A MagicDuel Newspaper

[myrrh]

Hi, normally I wouldn't be introducing myself, but I know I am virtually unknown to all of you. I'm still in Golemus as a newbie who joined a few days ago and it seems it's severed from the mainland. But I was talking with a few older players who suggested that I try make a role for myself as a reporter in response to my numerous questions.

At first, I was dubious (I'm still not sure the person who suggested it was serious or meant something else). As luck would have it, I was the editor-in-chief for my highschool newspaper and I know the amount of sweat and blood it takes to produce even a small tabloid. One for a small roleplaying game in alpha? But after reading the forums over the last 24 hours (quite interesting), I'm convinced that there is material to be written about in a regular newspaper for this unique game, as it seems to have a very complex community and frequent developments.

My question is whether or not the community actually wants one. A newspaper is nothing without readership.

[Chewett]

[Redacted]

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
Redacted

[Burns]

what about seeing the newspaper as advanced AL?
i'm sure you (myrrh, i naturally assume you are editor in chief^^) could find loads of reporters writing about events for you, both what really happens and they have witnessed AND (much cooler) all sorts of pieces that improve people's personal role^^

the really hard work for you would be coordinating your permanent reporters and choosing which (amateur-) article should come out first, because you will be flooded with pieces if the idea comes out =D

maybe manu could even make a new part of the 'right side'( where rpc list and AL are now) with the 'MD post' or whatever you want to call it

[myrrh]

I can sense that spoilers would be inappropriate, seems like this game is kind of strict on it. I'm not exactly sure if it would be similar to the Adventure Log (AL, right?) because I still haven't really seen the game's roleplaying aspect and wouldn't know how to integrate that in a newspaper. I also don't want to step on the Archivist's toes. But maybe something like that would be possible. It also could be a newspaper that is about ingame roleplaying events as if they are real. But like the other person said, it might not fit in with the game's fantasy theme.

As for putting it in the right sidebar, not sure--that's not really like a newspaper. I was thinking of making a one-sheet spread formatted like real newspapers that would be uploaded regularly, and maybe expanded into a bigger size as time goes on.

Another option is to have it about game development rather than be strictly roleplaying, e.g. a story about the current debate about the dojo I read about. A newspaper is supposed to be a public forum for the community, kind of like this forum site here, so it could also showcase creative work (art, stories, poems) of players or their opinions about current game events in letters. It might seem like a bit of a stretch but in actuality, I think it would be a lot easier than finding things to write about for a school newspaper.

It could be a mix of all these ideas, or it could just be forgotten. I haven't seen enough of the game to really get a good idea of what the newspaper would be like if it did come into creation, but I wanted to see what others thought before I started getting ahead of myself. In truth, I'm a little surprised; I swore to myself that I wouldn't mess with journalism and its pain after high school... but it would be a unique experience for me (its educational value would also justify spending time on a game when I'm loaded with college work), and probably more fun than working on a school newspaper.

[Muratus del Mur]

we allready have too much text around here...but if it involves images it could work. Maybe indeed sort of a extended AL, like a small history page from time to time that will put together some important events, some gossip, some site changes and so on, but only if it comes together with images, artworks, whatver, and i am not talking about screenshots. Yuo should talk this with Glordamar and see if he has available artists to back this up. It could be presented as a weekly newsleter, with a nice newspaper looking template. just a thought.

[myrrh]

I know; I always had to worry about text-heavy pieces since the general student body in my high school didn't really like long stories and preferred visuals. My next step if people express interest would be to recruit staff, including artists; I can't draw well or make decent graphics, I can only format things into a layout.

A weekly issue sounds nice, but I doubt I could pull that off with my real life schedule, or at least not without some very dedicated staff who could help me out a lot.

