AllRPG - A Discussed Change

[Hyde]

So I have been turning an idea over in my head and want to run it by you all to see what you think.

The way we're doing the site right now is difficult. It's time consuming. Alot of people say they want to help, want to contribute and that's great and we appreciate it but in general, alot of help would require a nearly every day commitment and not even all of the site staff can maintain that constantly. In fact, most can't. So while talking things over with some media friends of mine today while picking up my son, one friend of mine was talking about how she brought her alt-culture mag, Coilhouse, from an online blog to something more complete. More fun. More tactile.

What if, instead of doing the site the way we always did, we changed the concept to something where everyone could contribute as much or as little as they wanted....with a much wider timeframe?

What if we made AllRPG a magazine-style format?

What does that mean? It means we keep the site to show things like preview articles, important news, and multimedia things we can't put in a static document....but the main content, the real MEAT of the work...would become a magazine, both available for free download as a PDF or to be purchased in print format. Yes. PRINT AllRPG.

The difference lies in the timing: Right now, AllRPG is hard to keep up with. We don't have a paid staff like many sites out there and probably not enough free time to keep up with half of everything we should. Instead...contributers and staffers would be able to put their stuff together online, it'd be up for editing, and in the end, would be layed out in a REAL Magazine style.

Less news, more content. Editorials, New and Classic Reviews, Previews into upcoming games, Forum and community hype, these are the kinds of things that would change what we've been doing into something more tangible...more fun.

What do you think?

[Elon]

The key is to get people interested in Allrpg. The more traffic you bring in the more interest will be in running the site. I'm very impressed with what you have going on at the moment. A major revamp would be interesting to watch. I would happily go to fedex and print out copies to drop off at my local game shop and to distribute through my friends if the quality was high enough. Litter the streets in ALLRPG e-zines!

[Devil King]

Fuck, yeah.

[CoolOtaku]

This sounds like an incredible amount of work... o_o

If this is something we decide to start, the consequences of pulling out of a project like this are going to be greater than they would be for those of a simple website. The implications of this project are so tremendous, I don't even know where to start. I should note, I'm not trying to be a killjoy. I just don't want us running down the wrong road at such a fragile time in AllRPG's life.

I will say this much though, I certainly support talking about it at this point to see if it's viable or not because it is a very interesting idea.

[Hewitt]

I like this idea but like CoolOtaku has said, it seems like it would be at least more time consuming. The end result I think would be really fantastic if done right. The main problem in my mind would be the possible time/efforted needed to pull it off, and being able to have enough site posted on the site between "issues" to keep newcomers coming back and interested. Either way I look forward to contributing as much as I'll be able to.

[twerp]

Look there's a million different news/reviews sites out there. I'm all for being different. I just need guidelines to write by.

[Hyde]

I'm not sure how it's necessarily MORE work/harder to accomplish.

[twerp]

It's not if you want to do it, you'll do it.

[CoolOtaku]

Huh... I feel like I'm just not understanding the situation if people don't think it's more work o_o

Maybe I should just let this play out a bit and see where it starts going

[Aquasol]

It's an interesting idea, but for the love of god have at least two really good editors to look things over-- proofread, doublecheck sources if possible, leave cute little notes.

[Hewitt]

It just seems like more work to me since you'd be putting in effort to compile issues in a magazine format as opposed to just posting them on the site. But I've never done anything like that so I could be wrong. I say if you don't feel that way we should just go for it. One plus is that it would give more people time to submit material instead of on a constant daily basis.

[Hyde]

Blue: I'm giving it a few more days of rehashing to see what people think but yeah, I figure we probably will move in this direction and be different. I think this can be a really good thing if people want to stick with it. If no one does...well....then that's unfortunate.

Also, many people likely haven't even seen the thread yet. Perhaps a global message with a link here to tell them?

[CoolOtaku]

I think my main issue with this right now is that we basically just got the site going again and we're already trying to move on to something else. If we have a goal for the site, I say we make sure we follow it and do our best to meet it, putting out as much content as possible that relates.

