Create miniature bulletin boards that the graphics say NEWS, but instead of having the text over it, make it a sign that players can touch. It would be created just like a staff-block.

This, along with proper placement(not in the middle of a damn street) would be a huge improvement and just as easily done.

Make the staffblocks invisible! yay.

The load of the image of staff blocks does lag. It used to cause horrid lag on my old pc, and it still causes some on my new pc which is top of the line fallout 3 ultra graphics setting. Seriously its not hard to even just do an invisible npc with drawunderplayer for the blocks..

I have a question for you. Where are all these staff blocks that you're complaining about? There's one on top of the weapon shop which just tells you where to send in your graphics to get uploaded and the format in which to do it in.

Walk around the more secluded areas no one goes to that often.

So this got me wondering:

Whose the idiot who set the standard for using blocks to announce a message?
At the least use a sign image >_>

Which is also in the information tab in the news gui :\

As you didn't quote anyone, I assume you're directing this at me.

I think I saw 4 around OSL alone.

Yes sir. I agree

2 crono luv tsadmin

Hahaha, nice one TSA. Been a while.

That defeats the purpose of having the blocks block....

Its not like the blocks are in the way of walking around, so what would making them not block do?

Can someone name a few scenarios or instances where staff blocks have been used and what purpose they served.

1. to block players from hotel because of glitch
2. to have important announcements at unstick me on the roofs of buildings. Such as how to properly send an image to be uploaded

Thanks.

For something like this I would have thought that a solution that meets the theme would have been obvious. Remove the warp link in the actual level and place a "closed" sign on the door? Place shutters over the windows? Board the place up? Place an NPC "member of staff" outside saying that the building is currently being renovated? Something that isn't breaking the 4th wall.

Most people would read the information GUI to get things like graphic uploads, it is pretty common sense that the information would be there. I don't really see a need for this block at all. Important announcements or changes could be announced by newspaper boys/girls spread around different points of the server selling papers and acting like a ticker of current headlines and need-to-knows.

this was a pointless topic

How is it pointless?

that's a pretty good idea to replace staff blocks blocking off areas, but the blocks would still be good for emergency purposes.

I agree, staff blocks can be useful for short term problems but when something is genuinely going to take a while to sort out then other methods should be used, unlike what happens currently. Perhaps a staff tool that can lay something along the lines of what I suggested? :p

Ya, I get on every couple of months and see the same staff blocks blocking off closed hotels and crap on the southern side. I mean what's so hard about putting up a closed door?

Doors perhaps should be scripted so staff can easily lock/unlock them by special mouse/keyboard combo. That way if something is closed, all they have to do is click on a door to lock it and not block it off with staff blocks.

Exactly @ Rufus & Dusty.

The staff block is only supposed to be used in emergency situations. For example a store is glitched, a staff member will block it off with the staff blocks until a developer or someone else with level rights can log on and remove the door's link.

People would complain about Newspaper boys/girls just as much.

And why do all that work to the mall when its only temporarily down.

And not many read the news gui, else the block wouldnt be there. But sad thing, even WITH blocks there, people send them in incorrect :asleep: some people are just....

-5 Points
That shold definitely be under an info tab.

And there's a reason why certain people are picked to be Player Relations.
Being a dev is much more fun, you can call someone stupid because it's not your job to hold their hand through an easy situation :D

How long is temporary? Anything longer than a day should be properly fixed up and closed. And knowing Era, temporary could mean months so, meh.

I think you're missing the point Crono is trying to make. The complaint isn't about the amount of information that is being given, it is about the methods used to display that information. Staff blocks are a lazy way and they don't fit in with the theme of the server, where as paperboys/girls selling papers on the streets would. Currently you purchase newspapers straight from the Era News building, and this kind of transaction doesn't happen in real life, you buy papers from people selling them on the streets with little stalls, in shops, or you get them delivered. If there was various points where papers were sold on the streets, the NPCs could announce the latest headlines whilst shuffling in the "important" messages that the staff feel players need to know.

I'm going off on a little tangent here, but I believe that the Era News building should be reserved as a corporate area. I think that a job should be offered here too; delivering newspapers within a time frame, with the amount of time you take determining the amount you make. Imagine a little paperpersons job, similar to that of the letter delivering. Hell they could even give people little bikes after you've worked there a while and it'd be a good way of giving new players easy access to better transportation, also meaning that they don't just get plowed when they leave the hospital.

It wouldn't be a lot of work if generic systems came into play like the ones suggested by myself or Dusty, but again I wasn't really condemning the use of staff blocks, only encouraging them not to be used long term.

This still doesn't justify the use of staff blocks in the middle of the setting for this purpose. When you play on a game, you don't see huge instructions placed in the middle of some random roof, because it ruins the setting. Whenever there is doubt players should always be checking the options.

I agree, I dislike the idea of Era News selling the newspapers right from their head office.
I think the newspapers should be sold from little vending machines on the street:
http://www.janchipchase.com/20070817...0023-thumb.jpg

These vending machines would need to be stocked by era news people.
Also I like the idea of players being able to order a newspaper subscription delivered right to their house. Although I think this system might need to be npc controlled, where the newspaper will just appear on the front step of your house. I don't know if player delivery people would be reliable enough.

I'll just have to say that every professional game has something called presentation. This is of course... how the game presents itself. Better quality games tend to present itself in a professional manner, immersing the player in the world, making them feel like they're in the game instead of playing one. The better the game is in presentation, generally the better the player feels about the game.

Era, and Graal servers in general, tend to lack any positive presentation. Little things like this can change the overall look of a server in such a positive way it's not even funny. Small details add up, remember that. Even if they seem minor if you have a bunch of redeeming small details, players will appreciate it and the server will benefit from it.

Changed my mind with this. To make the job a little less like mail delivery, you should receive a bike for the period of time in which you're delivering newspapers and then return it. Once you've done a certain amount, the Era News place could give you it as a gift to use outside of the job.

I like the idea =D

I thought of an idea to make this idea possible while keeping it player run.
A player would be able to buy a month long subscription to era news. He pays, say, 1k for the month of delivery. This money is controlled by an NPC for the next month. The 1k is taken by npc and put in an npc bank account that neither customer or era news can access. For every paper that is delivered to the customers mailbox, 100g is automatically withdrawn from the npc account and given to the era news safe. At the end of the month the customer will receive the leftover money from the npc account. (if there is any)
Also something will have to be scripted to prevent the paper boys from delivering the same paper more than once.

This solves the problem of a customer paying for delivery, and getting ripped off by lazy paper boys. : )

I especially like to do this with people like you.

wow, i love how you have to disagree with EVERYTHING that EVERYONE says.. don't be so negative.

I want my red staff blocks back.

Now those babies stuck out like a sore thumb. :cool:

Realistically, I wouldn't be shooting be in the streets of a city and gain points and revive when I die. I didn't lose focus of what crono was saying about blocks. My point im trying to claim to i suppose is that it isn't a big deal

if you think that it isn't a big deal/don't care about it, don't post. they're worthless posts if you're just arguing that it doesn't matter.

This thread is a worthless thread, and yet it was posted?

Yea, get out of here with your opinions! :rolleyes:

wow, this thread is not a worthless thread. the overuse of staff blocks are actually lagging me.

well, why would you argue that it doesn't matter? pointless.

It's already been said, this has nothing to do with realism, but presentation.

era already looks stupid enough with the sudden changes of water colours, so we might as well get rid of the uglyness step by step, starting with the randomly placed blocks.