The genre of magazine that I have decided to write within is the niche market of nerd interest magazines (although it may be classified as an entertainment magazine). Specifically, I want to make a magazine based around the game of Dungeons and Dragons and the community around it. I have decided to choose this genre of magazine, as I am closely involved with a community of people who are highly engaged with the culture of the game, which will allow my articles and information on the backdrop of the game. There is also a large amount of material to work with within the community of the game – which can range from information on the game to personal pieces about exceptional personalities within the fan-base.
List of highest-grossing gaming magazines
| Magazine Name | Readership | Founded | Publisher |
| Game Informer Magazine | 5,073,003 | 1991 | GameStop |
| GamePro | 2,454,000 | 1989 | IDG |
| Official Xbox Magazine | 348,619 | 2001 | Future PCL |
| Nintendo Power | 206,107 | 1988 | Nintendo |
| Playstation: The Official Magazine | 192,407 | 2006 | Future Publishing |
| PC Gamer | 158,767 | 1993 | Future PLC |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 135,000 | 1988 | EGM Media, LLCedia, LLC |
| Beckett Massive Online Gamer | 130,000 | 1984 | Beckett Media |
Front Covers:
Looking at the front covers of gaming magazines from a general overview, we can see that they follow many conventional tropes that would be seen in western magazines. When I say this, I mean that they all feature a visually striking hero shot with one main subject – which itself is a trope of most magazines. However, on the majority of these magazines the subject is holding some sort of weapon or striking a pose that implies danger and excitement, giving the impression that the magazine will generally be quite high-octane. To add to this sense, the magazine covers will also contain a multitude of cover lines that will often state exciting headlines or news on upcoming games.
Depending on the tone of the game that is being promoted on the front cover of the magazine, the colour schemes can vary from only featuring two colours to containing a multitude of colours to promote different games. For instance, the Batman cover for Xbox uses a binary colour scheme of black and white for the images and text that involve the Batman franchise. However, a mild green is used to stand out against the black and white for features that relate directly to the Xbox (or the other games that are available for the system)
The genre subverts typical magazine convention through its use of cover stars. As it could be argued that the gaming industry has a large variety of game leads, magazines discussing this industry have a large selection to choose from – which also allows the aesthetic of the gaming magazines to change erratically from issue to issue. However, it could be argued that most mainstream games have a tendency to feature white, built male leads who tend to be conventionally handsome – which could be seen as reinforcing the worst conventions of a typical magazine to a new extreme. As mentioned previously, the typical pose of a hero with a weapon and a fierce position can start to become worn out and bland after while – so the genre has its own basis to create new clichés.
A magazine that is extremely similar to the one I am planning to produce is Dragon Magazine. For many of the earlier editions, Dragon Magazine would have the hand drawn artwork take centre-stage on the magazine cover – with limited cover-lines. For the later issues, they did not choose to update their house-style and chose to remain with their 80’s aesthetic. As they have a small, dedicated fanbase they have creative liberty to have a set list of aesthetic consistencies; even if they are not widely accepted. The magazine covers will also usually contain a high-octane action shot, which seems to be in an effort to appeal to very dedicated fans.
Contents Page
When gaming magazines were aimed pre-dominantly at a younger audience, there was a high emphasis on using a wide range of colours – as well as being engaging for a child. This is why there was initially a strong emphasis on this wide range of pastel colours, as well as the large variety of images and shots from the featured games. However, the target audience for gaming consoles has shifted in parallel to the evolution of Dungeons and Dragons. However, both of these had very different audiences in the early 1980s, with their introduction to the collective media zeitgeist only happening in the last decade. As mentioned earlier, Dungeons and Dragons went from being a niche nerd item to being widely accepted over the course of these years; whilst video games went from children’s toys to being widely popular. Because of this, the colour schemes of the typical gaming magazine became much more tame – with the colour red being used frequently used. This colour has obvious connotations of danger and even blood, both of which are cultural monoliths of the modern gaming landscape (within the games, not the industry to an extent).
The modern gaming magazine has a adopted the common trope of having many images, most of which are unrelated to each other thematically. Whilst this was originally conceived to appeal to younger audiences with a low attention span, there are added benefits to having a large variety of images in gaming magazine contents pages. The ultimate advantage is that a large amount of new games are released every month, the majority of which would want to be featured in the magazine (that is, for the console releases). Along with this, there are many upcoming games that the magazine would be anxious to report on. The large variety of images allows the magazine to not be contracted to only one game – it has the ability to give each one equal importance. However, for my Dungeons and Dragons magazine, there are not enough different DLC packs released every month to fill this range, so many of the articles would have to be think-pieces. A magazine that achieves this is Doctor Who Magazine; which showcases both news and think pieces through its contents page, whilst also presenting a great variety of images.
Articles
Studying Doctor Who Magazine and Empire Magazine, I have noticed that the opening pages of their featured articles will create a tonality that reflects the mood of the article. These colour schemes will often be used throughout the entire magazine (such as Empire’s red and white colour scheme for their film articles) but in the case of Doctor Who Magazine, it is entirely flexible to the content of the article. For example, the “Back to Scaro!” uses a white and light blue colour scheme, which is reflective of the 60s nostalgic vibe that the episode aims to replicate (especially through the replication of original sets from the time period and the re-use of classic Daleks). Similarly, the “Flight Through Eternity” article aims to invoke a sense of 1960s nostalgia though the choice of a mellow white, grey and purple colour scheme. As the text is all in fairly light tones, the large monochrome portrait shot of Peter Purves acts as the centrepiece of the double page spread. Another common trope of this sort of magazine is that a selected quotation will often be lifted from the article and presented in the secondary colour of the double-page spread and given significance within the layout (usually in the bottom-right corner). The quotation picked will often be a good summary of the point or message of the article. For example, the article about the Doctor Who DVD run has the stand-out quotation of “There was quite a lot of debate about DVD. Would the fans say: ‘Am I going to buy it again just for this additional material?'”. This quotation tells us that the DVD range had quite a troubled start and there was much debate as to whether the range could sell – which uses the reader’s preexisting knowledge that the DVD range would succeed to intrigue them into what the history consisted of and entice them into reading the story of the article.
In general, the format of the later part of the articles will be highly graphical – mostly in an appeal to keep the focus of the targeted audience. This will often be because of the fact that readers of Sci-Fi/Fantasy interest magazines do not usually correlate with an audience type who will be captivated enough by the words of the articles. This is a standard within general entertainment magazines, where the graphics are not necessary for the article to be read (unlike something like a cooking magazine where the pictures are needed). However, much of the time the pictures will add to the experience of reading the article and give readers a more clear idea on the point the article is attempting to make. For example, the article on ‘Millennium FX’ (the special effects company for Doctor Who) has examples of some of the mask work they have provided for the show – to give readers an idea of the height of their accomplishes. The article also includes graphical inserts of the script excerpts from many of the episode they’ve worked on. This contributes to the text of the article as it allows readers to see the staged involved in the production of the show – and how the Millennium FX company contributes to this production.
Media Coursework 2016-2018 