really, really badly. That article meandered so bad, I stopped reading on the 3rd page, because it took him almost to the end of the second page to talk about anything to do with gaming. Stop it. Just stop it now. Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Biobanger on August 02, 2005, 01:10:30 PM I actually found it creepy enough to keep reading. Like when you poke that weird plant/fugus formation on your sidewalk...
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Fabricated on August 03, 2005, 04:43:28 AM Wow, they have an article on Garry's Mod. Someone put this thing out of its misery.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Trippy on August 03, 2005, 05:02:07 AM Hmm, the article about Second Life in their latest issue is , um, rather interesting. It actually kind of makes me want to check out SL, just to see some of the creepy things he talks about. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/4/8 You can read The Second Life Hearld (http://www.secondlifeherald.com/) for more details about the "adult" stuff that goes on in the game. TSLH used to be The Alphaville Hearld where they would chronicle the seedier side of TSO like the child prostitution rings but they switched over to covering TSL when it was clear TSO was dying and people were jumping ship.Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Shockeye on December 28, 2005, 08:45:45 AM It amazes me how often Zonk posts ads/stories on Slashdot Games dealing with Escapist. These are not submitted from other people, but Zonk himself. I wonder how much Themis is paying Slashdot/Zonk to run ads that look like stories.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: Yegolev on December 28, 2005, 09:51:33 AM Please explain why you are reading /. Games. Oh, right... Useless News. Carry on.
Title: Re: The Escapist Post by: schild on December 28, 2005, 12:28:33 PM It amazes me how often Zonk posts ads/stories on Slashdot Games dealing with Escapist. These are not submitted from other people, but Zonk himself. I wonder how much Themis is paying Slashdot/Zonk to run ads that look like stories. (http://www.ericsiegmund.com/images/fireant/babs.jpg) |