The Newspaper Idea.
 

This is something first brought to my attention as a joke on the GC forum, rather than a serious suggestion.
But having given it some thought, and discussed it, i really like the sound of it.

I am aware that atleast one other server has its own type of newspaper, although i have no idea what it looks like, how it works, who runs it or what type of articles it publishes.

Anyway the proposal i'm hoping would be well recieved is quite simply to have a player + staff ran "Media Outlet".
There'd be a building which includes levels for "journalist" offices, with all the appropriate NPC characters for those involved, and a printing room containing a supposed production line, but ofcourse all of this would be an unimportant display.

The real business would be staff and players alike writing articles,
covering such things Development Updates, Staff Hirings, Events + Competitions (Monthly Spar for example), general gossip, interviews, random stories and general Graal news, and what we'd end up with as a Newspaper weapon NPC for players to buy.

There would have to be someone with reasonable scripting ability to put the articles in place and handle each release, but apart from that it could be entirely player handled, there could be an unofficial staff team, perhaps with a local guild tag who would do things like ask staff questions or hold interviews, but then anyone else could be free to submit random articles.

Firing the NPC would bring up a display onto the screen, and you would be able to scroll through the pages each showing a headline, the article text, and perhaps a picture.

There are quote alot of potential positive effects this could cause, such as:
Staff > Player communications could be improved.
Any person would be free to become involved with the project assuming they are capable.
Something refreshing/new could be provided on a frequent basis.
It could provide an aspect inwhich to include in an economy/businesses setup.
There's the possibility of the Newspaper being used as a collective objective inwhich to later obtain something of reward (promotions etc).

There has been a little work put towards this already just for the sake of demonstration, i think it's something realistic that could be maintained, but ofcourse it's important that this is something everybody would want in the first place, now yes this idea has nothing to do with gameplay, but it could ultimately be a positive step for the server, how many people feel that this is something worth pursuing?

I support you Thor.

If you do find a way to write articles + a easy way to get pictures, can I use it for Era News?:(

The pictures would most likely be partial screenshots which along with the headline + article text that makes up the article would go into a 2 dimensional array, everything else would then be handled by the same script.

I haven't put much thought into how Old Newspaper disposal would be handled yet, one idea was for it to blow in the wind like trash and perhaps smack into players faces, otherwise they could be collected up maybe towards recycling (ripoff i know) or promotional offers if not automatically deleted upon a new paper release.

Also, i am yet to decide on a supposed name for this paper, any suggestions?

Classic's News

Somewhat basic, and the paper wouldn't just be about news either.

I was leaning towards the idea of basing it off a location name:
Graal City Express,
Destiny Times,
Babord Metro
Delta Standard

etc

'Graal City Express' sounds more like the name of a train, but basing the name off a place in general does throw up lots of interesting name combinations, such as 'Nafets River News' and 'Mod Town Monthly'.

How about avoiding the whole place name tie-in though and going with something like 'The Graalian'. It's a name that encompasses the entire player base, and is even close enough to 'The Guardian' to sound like a blatant rip-off of a real newspaper. :D

I think the newspaper could be a fun idea but it needs to be moderated to ensure that articles do not harass anyone, or contain excessive language. Things like grammar and spelling could do with a quick check also, just to make sure the articles are easy to read. The problem is that once you appoint an editor to monitor these things, you open up the system for complaints about censorship. I hope people have some maturity about this, as it would be a shame to see a good idea spoiled. ^^

The Graalian? the graalian is overall. Graalians are players playing the game graal, not the server classic.
If you make a newspaper based on classic, it can also be named The Classican

Classic News Weekly. CNW for short.

We're trying to pull players to Classic. Going for a name that includes them while not being on the server would be a good thing.

Having worked(and I say worked because our teacher actually did work for a real newspaper so our process was very serious and realistic) for my school paper for 3 years(2 years as editor) I have to say the idea is nice but the level of writing material on Classic is pretty thin. You need big stories to catch reader eyes(Manager review would be nice for that right now but not later so just an example) followed with small stories that relate to the players.

Can we do that? What is worth reporting on Classic right now? (This isn't me saying it's a bad idea, this is a legit question).