Has the site just been an overall disappointment in your opinions?

[Hyde]

I think my main issue with this right now is that we basically just got the site going again and we're already trying to move on to something else. If we have a goal for the site, I say we make sure we follow it and do our best to meet it, putting out as much content as possible that relates.

Has the site just been an overall disappointment in your opinions?

It's not so much that it's a disappointment. It's the fact that it's hard to keep people motivated to do work *every* day...people don't have the time, myself included. Things happen. Games need playing. Life and Kids and Girls and Guys and all that stuff.

I think if we move to a magazine format, having people contribute over the course of a month in preparation for the next issue, and then just assemble it, that we'll get more and better participation. I can make a base template for the magazine format and then just change the content on a month-to-month basis with updated graphics and layouts in certain parts. That type of stuff is easy for me.

The main thing is that what the site was about just isn't as relevant as it used to be, and moving to an all-genre format is a good thing, but hard to keep up without highly dedicated staffers around to work all the time. Other sites do it better. However, with a monthly magazine format, we're offering something a bit different. Plus it's free unless people want a hardcopy. We would start using the site to talk about and post important news stories, features(Like maybe some of Trillian's vids? and twerp said he'd be up for making vids too).....

I think something we need to do and need to think about is how we're approaching things. Yeah, we can do what we've been doing and be irrelevant in a world of 1ups, Kotakus and gamasutras, or we can do something different and make a perspective based magazine with a bit of attitude.

[Elon]

Any good artists in this house? You can add a comic to. Not one about ALLRPG because most people won't even know what that is until after awhile. But comics bring a amazing amount of traffic in.

[CoolOtaku]

All right, Hyde. I see what you're saying a hell of a lot better now haha. Moving to the kind of format you're talking about, what advantage does that give us? I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of this idea (again, not trying to be an ass). Basically, if we have any news in the magazine format, it would be entirely pointless due to the time lag between putting out the magazine and the time when the news actually hits the internet. So there's one thing down.

That leaves us with editorials, features, reviews, that sort of thing. But again, the reviews would have a nasty time lag, causing us to miss a lot of the traffic that actually cares about the games we'd be reviewing each issue. In fact, I'd say the time lag is my biggest issue. Our features and editorials would have to be the larger portions of each issue, and I just can't imagine that happening based on how often we get new ones for the site.

I feel like we haven't given the site a chance to even get going and here we are talking about dropping our current method. Personally, I would be more willing and interested in starting a magazine format if we had stuck with the site for a few months before we considered changing the format entirely. Right now, I just don't see any of the current problems going away. I think we'll still come up short on content (the kind that's worth having at least).

[Aquasol]

Plenty of people have seen the thread, Hyde, but they'd rather talk about dicks in blenders.

Well, we could change it to naked 16 year-olds, but that tends to get people in trouble.

[Hewitt]

Well not all of the reviews would be on current games so the time lag wouldn't be that big of a difference. If there's a section on classic game reviews or even if we're reviewing games that haven't just been released then that's not an issue at all. Might not be a bad idea to turn the discussion to brainstorming ideas for different kinds of content since this seems to be the direction for us to head in.

[Hyde]

Alright, I'm going to try and sum up why I feel this is a good idea.

First: The News. We can't keep up with it. We don't have the personnel to keep up with the influx of news. We'll never be able to compete with places like Kotaku and such. People have no reason to come to us for news when there are bigger, better funded sites out there dedicated to it as a business model. We're literally a non-entity in that vision.

Second: We don't have the RPG Focus we used to as the "niche" it used to be no longer applies with much more widespread RPG coverage and acceptance. To that end, if we want to be at all relevant we need to be able to cover more than just RPGs. Problem is, there are lots of places that do that too. We need to look at the whole project as something different. We can't be another normal game reporting site because....we honestly can't compete. So what's left for us?

A different niche.

