The West Newspaper - Yay or Nay?

  • Thread starter DeletedUser1105
  • Start date

Was it worth the effort in producing the newspaper?

  • Yes, keep up the good work!

    Votes: 35 81.4%
  • No, you've wasted your time.

    Votes: 8 18.6%

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .

DeletedUser1105

Hi all,

I just wanted to get an idea as to how the newspaper went down with everyone.

There were literally thousands of views on the thread that published the paper, but not a huge amount feedback (thank you to those that did leave a message, be assured your constructive critisism is being taken on board).

So, do you think the newspaper was good or not?
 

DeletedUser

1st vote :)

Yes, the newspaper was terrific, keep up the great work. I guess my expectations were wayyy lofty.

For the next issue:

  • More articles.
  • More interesting topics(history behind selling guns to indians wasn't all that exciting).
  • Better tips (tips from Guff didn't seem that great)
  • Zero mistakes (there were mistakes in Bat Masterson's world 1 data page)
  • More interviews, like 10, would be nice (there are plenty of players out there to just do 2 per issue)
  • More advertising for the public forums would be nice to maybe get more players on here and posting (links to the ideas and brainfarts/development discussion sections would probably be best since I never notice too much activity there, and I think some very reasonable and sound ideas need to get more discussion going. yes, i'm trying to advertise my idea for new character classes here lol)
  • Better layout and stuff (wasn't all that appealing to me. ugly brown background with boring looking small font)
  • More images and pictures would add a nice touch.
 
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DeletedUser

You should add another option: Don't really read newspapers
 

DeletedUser

then you would probably vote no since not reading newspapers means they wasted their time since you don't read them...
 

DeletedUser

Oh thats true. But i think they did a great job i just don't really read it.
 

DeletedUser1105

Thank you H&S. I'll take your comments on board.

I'll try to respond to each point:
More articles. I only have two 'full-time' article writers at the moment, so I can only expect two articles per month. I am hoping more people are going to submit articles now we are up and running.

More interesting topics(history behind selling guns to indians wasn't all that exciting). I found that article very interesting. For a game based on the wild west, the history behind it is interesting to a lot of people. What type of topics would you like to see?

Better tips (tips from Guff didn't seem that great). The answers to the questions were sound. This was the first issue so we had to make up the questions. We are hoping for geniune questions to be submitted to Guff for the next issue. If you disagree with the advice, please do PM me though because if get any 'mail' I am hoping to have a letters page in a future issue!

Zero mistakes (there were mistakes in Bat Masterson's world 1 data page) To be fair, there should not be mistakes but there are always going to be teething problems. I am not a really good editor (I am doing it because nobody else is doing it, basically). Once it's set up I am hoping to appoint an editor with a better eye for detail than me. I agree with you partially though, because for a fun, voluntary paper there are always going to be the odd mistake.

More interviews. It is a matter of space, because that interview took up 2 pages. I thought the paper was quite long, so another interview may have made it too big, do you not think? We are definately wanting to interview all the well known players. I also hope we can interview the developers at some stage.

More advertising for the public forums It is not a forum paper, it is a The West paper. On the pages that mention the forum there are links to the forum, but other than that there is not much more I can really do. We could always run an article about the ideas and brainfarts forum though - would that be a good compromise?

Better layout and stuff Gem coded it all and did a very good job. She is working on improvements to the next issue, including taking into account the comments about the layout, but this first issue was done in a rush because of time constraints.

More images and pictures would add a nice touch.
I agree. It isn't easy though, to find images that suit the stuff we are talking about. I am hoping that in future each page will have an image that relates to the page and also a small feature like the duel reports and the fort battle pictures and the excellent 'fake ads' that Dee created. I definately agree with you here though.
 

DeletedUser

i Voted the first one even though i dont read it i still like the design and it seemed like much effort was put into it. Nice job guys.
 

DeletedUser

I thought it was a great start, and have no doubt it will get even better as you get more experienced. I think you're doing a good job of editing - since one of my first thoughts was, "I didn't realize there were that many people here who could spell that well.";)
 

DeletedUser

first off, pardon my writing mechanics

personaly i thought the paper was great. like hotnsexy said the history stuff wasnt particularly interesting, but i guess thats cause its just not my cup of tea

I think it would be very cool to see made a politics section run on a specific world in each issue, really something to stir up some disscussion is what im getting at; something provacitive.

i also think that maybe their could be a topic set and have letters sent it, like editorials. example would be you announce at the end of the section, next months topic, zero motivation dueling, or the opening of new worlds. people would write in maybe how they like/dislike the 0 motivation [maybe thats not such and interesting top] or their opionins on how innogames oppend a ton of new worlds at first, then stagnated their oppening.

i liked the crosswords, though when i got stupmed i would have like to be able to get the answers.

i liked the redone town/empire ranks, that was maybe my favorite feature.

the advice column needed well, less answers too noobish questions.

on the subject of interviews you could have maybe one major page interview, and a couple of half page ones so you could have 3 or so an issue, just an idea for difference, i actualy quite liked the way it was done this time another possibility for my favorite section.

okay so this about wrapps up my post, thanks to anyone who actualy reads all the way through it, and good luck on the next paper em
 

DeletedUser

More articles.I only have two 'full-time' article writers at the moment, so I can only expect two articles per month. I am hoping more people are going to submit articles now we are up and running.

