Kill Screen Is No Fun

Issue 1 of the budding indie magazine calls itself “The No Fun Issue”. It’s correct—it isn’t very fun at all. I say that completely without criticism. In case you’re not convinced that I’m not bashing it then I’ll clarify: Kill Screen is a fantastic magazine and you had better read a copy this very instant. I like its name too. I personally think it sounds like a Newspeak term. The other day when I was wearing my Kill Screen t-shirt someone asked me if it was a band. It’s the kind of name that grabs your attention. Now on to what I actually wanted to talk about.

When I usually pick up a magazine nothing special happens. It’s a magazine just like every other magazine and it has pictures and words just like every other magazine. I’ll look at the cover and see what’s so special about this particular issue and if I see something I like or even if I don’t then I’ll go ahead and flip through it until I find something that catches my interest. I’ll read the magazine backwards or forwards or both. If there’s an article I really like then I might read it again. Sometimes I’ll just reread the articles again just because I have nothing better to do. There’s no right or wrong way to read a magazine. It’s just a fun pastime.

Kill Screen isn’t just like any other magazine. It doesn’t mix in with the pile of other pre-digital paper products I keep piled up—I make sure I keep it separate because I know that each issue is special. When I pick it up I’m careful not to damage any pages. I read the cover, the inside cover, the table of contents, the list of names who made the issue possible, and every word of every article, caption, name, pull quote, disclaimer, and advertisement. It’s like a holy book—I didn’t want to miss a word that it contained. I consumed the entire issue in solemnity. It was a great magazine, but it wasn’t very fun.

This is not at all the fault of anyone involved in the issue’s production. I don’t know whose fault it is or even if it’s anyone’s fault. Maybe this is how Kill Screen is supposed to be read, I don’t know. All I know is that Kill Screen is a special magazine, and perhaps it’s a little too special. It’s what videogame culture really needs right now: a real magazine that runs real articles about real life. There isn’t anything else quite like it at this moment in time. And that’s a shame.

I really sincerely hope that Kill Screen takes off and continues into the distant future, or at least creates a legacy of similar publications. I don’t want The No Fun Issue to just become a quirky artifact from the year 2010. I want to be able to pick up an issue and just read it like a normal magazine. Kill Screen isn’t normal though, at least not right now.

This post has been written by John on the blog Games Aren't Numbers. You can read more on the Home page and the Archive. Feel free to share your thoughts about this post using the commenting tools below!

I read the summaries of the articles, and I agree -- that sounds like a very interesting magazine, exactly the sort of thing that I'd like to read.

I'm not sure what it says about me, though, that I balked at the $20 price point. Maybe I'm just so used to the internet, where places like Eegra and even your own blog can be read for free. Not to say that I think people like you shouldn't be paid for your hard work and insight, just that I'm not used to being the one to do it. Maybe it's just that it's been years since I've bought a magazine and $20 sounds a little high to me. Offhand, I'm guessing they aren't supported by advertisements to the degree that other magazines are? Maybe it's just that I don't think of a magazine as being a durable investment in the same way that a book is. I've bought dozens of magazines in my life, but I'm not in the habit of keeping them, not even the really good ones.

I might come around just because this is the sort of thing I'd like to support. I just wish it was more of an impulse proposition for me.

The $20 price point is a little high, though it's worth pointing out that the magazine is a solid ~100 pages, without ads, printed on high quality paper, with real binding so you can stick the magazine on a book shelf for posterity. It's not some cheap little thing.

It's also worth pointing out that you're paying for legitimately good writing, written by (in many cases) professional writers, and submitted to a rigorous editorial process. No offense to this blog or any other, but it really is refreshing to read a gaming magazine where the writing itself displays real craftsmanship and polish. Blogs, by their nature, are going to be a little more casual, a little more off-the-cuff. That's fine, of course - blogs serve a different purpose - but IMO there's a real audience out there for long-form, well-crafted articles.

Yeah, I'm sure the price reflects the quality. I don't want to accuse them of being unreasonable so much as accuse myself of being cheap.

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