''Polyglot'' was a biweekly online newsletter about the game hobby industry that ceased publication in 2012. It contains official

press releases A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

put out by

roleplaying game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

, miniatures,

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

LARP A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique feature ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

, and

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

companies. It is published for free as a downloadable

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

. Polyglot is published by Polymancer Studios, Inc., a Canadian publisher that also prints Polymancer magazine. It was announced on July 19, 2007, that Polyglot would include

editorials An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, such ...

and product reviews. The webzine's publisher has not previously endorsed the inclusion of original or editorial content. In the second anniversary issue (the filename for which indicates it was placed on the company's server on March 8, 2007), the publishers of Polyglot stated that there have been over 600,000 "unique downloads" of Polyglot since March 2005. This was stated in the 53rd issue of the webzine (similar press releases have been mad
in other outlets
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=18904

which likely means that the statement was made about the previous 52 issues combined. This equates to roughly 11,538 downloads per issue.

Format

''Polyglots issues were numbered in a volume/issue format that is similar to how printed

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

are numbered; that is, not sequentially. For example, the 27th issue of Polyglot was not "Polyglot issue #27" but "Polyglot Volume #2 Issue #1." ''Polyglot'' was formatted as a US letter size PDF. It is divided into two sections, one for "traditional" games (the term the company uses to describe RPGs, card games, board games, miniatures, etc.) and one for "digital" games. Every page of Polyglot has a banner image of the top containing Polyglot's

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

. There are two different logos, one for the "traditional" gaming section and one for the "digital" gaming section. The front page of each of the two sections has a slightly larger logo. The "traditional" gaming section's logo has the slogan "the language of gaming" and the digital section's logo simply says "digital section." In both sections, the logos have different colors on each page, repeated in sequence (there are 5 different colors for the "traditional" section" and 4 for the "electronic" section). The first 12 issues of ''Polyglot'' (i.e., Volume #1 Issues #1 to #12) did not have any images in them other than the Polyglot "traditional" section logos. Starting in Volume #1 Issue #13, images of games, game company logos, and convention photographs have appeared in the newsletter. There was no "digital" section in Polyglot until Polyglot Volume #1 issue #25. The first computer game press release appeared in the previous issue alongside press releases for "traditional" games. A

table of contents A table of contents, usually headed simply Contents and abbreviated informally as TOC, is a list, usually found on a page before the start of a written work, of its chapter or section titles or brief descriptions with their commencing page number ...

first appeared in Volume #1 Issue #25 as well, the first one with clickable internal hyperlinks was in Volume #2 Issue #4. Most

URL A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed as a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifie ...

s in Polyglot press releases are clickable. Many of the items that appear in the newsletter have contact information for the game company or the

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists who ...

who issued the press release. Often (but not always), the writers are attributed. As of November 1, 2007, the largest issue of Polyglot to date was Polyglot Volume #3 Issue #9 at 65 pages.

Impact

''Polyglot'' has grown over its history from a 3-page PDF of all text to as large as 65 pages with over 50 press releases and as many as 91 images in Volume #3 Issue #9; the PDF's file size ranges was 5.3 megabytes. More than 100 companies (see below) have sent material to Polyglot over the course of the webzine's first 55 issues. Stephen V Cole of Starfleet Games identified Polyglot as one of the "People Who Will Contact You" in his

online book An online book is a resource in book-like form that is only available to read on the Internet. It differs from the common idea of an e-book, which is usually available for users to download and read locally on a computer, smartphone or on an e-re ...

about how to run a game company. He advises game companies to "ask them to tell you the kind of information they want... and give it to them." (The reference is to "Polymancer" but this is incorrect, that being the name of a separate publication by the same company.) Mr. Cole has also stated in his blog that "If you really want to know what's going on in the adventure game industry, you can't do better than" reading Polyglot. Polymancer Studios has encouraged other companies in the game business to adopt professional press release writing techniques such as using the

inverted pyramid Inverted pyramid may refer to: * Inverted pyramid (journalism), a metaphor in journalism for how information should be prioritized and structured in a text * Inverted pyramid (management), also known as a "reverse hierarchy", an organizational st ...

in a

style guide A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gene ...

on their web site. A press release by Polymancer Studios in Polyglot Volume #3 Issue #1 indicated that this has had the effect that the company intended. Polyglot was distributed freely on other game companies' websites.Polyglot Volume #1 Issue #14 retrieved from On The Line Games Company website http://www.pizzaboxfootball.com/pressreleases/polyglot_volume1_issue14_2005_09_03%201%20.pdf

Regular Contributors

Apart from editorials, Polyglot's only "contributors" are companies in the game industry. Their press releases are often signed by the company's owner or president. However, the computer game companies' press releases are typically signed by third party

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

and

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

consultants A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

. More than 100 companies have sent material to Polyglot since it first went online in March 2005 and as a result a full list of contributors would be long. The companies named below are a partial list. Roleplaying game companies that have had material posted in Polyglot include

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * Whi ...

Mongoose Publishing Mongoose Publishing is a British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, publishing material since 2001. Its licenses include products based on the science fiction properties '' Traveller'', ''Judge Dredd'', and ''Parano ...

Columbia Games Columbia Games is one of the oldest manufacturers of board wargames, and has also produced the '' Hârn'' role-playing game as well as various card games and collectible card games. Their wargames are notable for using small wooden or plastic blo ...

Eden Studios Eden Studios was a commercial recording facility in west London. It opened in 1967, originally at 11 Eden Street in Kingston upon Thames (now under the Eden Walk shopping centre), before moving to 20-24 Beaumont Road in Chiswick in 1972. It was ...

Paizo Publishing Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived ...

, and a large number of smaller "independent" game companies. Polyglot also regularly has had marketing and publicity material from

Mayfair Games Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to ''The Settlers of Catan'' ser ...

(known for

Settlers of Catan ''Catan'', previously known as ''The Settlers of Catan'' or simply ''Settlers'', is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as ''Die Siedler von Catan''. Pl ...

) and other

German game A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, (generally just referred to as board games in Europe) is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical componen ...

companies. Several miniatures companies also send to Polyglot (usually including color photos of their products) including

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

and Rackham Miniatures. Traditional wargame companies like

Amarillo Design Bureau Amarillo Design Bureau is a company which specializes in tactical and strategic board Wargaming, wargames. The company is a successor to Task Force Games, and is owned and operated by Steve and Leanna Cole, with partner Steve Petrick, and based i ...

and

Avalanche Press Avalanche Press is an American company that publishes board wargames and has published some role-playing game supplements. They have produced '' The Great War at Sea'' and '' ''Panzer Grenadier'' series'', as well as '' Red Parachutes'', one of ...

also have sent product announcements on a regular basis. Some

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

companies (e.g. Briarpatch),

conventions Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law * Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...

(e.g.

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

), game industry

professional associations A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and the ...

(e.g. GAMA, and

film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

(e.g.

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

) have also had marketing material appear in Polyglot's "Traditional" gaming section. The various computer games that have been featured in Polyglot include

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and ar ...

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

(who have a game studio),

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

, and numerous smaller companies. Activision is the most frequent contributor, generally having several press releases, product announcements, and pages of screenshots or video stills placed in every issue of Polyglot (see various issues in the Notes below for examples of this).

Notes

{{Reflist, colwidth=33em Hobby magazines published in Canada Defunct magazines published in Canada Game magazines Magazines established in 2005 Magazines disestablished in 2012 Newsletters Role-playing game magazines 2005 establishments in Canada 2012 disestablishments in Canada