Oh. It seemed like there were plenty of writers....when there's talk about the newspaper staff and journalists, it made it appear like there were more than enough players writing.

More interesting topics(history behind selling guns to indians wasn't all that exciting). I found that article very interesting. For a game based on the wild west, the history behind it is interesting to a lot of people. What type of topics would you like to see?

History is boring imo. When you got a bunch of younger aged people playing this game, I don't think reading about history is very entertaining. I'm not really sure what other topics I would be interested in...if i think of something, i'll let you know.

Better tips (tips from Guff didn't seem that great). The answers to the questions were sound. This was the first issue so we had to make up the questions. We are hoping for geniune questions to be submitted to Guff for the next issue. If you disagree with the advice, please do PM me though because if get any 'mail' I am hoping to have a letters page in a future issue!

The response to the second question about being a dueler, worker, fort battler, whatever is iffy... I'm not aware of duelers who put points into reflex and tactics, and it says AP into mobility or charisma...what kind of dueler is that? Did he forget vigor/shooting, strength/dexterity? The answer was kind of just all over the place...

More interviews. It is a matter of space, because that interview took up 2 pages. I thought the paper was quite long, so another interview may have made it too big, do you not think? We are definately wanting to interview all the well known players. I also hope we can interview the developers at some stage.

I was actually expecting the paper to be much longer...
I thought it was quite short.

More advertising for the public forums It is not a forum paper, it is a The West paper. On the pages that mention the forum there are links to the forum, but other than that there is not much more I can really do. We could always run an article about the ideas and brainfarts forum though - would that be a good compromise?

yea, I saw those forums links at the bottom of pages and that's what I meant to do. I think an article about ideas/brainfarts and current ideas being voted on the development section would be neat. This game needs to get better.
 

DeletedUser1105

I think it would be very cool to see made a politics section run on a specific world in each issue

i also think that maybe their could be a topic set and have letters sent it, like editorials.

the advice column needed well, less answers too noobish questions.

on the subject of interviews you could have maybe one major page interview, and a couple of half page ones so you could have 3 or so an issue,

Yeah, we were going to have a PnP page, but we didn't have time for this issue. It's difficult to just come up with so I am hoping to run an 'advert' in the next issue asking specfically for this content. Like I said with the advice column we had to make the questions up for this issue - please do PM me with questions you have that you feel would be more advanced.

I was thinking of having a small, set question 'spotlight on' section for other interviews, but our interviewer quit at the last moment so we could't do that - but I'll see what I can do.

Oh. It seemed like there were plenty of writers.

History is boring imo.

The response to the second question about being a dueler, worker, fort battler, whatever is iffy... I'm not aware of duelers who put points into reflex and tactics, and it says AP into mobility or charisma...what kind of dueler is that? Did he forget vigor/shooting, strength/dexterity? The answer was kind of just all over the place...

I was actually expecting the paper to be much longer...
I thought it was quite short.

There are a lot of people doing stuff for the paper, but each has a specific job - Bat Materson and The Yellow Dart are article writers, Guff does the advice page, Sauceysauce created and did the fort rankings, Oisin does the real history, etc etc. I merely edit and put it together in draft format. Gem then codes it, and hosts it on Hefty's domain. oping for more input from others.

History is boring to you, but very interesting to others. I am trying to cater this paper for the 8 year olds like Gizmo and the 76 year olds like Hellstromm ;). Seriously though, on a game about the wild west there must be a large section of players that are interested in the real history behind it - so we are trying to ensure they have something to read about. Not everyone will be interested in a 'he-said-she-said' PnP page either, but I bet a lot also would which is why we were trying to put it together. It's about giving everyone a bit of what they like - hopefully anyway!

Please do PM me with a detailed response to the duelling question and I will publish it, alongside Guff's response.

As for the length of the paper - if it needs to be longer we can try to do so, but we need more people to submit content to me for that to work.
 

DeletedUser

I found the article selling guns to indians extremely interesting.
 

DeletedUser

Thanks guys for the feedback about the design. As sdj said it was done in quite a rush as my laptop's motherboard decided to break :D

I am working on a revamped issue for 002 with many improvements and I hope you will all like it better :)
 

DeletedUser

Our interviewer quit at the last moment so we could't do that - but I'll see what I can do.
I have about a week left, I can do some interviews before then? Just give me names of players you want interviewed, I only have access to world 1...let me know.

Please do PM me with a detailed response to the duelling question and I will publish it, alongside Guff's response.

Sorry, but it's not my place to write my own response so it can be published. It's Guff's guidance and his page, not mine. I don't want to, for a lack of better terms, "take-over"
 
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DeletedUser1105

Sorry, but it's not my place to write my own response so it can be published. It's Guff's guidance and his page, not mine. I don't want to, for a lack of better terms, "take-over"

No no, I didn't mean that. Guff's page would only have Guff's answers on.

I meant for a letters page, where I could post your response and then let Guff have another say - maybe open it up to some debate.
 

DeletedUser

I love newspapers. I've been in a few world newspapers in Tribalwars and I always enjoy reading/making one. Keep up the good work, I like seeing newspapers here too.

If you still need any help; I can help out with some html stuff.
 
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