You might remember that several months ago, I sent out a plea for help and volunteers. I was working on a secret project but I couldn’t really disclose what it was. Some of you guys guessed that I was working on a raid UI or healing addon.
Sorry to burst your bubble. I’m not that good with coding.
But I do love writing.
During the week of BlizzCon 2009, I was contacted by the Editor in Chief of the WoW magazine. He read my blogs and asked if I could contribute two articles. One of them was on loot systems and the other was on healing UIs that are used by various players.
Naturally I said yes!
Here are the scans (PDF):
This first article is on loot systems. Loot council, DKP, SK, and need before greed.
The second article is on healing UIs. You might recognize some of the people I interviewed. The first one I interviewed was Lilitharien. Yes, the same Lilitharien from Divine Aegis! Another familiar face you may recognize is Zusterke, who frequents the Plus Heal forums (and has guest posted on World of Snarkcraft).
I am slightly depressed. Its actually quite silly and I don’t know why its affecting me so much. You’ll notice that my name doesn’t appear anywhere on the scans. In fact, it doesn’t appear anywhere in the magazine.
It was a great opportunity and I’m thrilled to have been a part of it, don’t get me wrong. But when I show it to my friends and say "Look! I wrote these! I got published! Ain’t that cool?", I’ll be met with skepticism. And I won’t have any way to prove that I did this.
Its disheartening for me since I’m considering diving into journalism or communications. I wrote for what looks to be one of the coolest magazines on the planet, and I can’t even add that to my resume.
The reasons? I don’t want to get into the details about it here. Suffice it to say, I believe its… ah, whats the word? Political?
Anyway, those two will most likely be the only articles I’ll ever write in print. I know for a fact that I won’t be given the opportunity to write for them again (Politics). I had a great time interviewing everyone. I apologize to those of you that I had spoken to where none of your material was included. Thanks to everyone who offered me 15 minutes (or hours) of their time when I was looking for volunteers. Obviously, I could not have done it without them.
Look, I grew up evangelizing Blizzard and playing their games since I was 8 or something. I learned keyboard commands in Warcraft II before learning how to touch-type. I invited friends over to my house to show off Starcraft. I was practically first in line for Warcraft 3 when it debuted.
Its just crushing when you find out that the gaming company who you’re most loyal and passionate about has heard of you and doesn’t really like you. Sorry, this is bothering me a lot more than I thought it would.
Anyway, if you haven’t already, you should go subscribe to the WoW Magazine (and no, I don’t get commission :P). Lots of useful stuff for players of all types and I guarantee you’ll find a few things in there that will be relevant (or at least amusing) to you.
It’s not silly. Give credit where credit is due, I say! Isn’t it a law or something to have an author’s name on an article? Something about plagarisim?
I read those articles not even knowing it was a favorite blogger of mine that wrote it.
I know now, we all know now.
@Matticus,
If I remember correctly, those were two of the first articles in the mag that I read, and I thought there was something familiar about writing style.
Anyway, I do find it a bit disheartening that they didn’t list author names anywhere in the mag, as I feel that is rather rude, especially when you are not necessarily using the same authors from publication to publication.
Regardless, I thought the articles are well written, and would like to congratulate you on being published.
P.S. I can understand that perhaps they do not necessarily want to promote non-Blizzard entities like a blog (though I don’t know exactly why they wouldn’t…it ultimately gives Blizzard free publicity).
If you dislike the practice of not including the author’s names, I would recommend letting Blizzard know, and perhaps they will give the authors proper credit in the future.
.-= Spazmoosifer´s last blog ..Don’t be too Hastey =-.
Honestly, any magazine that does not make sure it credits the writers of the content would never get a dime from me.
I don’t think you should encourage the sale of a publication that did it to you because if they did it to you, they’ll do it to others. It’s like a woman telling another woman to date an ex that beat her. Why the hell would you encourage us to subscribe? Content isn’t the be all and end all, ethics count.
That really sucks Matt!
I’m really curious to know why you were not given credit as a contributor. I do work related to journalism and, crediting sources and contributors is a major thing with legal ramifications.
/hug
.-= Lerali´s last blog ..PUG Tales ala 3.3 =-.
Really sad your name isn’t anywhere! D: You think they’d at least have a byline somewhere. Weird.
And they have me listed as a holy priest—blasphemous! 😛
.-= Lilitharien´s last blog ..The King Has Returned =-.
That sucks that you didn’t get credit for your work.
Very good articles though.
.-= Jasyla´s last blog ..Roll vs. Role =-.
Awh, I am disappointed to hear this, Matt. /huggs
Hey, it’s my GM! So I guess you guys ended up doing that interview then?
Sorry to hear you didn’t get credited 🙁
.-= EuripidesOutDPS´s last blog ..ICC Macros =-.
That is really a shame. It didn’t even happen to me and I feel very angry about it. I hope that at some point the do you justice and give you credit maybe in an editor’s note or something in a later issue. I want to get the magazine but I don’t want to give my money to someone who does not give credit where credit is due. Maybe I’ll wait to read it when I find a copy in the John or the waiting room at the dentist. I know, I have better odds of finding it in the bathroom.
As the not so heard of interviewee I will say that yes you did the interview. Since it was to you I sent my screen shots that ended up in the article on my Shaman. I was also most annoyed that they delayed the publication so many times and were not able to include credit for you on the healing article since it was the only one I know of at the time.
Hopefully in the next quarterly issue they print an update telling us all who wrote the articles for the first copy.
.-= Malchome´s last blog ..Hacker Report =-.
Blizzard has heard of you and doesn’t like you very much?
I can see why that bothered you more than you thought it would. Quite honestly, when I read that line, I felt awful on your behalf. I never comment here, but I couldn’t let that slide.
I don’t know what their reasons are for not liking you, but whatever they are, they don’t outweigh the enormous benefit you and your blog(s) have been to the healing community and to the WoW community in general.
Don’t let a few corporate turkeys get you down. And I’m so glad you made your own byline for those articles!
Sorry dude. Part of writing is that you put a personal piece of you in each article. And then to have it fluffed and unacknowledged can be very frustrating and anti-climatic. However, you are still VERY young. You have a lifetime to get out there. Don’t give up. Keep doing what you love. Karma is alive and well. I am sure it will all come out in the wash. Keep your chin up!
/cast Fix Your Heartache
I find it more than a little ridiculous that they wouldn’t give you credit for those articles. If it truly is a political issue because they know/have heard of you and don’t like you, then why on earth did they ask you to write the articles in the first place?
why do I keep on thinking of Julie and Julia when I’mreading this post of yours? I yes, being disliked by your idol. I’m sorry that you’re in this situation and it must be pretty crushing, but I have to say, you’re handling it with a lot of poise. I would have been a lot more bitter in your place and probably wouldn’t have written an article in a first place :/
Hey, congratulations on getting stuff printed–my issue hasn’t arrived yet, but judging by your online content I’m sure they are pertinent and well written. I agree that it’s lame that you didn’t get credit for it. This could be just a first step in a direction toward bigger things, though, don’t give up!
.-= Brandon Tilley´s last blog ..Frostmourne Hungers =-.
There’s nothing I hate more than politics in what should be a non-political atmosphere.
I have quit many a job or academic program out of pure hatred for politics.
Knowing what it’s like to be on the bad end of bad politics, I feel for you Matt, I really do. Hopefully you can be one of the people who learn from how crappy it is to be on the receiving end of “bad politics”, and make a concerted effort not to ever use similar political power you may get in your career against others! It’s sure not fun 🙁
.-= Miss Medicina´s last blog ..A Tribute to the Third Healer =-.
While there is a wow factor in having something in hard print, these days all the hard publishments are attempting to gain internet presence.
Most likely you are not liked at Blizz by a few corporate drones because you are successful (i.e. popular). Look at this in a positive light. One knows that they have reached success when they have many people who love them and many people who hate them.
As far as taking it personally I wouldn’t. The corporate drones don’t like you because they view you as a threat (in some fashion even if just to their egos). Ultimately these folks are not the company, the game, and especially not the fanbase (without which no game would exist).
I wouldn’t just let this go (the failure to credit you for your work) without researching it. If it is the gut feeling of you and the rest of the commenters that this cannot be done – whether it’s illegal or just improper according to industry best practices – you should find out what the status is and what recourse, if any, you could take.
That really sucks man.
Congrats on the articles and pooey on Blizz for not recognizing you. You’re an awesome writer, and you should keep writing (Regardless of what Blizz thinks of you)
and I’m with crankyhealer in investigating whether it’s even okay for them not to credit you. You deserve that on your resume!
I was quite surprised when you commented that you wrote the healing UI article, and I scoured the pages hoping that I had overlooked your name the first time through. Lesley Smith (who has written on Wow.com before) also commented that she wrote the Inscription piece and did not receive a byline either. I wonder how many other bloggers wrote articles for the magazine? This makes me worry about the next issue – if those who wrote excellent articles for this issue were given a bad taste in their mouth due to politics, then who will write for the next one? I wonder if this had anything to do with the change-over between Editor-in-Chief’s?
I’m sorry you were hurt by the experience. I really enjoyed your articles, and this doesn’t sit right with me at all. You are an excellent writer – don’t let Blizzard’s corporate drones dissuade you from pursuing a career you think you’d enjoy.
.-= Kaelynn´s last blog ..On My Way to Loremaster =-.
I find it hard to believe that anyone actually involved with the creation of world of Warcraft (developers, artist, designers etc) could dislike someone as positive and passionate about the game as yourself.
And the fact that you still endorsed wow magazine even after they snubbed you shows real class Matt, far more than the editors at wow magazine seem to have.
I sincerely hope that they issue at least an editors note in the next issue crediting you for those articles.
Well, I can confirm that you did the healing one because the last one interviewed was my boyfriend – so I got to listen in on some of that. I was actually really surprised that your name didn’t show up anywhere on the article.
Congrats, though, on putting it all together!
I have a hard time believing that Blizzard doesn’t like you. They hired an outside magazine company, and it’s more likely someone at that company that snubbed you, rather than it coming from Blizzard themselves – UNLESS you already know why they left your name off…
.-= Lissanna´s last blog ..Possible small moonkin buff on the radar =-.
“passionate about has heard of you and doesn’t really like you”
Wow, that sounds… crazy. How could they not like you? Why would they approach you if they didn’t like you?
Honestly I feel angry for you (and I think you every right to be). I admire the fact that you let them publish the articles without giving you credit – I would’ve been tempted to refuse them permission if they wouldn’t give the author credit.
.-= We Fly Spitfires´s last blog ..Korea vs Star Trek. Korea Wins. =-.
Aw, bummer that you didn’t use my contribution (although I’ll admit, I did use a weird DKP system, so I don’t blame you) but I had a lot of fun chatting with you. You should get your credits, in my opinion!
I’m obviously not going to get a copy if they refuse to acknowledge the author of what I have no doubt is going to be two of the best articles they may get for a good while.
Sorry to hear they didn’t treat you well, but congratulations for getting into print, and that they came to ask you to do the work!!
Hey guys, thanks for all the support and the kind words.
There’s obviously a lot more to this then I’m letting on. That’s intentional. Again, its all political. I know the reasons, it kinda sucks, but there isn’t anything I can do about it. Maybe in 5 years or something when I’m no longer blogging, I’ll write a story about exactly what happened.
I want to reiterate that the magazine company is separate from the gaming company. The guys that I worked with are great. In fact, their lead guy got in touch with me and said he’d vouch for me if I needed proof on my resume. So that was cool on a professional standpoint.
As for magazine endorsement, look, its a great publication. Theres some good information in it and lots of fun stuff. I would buy it and I would read it if I could afford to. Its not the fault of the magazine company for putting out an awesome product.
The advice I had to give is solid. I didn’t want to pull that because of lack of credit. I’m still getting paid which is good (tuition fee’s are due soon, ahhh).
At least SOMEBODY out there is (hopefully) going to benefit from the articles I wrote. If I don’t get credit, I’m gonna be hurt, yeah, but I’ll live. As long as someone finds use out of it, I will live. Its also why I don’t go hard after RSS scrapers or whatever. 1: I’m too lazy 2: More people are receiving the message and can benefit from the experience I’m sharing.
Big grats to getting those articles published! Great feeling, isn’t it? Though I must say that their name policy was the weirdest thing I’ve heard of.
I hope it will inspire you to go on in your exploration of the world of writing. I can’t help thinking your future career lies somewhere in that area. You’ve got in you. I really can’t understand why you wouldn’t like Matticus. I just can’t. But oh well, I guess there’s more into it as you say.
/hugs and support!
.-= Larísa´s last blog ..Tickled Pink: Music from the Hearts of Warcraft =-.
Weird and unexpected. I have to examine whether I really want to continue playing a game when I find out the people who make it are jerks..
I finished reading the magazine before I read this article and those 2 articles were the ones that stuck with me the most. I think you did a great job and I’m glad to know one of my favorite bloggers is the one that wrote them.
At least you can get the word out here now that it’s published. But I do think the writers should have been credited. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a magazine that didn’t have bylines.
You did (and do) great work, so be proud of that fact. Eventually it will pay off and most likely in a big way.
Your a respected author, and it hurts to hear about a situation like this. When trying hard to build your audience or your “brand”, not being given credit where credit is due is unthinkable. The developers develope the game and bloggers help people to understand it and play better. I can’t see how they can dislike someone who does that as well as you and Worldofmatticus.
I feel like Blizzard should realize the resource that bloggers are, and the assistance that we give them essentially for free because we enjoy doing it.
“Its just crushing when you find out that the gaming company who you’re most loyal and passionate about has heard of you and doesn’t really like you.”
It isn’t Blizzards fault that your name wasn’t there. They aren’t the ones who edit or publish the magazine and it was Future who left the name out. I saw that you mentioned that in the comments yourself so I am unsure of how you came to that conclusion.
“It’s just crushing when you find out that the gaming company who you’re most loyal and passionate about has heard of you and doesn’t really like you.”
What are we to make of this? Is this you lifting a tip of the veil covering the details of what you called ‘politics’? E.g. Blizzard knows you and doesn’t like you and hence indicated it doesn’t want you involved with the magazine anymore after they found out the editors got you invovled.
Or is it you taking the fact that you didn’t get credit as evidence that they don’t like you?
If it’s the first, that would be pretty amazing.
If it’s the second, I’ll refer to previous posters’ contributions.
Those are amazing Matt! You really should get more credit where credit is due. I mean, I don’t know anybody who could do anything like that. Blizzard really gave you the short end of the stick on this one.
1). No matter what, don’t forget that being //approached// to write for that level of print publication is an honor that many writers–myself included–may never get to experience. Even without a by-line, you can add it to a CV or professional portfolio. Lots of people have non-credited work on theirs (my wife included) because of how some kinds of professional writing works. Grants, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, press releases, and that kind of writing often don’t have an author, yet people are still allowed to claim them because of, well, being the author. More than that likely goes into it, I know, but I do hope you’re aware that it’s not unprecedented to claim an uncredited piece of writing professionally.
2.) I’m incredibly sorry. I can’t know the whole story, but I feel for you in what you’re feeling about the not being liked. I can’t imagine what that’s like or what’s been said. But know you have my condolences, and as a writer, you’re in a good place. When I started my blog, I looked to you as a kind of goal to set myself–especially after reading your Purple Kodo post. You were a great influence on me, and I want to thank you for that. I’m sure other people have gotten as much or more from you as I have. And that’s fantastic, Matt. That’s a job well done. Just because one conglomerate might have its heat up its collective rear doesn’t mean that the whole world (or blogosphere or internet or whatever) feels the same way. Keep your chin up, my friend.
.-= Professor Beej´s last blog ..A Different Kind of Roleplay in World of Warcraft =-.
Leviathon: Yes, actually it is. It’s not Futures fault. Again, I have nothing but respect for the staff at Future and they were a great crew to work with. Believe me on this when I stress that I do not blame the magazine.
Dynalisia: Again, I don’t want to go into any more detail. But I know it isn’t the second.
I’ve analyzed this from every possible angle. And I wouldn’t write this if I thought that I might’ve been wrong or misinterpreted something.
It’s been a while since I visited a WoW blog, but this popped up on my radar because of my feeds, so I thought to comment.
Politics sucks, mostly because politics does get in the way of good governance in general, so I feel for you not being able to write for the mag again. I’m assuming you did nothing wrong in this case, but if you did do something off and weren’t cognizant about it, then well, none of us will probably know about it.
As long as you keep your journalistic standards up and fight the good fight, then you’ll probably get a writing gig elsewhere. There’s plenty of time for that.
In any event, Good luck with writing, and more power to you.
After reading this, I decided to go over the WoW Magazine again and see what they have listed for authors. They are quite inconsistent. Many of the main pieces: interview with Mike Morhaime, Crusader’s Coliseum strats, Onyxia, have no credit at all; while some of the other pieces, ones related to DPS, Healing, and Tanking are given credit on the article itself; and still others are just listed as a “contributor.” There was even a piece by Nethera!