A magazine would differ in a lot of ways. First of all, news wouldn't be important in the same way. If something truly big or interesting happened, then yeah we'd do an expanded coverage article on it in the magazine, and we'd still report it on the site. Editorials, Articles, Various kinds of Reviews and Previews and special sections would be the toast of the magazine structure.

Another set of benefits falls into the time and Editing categories. Right now, many of the staff are still relatively inexperienced writers. They are, however, enthusiastic and enthusiasm mixed with good editing makes for something much better. Add to that a content submission timeframe of 2-3 weeks for assigned articles and you have the makings of MORE participation when there is a deadline that isn't tomorrow, or with news, RIGHT THEN AND THERE. What I'd like is for AllRPG to bring it's own personal brand of humor and irony and the things that make us a community to the magazine and put out a monthly issued collection of our thoughts on games, the game industry, and what happens in it.

Either way one thing is for sure: Our current site design is not working as well as I'd hoped and will have to be changed. It's pretty, but I can do pretty in different ways.

With the advent of the magazine handling the big, important, monthly content the site would be changed to more of a multimedia thing. We'd be able to put up videos, trailers, and more immediate articles(like Refill's weekly Steam Deal review) and previews for the articles in the magazine.

The magazine being available in a printed format makes us stand out. That's the big push. It's what we can do to be different, using the medium kotaku and such don't.

[Elon]

You have all done much more than I thought was possible. Keep up the good work. I respect the staff here for what you have done. Recreating something that was destroyed is not an easy task.

[CoolOtaku]

Okay. I feel like I fully understand your thinking on this now. Thank you for clarifying.

So we're basically looking at more in-depth coverage of whatever we decide to put in each issue? More related info, history, and whatever else applies?

I think I can get behind this idea now, as long as the proper planning is done. And I'd be happy to be a part of that planning process if you'd like my input.

[Genopuff]

ill do what i can.

[freeflow^]

I'm in agreement with whatever is best suited for the site and it's members. So if this saves time while still keeping the place active, then sure I'm down.

[Ges]

I think a magazine would be a good idea, I just think we shouldn't be trying to dethrone the big gaming blogs and sites just yet. We need to get our feet under us first.

[Genopuff]

i took the time to read this whole thread and im down to do whatever, i feel we have enough people that do want to be involved and enough creativity among us to do something unique the problem really being is getting everyone together at one time to really sit down and figure things out since all of us are scattered about in different time zones and have other things going on in our lives.

[moogle]

Seems every time I check back here there's some major update. I'm not as optimistic as I once was, but I do hope it works out. I hate to say I've lost interest, but I have.

Any good artists in this house? You can add a comic to. Not one about ALLRPG because most people won't even know what that is until after awhile. But comics bring a amazing amount of traffic in.
That got me thinking, why not a Youtube channel? It could include mini-reviews, or any number of kinds of videos relating to RPGs. I don't claim to be up to the task, but I can imagine it being a huge asset if someone were give it a shot. Just an idea.

[twerp]

I have the facilities and the know how to produce some short web videos, but I need to know the direction of the site first.

[Hyde]

Alright...

Here's what I think is going to be happening.

The site will continue to exist, however, I'm going to change some shit to be more accomodating to a "modular" format so we can put what we want where we want it. Also, so we can use the multimedia aspect. Videos are an excellent idea, and we have Trillian here who posts some great ones. Also, twerp wants to do that kind of thing as well, and even though mine would be more guerrilla style, I can even see myself doing a few. Also, the site will feature previews of the magazine articles, and stuff we can't put in the mag, things like Refill's weekly Steam Deal Reviews and important news tidbits. Maybe we can even get a monthly podcast thing going too where we talk about the current issue and a few things that didn't get in.

The magazine will be available to the public as both a downloadable PDF and will be available to order in print once I make sure we won't be breaching copywrites or anything. I've been paging through current Game Informer issues and I notice....they don't do THAT many reviews.. They have a couple of important ones, a few less important ones, and maybe one or two obscure ones. Most of the magazine is editorial based anymore, with a few articles focusing on important monthly news, previews of upcoming games, etc.