[Metal Bunny]

Remember that weekly isn't hard if it is just 1 page per week. Because really, more than 3 big developments per week is probably not going to happen. Because if it is, I'll just stop trying and worship Mur as the one true god.... Mmmmmmh my precious.....
Anyway, it's a great idea IMO and I believe it doesn't necessarily have to be roleplaying-esque, maybe the head editor who plays as an inquisitive player ingame. And yes.. More pictures would make Bunny happy.
Also, to prevent stepping on toes, I think it is best if this paper, should it come, would be more of a commentary on the game's development. I suggest, should you do this, to make a section in the forum where suggestions and comments on issues adressed by the head man can be posted.

However that is me getting ahead of myself, you first need to get to know the game, then Mur has to approve your drafts, along with pictures in it, once you get some artists. Ofcourse, deciding if you even want to do this is... Probably more important

[myrrh]

You can be the reporter that's writing a story every week then. (: Or, if you draw well, the artist. Maybe I underestimate certain players' devotion for this game. However, I'm not against trying a little newsletter every week. I'm a masochist who likes to challenge himself, and perhaps it will be less hard than I think.

I'm a wary of the roleplaying in this game, so making a role for myself in it is not a priority for me, and neither is making the newspaper about roleplaying. My interest is piqued by the game's development, however, so I am leaning towards that direction for now. I don't quite know how to make a section in the forum, though that suggestion doesn't sound bad. Note though that I don't just want forum members in the newspaper; I also want to represent players ingame--I notice there seems to be relatively little who are very faithful in voicing themselves here, though collectively it's impressive enough.

I haven't received anything solidly negative yet for the idea, and if I don't later then I plan to get back to this after I get out of Golemus. But please continue telling me your thoughts.

[dst]

I also like the idea. And until a place on the game will be available maybe you can use the forum for uploading it. Also, if you don't have enough ideas for the paper...just throw in an interview (cache someone, ask him/her some questions and tada! you have an article).

[Grido]

what about e-mailing it out? then people can recieve it if they sign up to it (dont know where the sign up button would be) and it doesnt take up extra space on the page in game then

[Burns]

but sending it out as ingame-message would take a huge amount of server space, and sending them out to the out-game e-mail seems a bit...strange...
facing the fact that most of us use spam-mails for signing up to games for safety reasons, i think some wouldn't even find the cool paper between all the crap flooding in all the time...

[myrrh]

Um, actually, I wasn't really thinking about this newspaper thing being integrated into the game; it could just be a little informal something for the community rather than official work for the game. I was planning to do as Grido said, in a way, basically have some people sign up (with email of their choice) if they'd like to receive the issues whenever they come out and hope word spreads so anyone who would be interested in it would be able to access at their leisure. And I was also going to upload/link it on the forums for those who check the forums regularly anyway so they wouldn't need to have it sent to their email.

On a side note, I've gotten out of Golemus and I'm going through the Paper Cabin tutorial now.

[Muratus del Mur]

you prepare it and let me worry how to distribute it
I think its a good ideea to make it like a history page of game development and evolution, a mixture between story, social and technical evolution of the game. It can include important things discussed on the forum, newslog entries, head contest winners, story changes if important, funny moments from chat, etc etc etc.

one page wont be enough i guess:) but lets try at all cost to keep it at one page. I think this has great potential if made right and its also a good opportunity for players to get involved in the community and help. Maybe having a nice template and make it as a PDF will make it easy to print a hard copy of it by who wants to keep it, i for sure will do so. Such pages could easy become a collectible thing.

I can add a code to each page that in turn will give a stats increase, basicaly all you need to do is to get the weekly paper and activate its code, same thing as it was with the calendar, if you remember it. In other words to reward players for their constant activity even if it means reading the newspaper.

I want to go even further with this, what if we simulate a real newspaper print, and have a limited number of copies available each week (calculated based on active player number or somethign else). That would make some editions limited and it will also make it possible to give separate serials to each page and organize a lottery based on that.

Lets give you a boost in this direction I am offering a [b]substantial[/b] in-game credits startup budget and a stats rewards pack for you to distribute to participants in this project and reward them for their efforts. So you can start recruiting people. Also if things go well, i forsee a guild of editors comming to shape and an other new social formation (i dont know the term).

