betterspud

Over the last weeks surrounding the release of the new game, there has been a huge amount of activity on the forums, as is to be expected. Because I sometimes have to leave my PC and go into the big world, I don't always get time to read as many of the threads as I would like, so have taken to printing off reams of text from some of the more interesting discussions to take with me to read during quieter moments.

This lead me to thinking about whether there was an existing FM community zine already in circulation. I have checked via as many means as I can think of, but have found almost no mention of any, which surprised me, considering the huge number of people interested and the endless possibilities for material.

Since none seems to exist, I thought I would look into the possibility of putting something together myself, even though I have never done so before. Before I can decide whether it could/should be done I would be grateful for everyone's thoughts on the following points...

1. I Would imagine that there would be limitations on what could be included, regarding copyright issues, etc. and that I would need to request permission from SI and Sega before undertaking such a project.
Can anyone (preferably from Sega or SI) give me any advice on what can/cannot be used and how I might go about obtaining such permission? (Who to contact, etc.)

2. A big question would be whether there would be a market for such a fanzine. My initial thought would be a yes. (I would definitely want one! ) My feeling is that it would be a small(ish), free publication, distributed digitally (probably as a .pdf file).
[i]I would welcome any views from anyone on this. Would you be interested in such a fanzine?[/i}

3. Content. What would people like to read about? Obviously, at the moment the main talking points all focus on the impact of FM2008, but going forward, what kind of regular features might be included?



There are many other questions I could ask too, but these are the main issues for consideration before anything might even go as far as planning. If there would be no demand or massive restrictions on what could be done, then it's likely that it will go no further, but I'd very much be interested in any comments from everyone out there.

Looking forward to hearing back...

atonement

its an interesting idea

i dont think it could provide a lot more than this forum though

the big pro would be the filtering out of a lot of the tripe on the forum but at the same time youd lose the interaction

its a no from me

TehPa1n

its certainly food for thought. im interested to see how the thread develops.

my only concern with it would be making sure the content is meaningful.

free is good. anything like this that takes of would be fine in my eyes distributed digitally as people are likely to distribute it further themselves as hard copies where nesscisary.

as for features im unsure but i wouldnt go for the whole tellin people where the gems are etc.. too much of that already for my likeing.

maybe a dedicated forum here or elsewhere providing just threads for discussion and feedback on the articles included only. this would keep it both under control and subjective.

betterspud

Absolutely. There is more than enough content available as is demonstrated throughout the online community on the SI site and the many other FM sites. The important thing would be to filter out the interesting and pertinent stuff from it all.

Again, you think as I do. A digital distribution allows it to be mailed on to others, posted on any number of fansites or uploaded/downloaded via any form of file share. Also would allow readers to very easily print hard copies, as you say.

I would wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. I think the majority of others would too. I would not be interested in going down that route at all.

Not something I had even considered until now. I'm not sure if that would be possible or accepted on these forums, but maybe something to think about.

Thanks for your comments. Appreciated.

betterspud

Any other comments from anyone??

woody2goody

i remember a couple of years ago when FM05 was released I think, there was a one off magazine with tactical tips in it etc.

Superman_uk123

I like this idea, as I was a fan of the old SI Games produced Championship Managermagazines that were produced for while (I think they stopped after CM 4).

I know that this idea wouldn't be on such a scale, but anything along the same basic lines, and with similar features, would be fantastic as far as I am concered.

I would be willing to help contribute, if that is what you would like betterspud (or do you plan to do this all "in House").

But whichever route you would go down, I think this is a very good idea.

betterspud

I too remember the CM Magazines and enjoyed them immensely. I think maybe the absence of these is what sparked my idea to produce a community version. Obviously I would not have the means to produce anything to rival that, but a smaller version of it would certainly be a template to work by.

Thankyou for your offer of help. This is something that I would very much welcome. Since I am proposing it to be a community publication, I would welcome input from anyone and everyone and would be happy to accept all the help that is offered. I'm sure that there are many people out there that could be involved and are able to offer all kinds of skills and ideas, which can only be a good thing.

Thankyou for your support. I've almost convinced myself that (permission forthcoming) I will go ahead and produce something. Since I had the idea, it's kind of grown on me more and more and I'm really quite keen to go ahead now.
I sincerely hope that it would be received well by the community as a whole, so I think I might start work on a pilot edition, circulate it and see what the feedback is like.

Thanks again everyone for your comments. Keep 'em coming...

nick...

I don't have any onstructive comments, but thought I'd post anyway to show my support.

I'd read it.

betterspud

:thup: