Discussion: June 22nd City Scoop Edition!

WynterPhrost · 06-23-2007 05:14 AM

Stryker's bio was the only Behind the Mask I've ever read fully.
It was nice to see Champion representing

Hertz · 06-23-2007 05:30 AM

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i dunno, i would rather see people who are famous/infamous featured (ie, new age knight, the legendary j-man, osha, progamerusa) people who do things for their server... not just people randomly picked from atlas....

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I'm sorry, but I disagree. I conducted those interviews to find out what happened. An unknown person is just as capable of being an eyewitness as a famous one.

A news article isn't designed to glorify individuals, but to report on a event. That's why I report the character's name and level, but not the actual player's global handle or real name. Being named in the City Scoop isn't some kind of reward for dedication, or a puff piece to advertise how cool somebody is. It's to report what happened, by asking somebody who was there.

Just "randomly picking people from Atlas" and writing up an article of that length took about four hours. Going to a particular server to look for the opinions of only the famous people would take a ridiculous amount of time.

I'm sure you can think of famous people in the Real News who always manage to get their faces on TV. They comment on everything whether or not they have an iota of real experience with the subject. That, in my opinion, is not news: that is ego. News media interview those people to drive up ratings, but not because it's newsworthy.

_Rose_ · 06-23-2007 05:37 AM

hertz- you misunderstand me.. im not talkin about you puff piece on freedom's lag issues (and that's all it was)... im talkin about the behind the mask section.. if your goin to highlight hero's at least make them noteworthy.. it's all im sayin...

"I don't wonda what Rose is like in RL, I just imagine she is a catgurl an' wish I could cyb0r wit her. "
- the legendary J-man

Silence!!! I kill you!

Lemur Lad · 06-23-2007 06:04 AM

Then we have to play favorites. If you had an idea of the grief some people put poor Teldon under already, you probably wouldn't push for that. We have to maintain a line between keeping Behind the Mask interesting, and keeping it accessible. If it were just limited to the 'noteworthy' then it would tick off a lot more people than it makes happy. If I were an unknown, I'd be happy to see some other unknowns, even if I weren't picked. Heck, I'm happy to read about people I never heard of before because for the most part they've turned out to have something interesting.

We're not trying to attack you about this, just explain how things are getting done the best we can. There's no real need to toss around borderline terms like puff piece, especially when it wasn't. The stuff I write? Yeah puff piece this week. But not that one. May have been stuff you already knew, but that doesn't mean everyone did.

"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

Hertz · 06-23-2007 06:06 AM

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puff piece
noun Informal.
a newspaper article, book, public-relations film, etc., whose purpose is to praise or flatter.

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From dictionary.com. I don't see how that particular article was designed to praise or flatter anybody. But you're entitled to your opinion.

As far as the selection process for Behind the Mask goes, I'm afraid that will always be contentious. There are probably thirty thousand people who have made characters on each server that's the size of a small city! Even if you had a thousand friends on that server, you're still pretty much a tiny blip on anybody's radar screen.

Right now Teldon is buried in submissions and, of course, everybody thinks he's famous enough to be in Behind the Mask, and all the other guys should be tossed out. That's the nature of the beast.

Dursagon · 06-23-2007 06:10 AM

I agree with you Hertz, it's much better to get a few lowbie interviews mixed in with known people. Where I come from you don't the news interviewing famous people when a tornado strikes. No, what you get is someone living in a dbl-wide with a moo-moo on and curlers in their hair and talking like this; "I be dang'd if'n it didn't take Johnny-Bob's place and flung it clear cross tha park! Musta been plum near 3 football fields out!"

Dursagon · 06-23-2007 06:12 AM

Who is Teldon? I wanna hear from MaverickX!

Teldon · 06-23-2007 08:23 AM

Basically right now I am trying to balance out the number of people I interview across all servers. Week two really messed that up when I was looking for folks. I looked on four different servers and found four different players. When we did the interviews, it turned out three of them happened to have Virtue as their home server.

Week 3 was different as I wanted to do four players who are big villain supporters. That time I did not check to see what server they were on and again I ended up with three more virtue players.

When I noticed the uneveness I tired to figure a way to start balancing the numbers and I started going to indivdual server forums asking for help to find natives to that server. The people there pointed me to folks that were at the very least interesting.

Right now I have just goot done with Liberty and Champion. I am currently working on Infinity and Victory. In addtion to this I am working on two new types of interview sections.

My goal is not to get those that feel they are entiltled to be featured but to get players that are interesting and besides EVERY player has a story to tell. Be they famous or not across all servers.

To those that beg to be featured, keep holding your breath. I doubt I will pick you. I learned my lesson from that when I started this on Pinnacle. It gave some folks a feeling of superioity and made some turn into jerks.

Shadowy Presence - Absolutely, positively worse than playing a Kheldian... --Myrmydon

Hertz · 06-23-2007 08:34 AM

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I agree with you Hertz, it's much better to get a few lowbie interviews mixed in with known people. Where I come from you don't the news interviewing famous people when a tornado strikes.

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In the real media you do get Jesse Jackson on the news saying that three white lacrosse players from Duke are obviously guilty, even though Jackson was not an eyewitness, is not a lawyer, and isn't even a resident of Durham. That's one extreme example of the "interview only famous people" doctrine.

On the other hand, just because a character such as lEVEl (for example) is only level 2, there's no way to know that it wasn't a famous player who happened to be running a lowbie that day.

I spent enough time interviewing that I think I got a good representative sample: people who used double XP weekend to hit 50, people who came back to COH after an absence, someone on a trial account, and a player running his first Kheldian which he earned over double XP. What would a famous 50 have said better?

Dursagon · 06-23-2007 10:55 AM

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I agree with you Hertz, it's much better to get a few lowbie interviews mixed in with known people. Where I come from you don't the news interviewing famous people when a tornado strikes.

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In the real media you do get Jesse Jackson on the news saying that three white lacrosse players from Duke are obviously guilty, even though Jackson was not an eyewitness, is not a lawyer, and isn't even a resident of Durham. That's one extreme example of the "interview only famous people" doctrine.

On the other hand, just because a character such as lEVEl (for example) is only level 2, there's no way to know that it wasn't a famous player who happened to be running a lowbie that day.

I spent enough time interviewing that I think I got a good representative sample: people who used double XP weekend to hit 50, people who came back to COH after an absence, someone on a trial account, and a player running his first Kheldian which he earned over double XP. What would a famous 50 have said better?

[/ QUOTE ] not much. which is why I'm with you on this one. Much better to get the ol' lady in the trailer than to get Paris Hilton who is in L.A. (no where CLOSE to a tornado, mind you) to give info on what happened when the tornado hit.

Which to some is how Dbl XP weekend was like.
Personally, I went with the flow. I even saw fluxuations in the market at that time which made it easy to get a few badges. But that's another story....

Echoed_Respite · 06-23-2007 11:24 AM

To be quite frank, I think Teldon did a great job picking the behind the mask candidates. I'm a Championite, plain and simple. First server I picked to play on and their is a great group of people over there. Teldon picked a good variety of famous, infamous, up and coming, and completely unknown (or possibly I'm just blanking on the name) characters to interview. I was rather pleased to see the group up there and would frankly get rather tired if it was just all level 50s that are well known on the forums.

Again, to be frank, I don't see the behind the mask thing as a glorification section of a certain person, I always saw it as a sort of advertisement for the kind of people you would meet should you play that server. A brief little morsel to try and lure some people to try a different server. Some people are just stuck on their server and quite frankly, I don't think that's any fun.

No, my name isn't Frank.

Teldon · 06-23-2007 11:37 AM

As much as I like the drunken goodness of Pinnacle I am having to go into the harsh light of other servers. I am learning there is a different mood to each one that is interesting to learn.

Getting different sections of the population show how different the servers are from each other. Like I said if I have not gotten your server yet I will soon.

Also look forward to one of two new sections I am doing this coming friday. I think it will add to the scoop.

Shadowy Presence - Absolutely, positively worse than playing a Kheldian... --Myrmydon

Lemur Lad · 06-23-2007 12:28 PM

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It gave some folks a feeling of superioity and made some turn into jerks.

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I know it was responsible for my slow descent into megalomania.

"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

Mantid · 06-23-2007 12:55 PM

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It gave some folks a feeling of superioity and made some turn into jerks.

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I know it was responsible for my slow descent into megalomania.

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Slow?

Snow Globe · 06-23-2007 01:14 PM

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[ QUOTE ]
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It gave some folks a feeling of superioity and made some turn into jerks.

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I know it was responsible for my slow descent into megalomania.

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Slow?

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I was already there .

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

Lemur Lad · 06-23-2007 01:20 PM

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It gave some folks a feeling of superioity and made some turn into jerks.

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I know it was responsible for my slow descent into megalomania.

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Slow?