Please contact me by ymsg to discuss rules on rewarding people and guild management. Shoeps will give you my address when you will show him this post.

p.s. dont get involved in this project if you are not sure you will have time to manage it, because i plan to torture you with it , at least untill we establish a format.

[Peace]

I also would like to provide any assistance I can.

I know that I am here for like 1 month and some days yet I am one of the most active players here along with others and this came up to be very handy. I got some ideas myself, along with scripts and artwork (if Glor lets me of course) and I would gladly share them once the main editor desides it *winks*

A very good idea I must say :good:

[Udgard]

Well, I would say that this is a very nice idea.
After reading previous posts, I am sure that this can be done, and to think about it, there is a LOT of materials to write. Personally, I would suggest a once/twice a month issue, as I am sure that timezone and RL problems would often kick in and prevent things from being done faster than that (if we want to put a substantial amount of news in it, unless we want to make just liek a daily newsflash).

Let's see, I think we can put :

1. A daily quote of the week (of the biweekly, or of the month, actually) consisting of chosen posts from the "How addicted are u to MD?" and Yami's funny quote list.

2. A heads contest of the month report (probably best if written by those who participate on the contest at the time)

3. An article about the summary of ongoing storylines in the AL, and probably comments about it from some contributors. Plus, a teaser from the archivists writing the story maybe?

4. Of course, news on game development.

5. Strategy Compendium. This could probably come in the form of an article concerning a certain creature and various tricks on using it on a ritual. Well, if this is not considered too much of a spoiler, that is.

6. A sneak peek on the next batch of avatars.

7. Selected stories about events that happened in the game, such as Role-Playing events. (I would limit this only to important events, though)

8. A quiz of the week. Think of it as a weekly (again, I would rather see it becoming a biweekly/monthly) RPC quest. The difference being that this is a Quest set up by the newspaper agency. Maybe make it not too hard, with only minor rewards, so we can involve many players on it(not just the geniuses xD).

9. Important Calendar events. (once the Calendar feature gets worked on again, that is)

10. And.. etc. There's still a lot other if we want to think of it, and I really think that this has a lot of potential.

I really think that this has a lot of potential, and you have my full support, myrrh. My time is yours if you ever have a need for it. I am looking forward to seeing how the Newspaper would fare in this realm.

[Grido]

if you recall myrrh, i was one of the players who said about making a newspaper answered sooo many questions during that time

i would quite like to be part of the team on the newspaper, i can write quite well if given a topic to write about, and i'm also quite a good proof reader if needed. i love to see new things happening in this game and *always* want to be a part of them .

but whatever happens i'll make sure to get a copy whenever it comes out, even if it means bribary

[Chewett]

[Redacted]

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
Redacted

[myrrh]

[quote name='King Manu' post='21285' date='Dec 5 2008, 08:11 AM']p.s. dont get involved in this project if you are not sure you will have time to manage it, because i plan to torture you with it , at least untill we establish a format.[/quote]

I think I got myself into something scary.

More seriously, though, I might not be the best candidate in terms of availability--not to mention I think I have a lot to discover about the game before I can say I have a good feel of it (just got out of tutorial). I'm willing to try and I'm sure it will be exciting no matter what happens, but if there's someone else out there who's well-acquainted with journalism, maybe he'd be better for heading the project.

I agree that there is a lot of material that could be used. A major part of creating the newspaper will be deciding what to include, and I will have trouble with this, I think. Anyone could be helpful in the project, even if they can't write well; simple reporting could be a simple copy and paste of chat or private message. If nothing else, they can act as advisers or sources for the fledgling newspaper. A bigger staff will mean easier production.

I think I ought to wait until I can reach Manu before I start recruiting or any planning anything (at school comp right now, so I don't have yahoo messanger) but it would be helpful if word was spread about a potential newspaper in case someone ingame would be interested in helping or just discussing it but doesn't really check the forums. I have limited acquaintance with anyone in the game at this point.

And thank you Grido for being so patient with a new player! The community in this game is so unique, even to the point that it would warrant a newspaper, and I have to say this is the first time in a long period a game has caught my interest so much.