By comparison, I also have a Nintendo Power magazine, and *every single one* of those pieces has an author credit (even if it’s just a small paragraph), even though all of them are part of the Nintendo Power staff and there are typically no “guest” authors.
Were I in your shoes, I would be the most bothered by Blizzard having “heard of you and doesn’t really like you.” I’m very sorry to read this, especially after you have contributed so much to the WoW community, and I assume will continue to do so until you get bored with WoW.
They were great pieces, I especially liked the Healing UIs. With both of them, I felt that you really tried to get a wide range of people and their chosen methods to best represent as much of the WoW player base as possible.
Ya know, I can’t say I’m surprised at this. Remember how long it took us to find out who sang the Lament of the Highbourne song? Even in the BC collectors edition video they never referred to her by name, nor was she anywhere on the credits even though they did say that she brought everyone to tears on the first take.
It wasn’t until Blizzcon that we found out it was Vangie Gunn.
For the time and effort involved in your part to contribute to the article (remuneration not being an issue in my mind) you should have had your name listed somewhere within the magazine as contributing to the article, whether attached a by-line or the “lost maze” of names in the back of some publications.
Part of what is bothering me about the situation is not the lack of a by-line per se, but your obvious lack of fore-knowledge that your articles would not be credited to you in print. While you can definitely still use the experience and articles on a resume, it never hurts to have media publications intended for a consumer market with your name on it ^^
I wish you luck in future endeavors of this kind–it sounds like you had a truly mixed experience.
.-= Windsoar´s last blog ..Data Needed =-.
Obviously without knowing the full situation (nor asking for for details) it’s not possible to give a reliable opinion on this. Even so it is simply bad form and insulting not to credit you for your works, and indeed other people for theirs. Not only that it sounds like the backstory has had quite an effect. I’m sorry to hear about all this, Matt :S
Against that, though – congrats on having been approached and then putting two great articles together in response.
.-= Mimetir´s last blog ..Juddr: @johnnieingram Cakes? Where are mine, hm? =-.
It’s obvious that you won’t/can’t talk about the details, so I won’t press you for them, but it absolutely sucks that they are essentially stealing your hard work. I have lost a ton of respect for Blizzard as a company after reading this. As someone who might like to write print herself one day, this is incredibly offensive.
Congrats on writing the articles though!
You’re, erm, not the only one.
Unfortunately, this goes with the territory: Blizzard’s extremes are extreme. Perhaps true perfectionists can only be loved, not give love?
Further confuse product with company (you know, the cute gnomes that staff technical support?), and the whole experience must be numbing.
But never forget that Blizzard is 4000-odd people, and I’m sure more than a few of them like what you do. That and, “I wrote stuff and got screwed” is actually better work experience than “I wrote stuff”.
More generally, I am beginning to get the impression that just about everyone involved in this Magazine would be happier if Blizzard had restricted its franchising efforts to Pandaren car seat covers (to re-phrase Samwise).
.-= Tim Howgego´s last blog ..Taking El to the Clouds =-.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=22418632956&pageNo=4#70
Congratulations on publication – and the article looks terrific. I agree it’s good experience and will look awesome on a CV but, on the other hand, I think it’s genuinely outrageous they don’t credit the hard work and talent of their writers. Politics bedamned. Yes, I know ‘real world’ ‘doesn’t work that way’ blah blah blah but still…unless I’d agreed well in advance I’d be unbelievably cheesed off if someone published my work without acknowledgement of my authorship. Also you deserve better, you really do – your blog is one of the pillars of the community, and I reckon is the last, best hope for my decicedly average healing 🙂
Did you get paid for the articles? In which case it’s not plagiarism, so people should stop that line of thought. Unless of course you didn’t. However, I do feel your pain that you didn’t get a credit – you can (and should) still throw it on your CV though.
Gratz on the great articles !
Don’t let you get down by those at Blizzard refusing to give you credit for your work. I think many people in these comments said it better than I would : keep up with the writing !
I wonder though who are the other bloggers who have been put aside like you… Blizzard people are weird…
Gratz again ! 🙂
Penny: Yeah, I still do get paid for them. At least, I hope so. Cheque hasn’t arrived yet. Its… an interesting story. I’d like to share it one day, but for now out of respect, I can’t.
Anyway, since some of you have asked:
http://yfrog.com/jximg0848j