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relative to the rates of descent for all my other manias, phobias, behvioral tics, etc.

"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

Acemace · 06-23-2007 01:28 PM

A note to -Editor-In-Chief City Scoop- Hertz, your better off getting the articles together for consumption, and leaving it at that.

Nary will a day dawn soon, in which a majority will agree.

Attempting to accommodate the disagreeable, only robs the fun intended in volunteering. :]

-A

-> TT MA Arc ID 1755 -> Join TankHQ -> Media -> @AceMACE

Lemur Lad · 06-23-2007 01:46 PM

Was that a backhanded way of saying you don't like the way Hertz writes, or did you just mean Hertz shouldn't go out of the way to make people happy?

Your comment could be read a couple different ways, and I'm asking before I judge

"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

Acemace · 06-23-2007 01:58 PM

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did you just mean Hertz shouldn't go out of the way to make people happy?

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:]

-A

-> TT MA Arc ID 1755 -> Join TankHQ -> Media -> @AceMACE

Lemur Lad · 06-23-2007 02:04 PM

darn.
*puts away the pitchfork and burning oil*

"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

Hertz · 06-23-2007 03:03 PM

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A note to -Editor-In-Chief City Scoop- Hertz, your better off getting the articles together for consumption, and leaving it at that.

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Hey, I'm stuck at work. What else is there to do? I mean, besides work?

Right now I think we want to reassure people that we're striving for fair coverage of groups, people, servers, activities, and so on. I've seen first-hand how easily this forum propagates conspiracy theories and accusations of favoritism and elitism, so I feel we should be fairly forthcoming with how we pick certain people and why.

That doesn't mean I care if he likes the City Scoop. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

Memphis_Bill · 06-23-2007 11:26 PM

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ok- thats cool , but um, no1 knows those people.. i was happy to see a famous/notorious person from a server featured on the behind the mask this week (stryker) every1 knows him-

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They do? I have no clue who he is, and I serverhop all the time.

My group of "people I know" (and subgroup of "People I think a bunch of people know" - such as ValkyrieRising, Graver, Lady_Athyna, etc.) is different from your group, which is different from (say) Thorazdin_LOTDs, which is different from...

Get the picture?

See my Guides and Tutorials

Xenon_Flux · 06-24-2007 03:21 AM

Now I get it, the discussion thread is more like an interactive "Letter to the Editor" section, so when the issue is done it's not really done, cool

Lemur Lad · 06-24-2007 05:48 AM

That's how I feel too. We've kicked around doing editorials or having letters to the Editor, and we may still do that if people want to say something but remain anonymous, but in truth this fills exactly the same role.

If you want to talk to us about what we're doing or not doing, or what you'd like to see, go for it, we're listening.

At least we're listening if you have something reasonable to say. If you want to be like the guy in the Suggestion thread and just talk a lot of trash, well sorry there's no place for that in the forums.

"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

Tundara · 06-24-2007 08:34 AM

My biggest concern now is the atmosphere of favourtism and elitism that seems to be growing. All of you who write the City Scoop now seem to have new unique forum titles and... *looks at own forum title* Hmmm.... Perhaps I am not one to talk of such things...

Anywho, I know J-Man's knee high ticked off with the City Scoop. *Shrug* In my opinion the recent interviews with Freedom about the server trouble from double experience weekend were laughable and just plain hurt to read, from my point of view. It came across very narrow in scope and the tilt and angle just made me shake my head, but it wasn't that surprising either in a way. Now, I'm not trying to take a poke at a fellow writer, but I will say that it was not the best piece of writing I've seen and am certain that better can be done by this person. There is more then a share of poor writing that has splattered from my own cranium. >.<

As a commuinity and player run little news-letter the Scoop I find excellent and enjoyable overall. It has the feel that a lot of love and attention is spent on it and that translates towards the game as well. But all the Red Name interaction and apparent favourtism is starting to get a bit much and could cast a blight on the whole thing. It is begining to feel a LOT like the horror stories of elitism and favourtism that gets said about the Cuppa Era. It's not something I particularly care for, especially with the increase in numbers of new players and posters (or seeming increase). It's beginning to feel a bit like an Old Boys Club around here.

Anywho, despite what J-Man says is official J-Force policy, I'll continue reading the Scoop (mostly Horoscopes and any Behind the masks that catch my eye). I am my own Otter afteral.

>.>
<.<

Ummm... And who do I contact for an interview?

...

What!?

=O_o=

Anyways, keep it up guys! It can be a fun little diversion in the day.

=. .=