In terms of total content...it's really not so big a job as daily updating when you are supposed to be updating multiple times a day.

I think the direction of the site and magazine is a simple thing to sum up:

Opinionated.

I want us to have a slant to our work that is definitively ours. We're not a company. We're gamers. We're fans. And I think that right there should be the message.... For the Fans...BY the fans. We do this out of love of the games and as such such I think that's our biggest advantage. We're not being paid to tell it one way or another. We're telling it how we see it.

We're not going to be stodgy reporters. We're not going to be traditional. We're not even going to try and compete with places like Kotaku and 1up...what we ARE going to do is be original.

[charolastra00]

I'd be happy to help out with the podcast- I've never done it but I'm pretty witty. ;)

Since I don't really game, I can't contribute much in terms of that kind of content, but I do offer my support in whatever way I can.

[Karsh]

I think we need a webcomic. Nothing keeps you coming back to a website more than humor and a good time. It just comes down to people having the time and energy to put the work in, is what it is.

[Jun]

Aqua is the least cute.

[Elon]

So what are you looking for from individuals? What I'm asking is what can I contribute to this? I have time.

[moogle]

Alright...

Here's what I think is going to be happening.

The site will continue to exist, however, I'm going to change some shit to be more accomodating to a "modular" format so we can put what we want where we want it. Also, so we can use the multimedia aspect. Videos are an excellent idea, and we have Trillian here who posts some great ones. Also, twerp wants to do that kind of thing as well, and even though mine would be more guerrilla style, I can even see myself doing a few. Also, the site will feature previews of the magazine articles, and stuff we can't put in the mag, things like Refill's weekly Steam Deal Reviews and important news tidbits. Maybe we can even get a monthly podcast thing going too where we talk about the current issue and a few things that didn't get in.

The magazine will be available to the public as both a downloadable PDF and will be available to order in print once I make sure we won't be breaching copywrites or anything. I've been paging through current Game Informer issues and I notice....they don't do THAT many reviews.. They have a couple of important ones, a few less important ones, and maybe one or two obscure ones. Most of the magazine is editorial based anymore, with a few articles focusing on important monthly news, previews of upcoming games, etc.
I remember Trillian posting a video on here before, that's why I brought up the idea (anyone have a link btw?). Also I'm not a fan of the PDF idea, and I honestly don't think it'll work. PDFs are inconvenient (Adobe takes forever to load, even Foxit is bloated these days) and don't really see the advantage anyway. I know I, among many others, avoid PDFs altogether unless it's absolutely necessary. Would everything still be available on the site normally?

[Elon]

So in order to do this there needs to be productivity. Become active. I can't draw worth a dam though, so the idea for a webcomic is strictly out of the question for me. But I can contribute elsewhere.

Give me some tasks Hyde.

[Bob14]

I really like the magazine idea. I was an avid Allrpg fan for as long as I can remember. I can say that the one reason I came back every day to check the news at ALLRPG was because of its focus on RPGs. I think it's important to branch out and focus on other games as you guys are talking about in this thread, but at the same time RPG news was ALLRPGs identity... to me anyways. I think it's important to keep that identity in mind while making this magazine.

Just my 2 cents.

I really like the idea on a classic RPG section :P.

[Atlas]

Plenty of people have seen the thread, Hyde, but they'd rather talk about dicks in blenders.

I don't mean to toot my own horn here, but I literally have had almost zero time for the internet these days with school back in session. I'm sorry I have not had sufficient time to reply. However, I'm completely on board. If you have the tools to accomplish these goals, go for it. I am here if you need me. Again, sorry for the delay.

Oh, and I brought up the AllRPG Podcast idea years ago. May I have a hand in its creation?

[Hyde]

Sorry about the absence, kids. Had a lot of shit going on and the site just wasn't a priority by comparison. Will get back to work very soon, hoping for the first real "issue" to be out in either April or May depending on how we get things together.