You're forgetting that Classic was once Graal in it's entirety.
Should Graal City be renamed to Classic City?

indeed it should. Graal City was a big name in the past, now it's just a shameless name with nothing special to it. All thanks to the currently sitting managers and the ones managing before them.

Thanks to Tyhm?
Not to mention the fact i haven't been Manager for one week yet.

good idea

I probably wouldn't read it, but this would be a really creative way to put out news on updates that is more involving than the npcserver sending an automated message.

Neat

Thanks,
We're not using it.
:)

I don't like the bend in that :(.


The Graalian Times sounded nice. I think Death came up with it.

One of the players can be Paperboy and it'll be just like the game.

shut up shimmy

The Daily/weekly/monthly Classic

Nice but the page turn looks bothersome :(

Page turn looks awesome, otherwise it would just be plain.

Maybe that can be a feature when you actually have a mouseover to page turn? (Assuming you can turn pages with a mouse).


Also, Content would not make it plain.

I was thinking of putting an arrow on the top right corner where the second page peeks so you can click on it to turn the page...

However at the moment, classic has nothing noteworthy to publish. It shall remain that way until something amazing/miraculous happens.

It would be difficult to find consistently interesting content to write about, though it would possibly be manageable if it was a weekly thing and a good staff was assembled.

in recent news CTF was hosted again last night

I know something that you don't.

That's stupid.
There is enough to write about.
you could write about released stuff, management gossip or rumours.
You could write about events, like CTF's or other events.
You could add a reminder to the monthly spar that happens every month on classic (like a countdown page)
You could assign reporters, that have exclusive interviews with some of the longest sitting members or staff of classic (stryker or night or bell or other oldbies)
Everytime the news is updated to a newer one, you could add a walktrough or hint or tips page about a quest or item to get.
Or you could reveal secrets that barely anyone knows.
Add a graal wordseeker. (as in puzzle)

This is exactly what i had in mind actually,
it had even been contemplated for the Newspaper to start a side quest aswell:
"Lunatic Escapes From Babord Asylum", so for instance you head to Babord and there happens to be a bounty for "Little Prince" ;) which ofcourse you take up, it's a fun new way of implementing side content + easter eggs.

Would this newspaper be a daily newspaper or a weekly one? if so, you could also have a hint each weekly update.
let's say after 4 updates (4 weeks) you can assemble 4 hints that lead to a prize? or quest with a prize.

Daily...?

Impossible.

if we only had 3 quests for the past 4 years then i doubt they will be able to make that happend

That seems to be something that keeps getting overlooked by Higher ups laura, I do not think i'll ever understand why.

But I think a newspaper for classic should be weekly, people won't get tired of it, if it comes out weekly they'll want to read it every week it comes out to see all the stuff that classic has going for it in that week. People just have to be able to provide us with those updates first :) NO MISPRINTS!

Thanks Thor,
for using my own idea against me..

Only last time I suggested it, you said no one's going to work on it.

At least it's nice to know you listen.

By the way, could you get the template I made semi-working so I can see what I need to fix? I've asked this so many times on RC..


At the rate the newspaper's working out right now,
I was hoping it would be a monthly paper.

Having it be a monthly paper removes any innovative hype behind this paper.

Yes, having a monthly paper is for lack of a better term, retarded.

And pulling out half-assed stories/news in a span of 3-6 days isn't going to remove any innovated hype behind the paper?

I'd understand if it's just one column or a frontpage, but with all the other stuff to be added. IDK.

Quality not quantity. Let's not exhaust our creative juices.
(Plus, month goes by in a blink of an eye. A peron must have no life but Graal if he/she think it goes by that slow.)

Although a monthly paper would fit better in terms of the time in between news on classic (maybe it should be a yearly paper if we just covered releases,) I think a weekly paper would be much better. If the staff is good enough, it won't be filled with filler stories and junk mail. It will have well thought out content that will engage the audience, and perhaps some intelligent reporters will have a continual story going, ending at just the right moment to keep audiences waiting for next week's drama.

So yeah. A good staff should be able to make enough good articles for a weekly paper. Keyword = should. I guess we'll find out.

Quick thought, paper every two weeks instead of one? Discuss.