The Universal Press Corps?

dramaking444 · Post by **dramaking444** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 6:55 pm

Hi all,

Quick suggestion: A few years ago (the last time I was active around these parts) I, and a few other TUers, volunteered to re-write most of the in-game text as well as online instruction manuals.

The reason was simple; nearly all of the in-game guides are either outdated, or difficult to comprehend.

Now I'm back, and have no plans of going anywhere soon, I would like to revitalise this scheme, but with some added features.

My idea is to create the The Universal Press Corps. A group of dedicated players who know the game well enough to advise other players how to play, and who have a bit of spare time.

Ideally, this would take the form of other key grops in TU, such as the Developers and the Artists.

The Press Corps would have particular responsibilities in TU, as well as the re-writing of the guides etc. These are:

> Re-write ALL in-game manuals, with exception to world exclusive guides that can only be maintained by world owners.

> Re-write and maintain the TU Wiki, which has become severely neglected.

> Keep up to date with in-game events (primarilyspace), and maintain the "Web News" which is currently never updated.

This would serve a number of advantages. Firstly, it is generally accepted that TU as a game has a severely steep learning curve for the new player. Comprehensive information and guides would only serve to improve this situation, and hopefully help to retain the huge number of newbies who join for a day, get bored because they don't know what to do or get blown up by tougher players (read my second post about this), and then leave.

Secondly, it could have great Roleplaying advantages. When I first started this project way back, I wrote a short tutorial-type guide in an RP style, with a message from the Galactic Council welcomng new players and giving advice. As an MMORPG, I feel we should encourage those looking for an RP experiance in space as well as worlds.

Obviously, to carry out this ambitious project I would need help from like-minded TUers, and hopefully the support of the sysops (nudge nudge Mit and Fooli). We've seen the difficulty in delegating coding work for the game, but this would give players who really want to further the success of The Universal the opportunity to do so.

I thank you for reading this hefty post, and look forward to hearing the feedback.

With regards,
DK

ElderGod · Post by **ElderGod** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:42 pm

Agreed,would be very helpful

MasterNiCron · Post by **MasterNiCron** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:41 pm

that is a great idea.

flametard · Post by **flametard** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:10 pm

Mishka · Post by **Mishka** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:41 pm

flametard wrote:eye

It's aye ye landlubber

flametard · Post by **flametard** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 5:08 am

regional dialect

wes773 · Post by **wes773** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:13 am

Well... I find this quite funny. I am currently go through and rescripting my world's scripts, and I just decided to make a miniguide interactive tutorial type thing for my world. It will basically just be just text and some buttons that players click to go through the text. If somebody would like me to make a guide like that for their world, I wouldn't mind.

Also, TU is supposed to be getting close to being open source. I don't know how limited we'll be, but maybe we can add some better guides to the game.

Just a thought.

flametard · Post by **flametard** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:05 am

what does open source mean? does that mean anyone can change the game? or hopefully, people can try to fix/make changes on their own and propose the changes for when the client gets updated?

i hope the latter. it would bring in all sorts of interesting and slightly scary new players.

morbydvisns · Post by **morbydvisns** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:34 am

Mit's idea of 'effectively' open source is debatable at this point i suppose =)

I am guessing/hoping the registered planet servers come with a source of sort, allowing us to do things as create new event triggers, maybe fiddle with wildlife, etc. I can imagine source changes that would require new code/features on the client side wouldnt be so easily managable.

CubaBart · Post by **CubaBart** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 12:36 am

old idea... GLO (galactic league of oracles) was trying to do that like 3 years back...

morbydvisns · Post by **morbydvisns** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 1:42 am

well chop chop.

dramaking444 · Post by **dramaking444** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:47 am

Obviously, to carry out this ambitious project I would need help from like-minded TUers, and hopefully the support of the sysops (nudge nudge Mit and Fooli).

Can't do it on my own, chaps...

flametard · Post by **flametard** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 9:30 am

try to lay out an order of operations of what needs to be done, then delegate tasks to appropriate members... me, you, wes, zar, and bong. maybe fooli too. its not the dream team, i wouldnt even call it a team, more like the people who are left who might want to help.

dramaking444 · Post by **dramaking444** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 2:47 pm

Sounds like a plan. It would be nice to have our own board *COUGH* for this kid of business, but since we haven't, I propose we use the Developer board considering it's underused as it is, and I don't think this kind of discussion is right for general chat,

Does everyone have dev status?

I shall start each post with "UPC: ..." so you know it's regarding this and not coding stuff etc.