Warcraft 3 Magazine

[Lucavixp]

Hey. I came up with this idea, and initially posted over at wc3campaigns.net, but they seem to think that not enough people play WC3 for this to be a success. Looking at the impressive WC3Sear.ch stats, I can't image where they get that idea from. Also, looking at the b.net stats on login also shows a ton of users. If it was that bad, Blizzard would simply not administer the host servers anymore. Anyways... you can view the original topic here[/url. The proposal below is slightly modified (mainly becase of the forum shift), but retains it's purpose.

Since alot of the people here are so good at modding WC3, why not collect your ideas and publish a magazine via Lulu.com? My initial ideas are that it should be monthly, be tailored towards WC3 mapping and feature a target audience that include all map-making communities.
Also, while I know the Frozen Tribunal at wc3campaigns is about modding (which I learned about after posting this), this entails a physical magazine, as Lulu prints and sends actual media to people, as opposed to the web-based newsletter. Also, this magazine is intended to be available to all communities.
There's lots of potential material - community, mapping, game reports, forum highlists etc, and there's definately alot of people who (I assume) would be dedicated enough to take an hour or so from their monthly timetable to contribute to magazine. Of course, this would open up opportunities to the general community in having their worlk placed in the magazine through submissions, e-mails etc.
This was just an idea I was toying with, but with some extra thought I think we could pull it off, however there are a few things we need to be sure of:

-Pricing. Shall we publish it for free, or with a (albeit VERY small) fee? If people have to pay for it, we need to check Blizzard's terms and whatnot to confirm that what we are doing is legal. Also, I think all money made should go to the site. If people find this unfair, then maybe each year the money can be divided between the main staff of the magazine? Something to work on.
-Dedication. Although the most people here are pretty dedicated to their work, there is always potential that someone may loose their internet/loose interest/move away and stop contributing. In such cases it is vital that there is some sort of "plan b", unless it's not so important.
-DotA. Speaks for itself. This is a tricky one, it could either be an opportunity (in that many people will dislike it and so the magazine will aid the extinction of it) or a threat (people will request DotA related content). Whether DotA should be allowed in the publication has to be discussed.

Taking it seriously, I have prepared a short SWOT analysis of the publication:

Strengths
-Lots of potential team members
-Supporting community
-Supporting website/forum
-A whole archive of content to talk about e.g Vexo's spells (tutorials on how to use them), popular questions and misconceptions, how to code JASS... this list goes on forever
-Free publication of the magazine via Lulu

Weaknessess
-Blizzard. Legal requirements would need to be checked
-Payment. Should the site get the money or should the people behind the magazine get a share too?
-Community leavers/life. Many of are busy studying/working and are likely succumb to time restrictions, however in such cases we should have adequete plans prepared

Opportunities
-New? I've never seen this kind of thing before. New things often attract people towards the product, in this case, people might like the idea of a amgazine
-Creative outlet. Lot of mappers from across many communities may view this as an opportunity to share their work with the entire Warcraft 3 community
-Immediate start. Some people may be prepared to start planning the magazine very soon (I asked a few freinds what they thought and they were all for it), and WC3C provides a good-size initial reader-base.
-Warcraft is all the rage. In some respects, WCIII is alot more popular than others! However, with the mighty WoW on the scene, there are a ton of people interested in WC3 and making online games and - oh! This magazine happens to incorporate both of them!

Threats
-DotA. The WCIII controversy. Too much/bias for will deter dislikers of DotA, and too little/bias against with deter the hundreds of DotA fans. I think a balanced, small section dedicated solely to DotA might be ok, but personally, I don't play it, though I could easily tolerate a small section. (open for discussion)
-No interest. Not everyone will like my proposal of a WC3 magazine.
-Bad content. Things could get out of hand, and we could have created a monster. This can easily be avioded by calling upon a structured, friendly and intelligent staff team.
-Language. If you've ever played the European servers, you will know that the msot popular phrase is "from?". There are also servers dedicated to areas like china and korea. Although many of them can read english, there may be some demand for other language issues.
-Theft. People could always copy our ideas. To avoid this, we have to stand taller than any competition and continue to provide the highest quality product, obviously

There it is, well, as much as I can think of right now. Alot can be added to this analysis, according to the responsed and discussion to happen here.

As for the magazine itself, I have not thought of a name. Of course, it is, was and will be my initial idea. This does not mean I will make all the choices related to it. I wish for the community to apply themselves to it, and I certainly hope the staff-members and experts alike will have a high interest. As the creator, I have a couple of rules:
-We will not support the use of "l337" terms. This includes "pro", as in "i'm pro", "noob", "pwned" and other assicated comments.
-The magazine will be respectable, well structured and balanced in terms or opinion (where appropriate)

In terms of content, I propose the following areas:

-Editor column
-Contents
-News & official news
-Latest releases listings
-Reviews
-Previews
-Strategies
-Battle Reports
-Tutorials
-Modding articles
-Featurette
-Tools and utilities (taking an in-depth look at applications and special, enhanced maps)
-Art Gallery
-Inbox (letters, emails, whatever)
-Competitions?
-Puzzles, games and quizzes
-Blizzard ladder news, reports and melée map section
-DotA section | discuss
-Challenge section (a map-making challenge, similar to the one on here) with alst-months winner article?
-Interviews with popular mappers, experts etc (if this scores bigtime we might be able to interview Blizzard staff)
-Website directory (links listings)
-Anything else you guys can think of.

As for staff members, I'd rather not choose who I think should be on it, but rather let people vote/apply/audition (with a small sample peice of content).

Potential Staff:
-Lucavixp (me)
-Site Staff
-Expert, respected users
-People who apply

I would like to take the role of editor and layout/magazine designer, but all other positions are currently open. I would like to ask anyone wanting to be a part of the magazine team, send me a PM, as this thread is for planning/discussing the magazine as a realistic product.

I would also like to mention that, as you can see from the above, I am taking this rather seriously. I would appreciate it if everyone kept their posts tidy and use maximum productivity in your replies. This would help people who are interested, even if your response is against the idea.

As mentioned above, I have asked a few freinds and got many positive responses. I asked about pricing. The range was about 1$-3$, which is about 50p-£2 in the uk. Not bad at all I think, but I am not concerned about making money at all. Sure, it would be nice, but if the magazine has to be free (due to legal reasons/preferences) and downloadable, then so be it.

Your ideas/first impressions guys?

EDIT: Oh, maybe a little WoW section ^_^