[Grido]

*smiles* it's in my job description, there are a lot of players who ask silly questions, yours were sensible if exhausting so i thank you

i dont know about journalism, but i can help you with how the game started etc.. like Chewitt said he can, i'm sure you'll find a lot of people have the information but not the know how to put it all together

[stormrunner]

this is a nice idea just becareful what you write it be bad if a secret got out because of it and someone had to quiet things down :diablo:

[Burns]

i'm an awful journalist myself, but i can help you gathering information and maybe even improve my skills on the field of writing whilst helping you^^
And i know what is spoilerish and what isn't, so for that matter i would gladly help you, maybe as with a gossip column from willows...
sometimes, there' really funny stuff happening in chat, and readers at willow's sometimes know what's going to happen in the future before others do =)

[myrrh]

Gossip column How slanderous!

I know what you mean though :b There are a lot of light items which could work well in a MagicDuel newspaper, the trouble will be deciding which of them will go into it, especially if we're limited to one page. I'll probably rely on your guys' input when apple-picking season comes around; I'm rather indecisive without advice.

And as to journalism.. in truth, I'm probably not much better than you, just have a little more knowledge from a few years of experience. Right, I was editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper, but that was because our school lacked talent (it generally does, it's in a poor area) and I happened to do homework for my beginning journalism class in freshman year, unlike the rest of the students in it. So we will be learning together.

That doesn't mean I don't have things to teach, although you could probably learn them better from someone else. I'm especially looking forward to training some willing (or unwilling, hehehe) people in newswriting, which is rather strict in style. Don't be surprised if I eventually create our own little stylebook, either; you're lucky you didn't get someone like my old newspaper advisor starting this project. He wouldn't let anyone write "said he" because he wanted to communicate who was saying it as directly as possible. It makes sense, but it doesn't leave room for an awful lot of variety. Anyway, I was trained by him..

[Kragel]

myrrh i remember you and all the questions you were asking and when grido and i were answering you im glad you took the suggestion go reporting and did this with it and with mur backing the idea already that's awesome

i will be happy to work with glor and you in sending some art works in if needed let me know ill message glor to let him know im up for it tho


keep up the good work and dont let it over whelm you delegate :yahoo:

i look forward to the first edition

Kragel
The Metal Mage

[MRnegative6]

News papers...hmm, interesting idea...i personally think its a big project...hard to keep...going?

Not sure how the news will work properly since its almost impossible to record any news...but i am for this idea if we can solve these problems...

Either way i think the news would not be...open for all as in...everyone may have a chance to be part of the news paper, but...id say certain players would be on the news all the time instead...is this newspaper going to be like foxnews? Heavily slanted towards one side or? Equal as in...a fair news about everyone in the game or just towards the RPCs?

I could help out...but im a bit unsure if im capable of helping out but im here if anyone wants help.

[myrrh]

Sorry for the questions, Kragel :b And yes, I was hunting for Glor but couldn't find him; where is he usually? Maybe if all else fails you can be our median for communication

Mr: Hmm.. it's certainly a big project, and I think I'm more uncertain than most about whether this will work or not because I know how much would have to go into making one, and we might have to make it come out less often. But what's to stop us from trying?

As for news, I don't know what you mean. I think that news might be a tough one because it's rather dry; a lot happens in MD, but I don't see much more that can be full news stories except developments which cause diverse reactions or really impact the game. Otherwise I can see it being limited to briefs and features being dominant.

Bias might be a problem, since I think everyone probably has issues they take a side on, and material we write about might be about those controversial issues. I'm a stickler about bias, but sometimes it's hard to tell--it's not necessarily in the tone, it could be in the points that are presented (and that are not). Sometimes even the biased person doesn't know his bias. But my goal is to aid communication, so I'll try my best to see that it won't happen. I think I'll be writing news for a while, too, unless someone else already knows the basics.

You can definitely help out, I believe, maybe minor reporting or just input prior to release if you don't want to take on drawing/writing or something else. But this all has to be decided after I sort some things out and get to Mur, which seems to be a little tough because of our different timezones (though he stayed up late tonight to lecture ).