Would you appreciate a journalistic news source?

[DrenDran]

During which you read, The Titanium will be staring...

Hey,
As you well know, I'm that kind of forum member that tests and makes a lot of crap, almost all of it unrelated to programming in Torque hue hue.
A while back, in 2008, I tried Blok which was a magazine for Blockland. Needless to say it sort of turned into poop. I've also been running Blockland On Air for a while, but I think the content quality has deteriorated quickly and I'm not so sure its heading down a path worthy of my time.

Who's to say that this project won't end like those did?

[Ad Bot]

[Sheath]

Who's to say that this project won't end like those did?

Nobody.
But as long as there are at least several views each day, its worth having it up. Because, when you spent a week creating an episode of Blockland On Air and 100 people out of the several thousand player community download it its just not worth your time. But as long as people visit the site, you know somebody is reading, and its easier to spread a blog article to players than it is to force them to download and listen to a 30 minute audio file.

[DrPepper]

Icy, no offense but your thinking process is pretty weird, but creative. I like how you think of lots of cool ideas for Blockland, but you just think too in depth when thinks can be simpler. A journalistic news source would be cool, but the idea would die quickly. How about you do just a bunch of different videos, such as eventing tutorials, most recommended add-ons, etc.

[The Titanium]

IcyTextwall

[Dillpickle]

I do like the idea, It kind of reminds me of Notches (Minecraft) Devolupment blog, where he tells what hes working on, and whats upcoming events are. This one could have some thoughts about whatever, a tip or something of the week, Whats in store for V20, Basic stuff that yet people would 'aw' over reading.

[Sheath]

How about you do just a bunch of different videos, such as eventing tutorials, most recommended add-ons, etc.

Thats not news.
Besides I've been doing pretty much that for the last three years.

[TheKhoz]

Whoever votes yes is hoping to contribute something. Like an interview. ;D

[Cloakedyoshi]

Go for it.
Inb4trollingRagref.

[Reactor Worker]

I think this has as much chance at success as all of your other projects.

[Otis Da HousKat]

There isn't enough happening in Blockland for there to be a news source like this.

[Shortcut]

BREAKING NEWS, THERE IS A SALE AT PENNY'S!

[Sheath]

I think this has as much chance at success as all of your other projects.

If the community doesn't support it, it shuts down. Since such things take up a lot of my time, I can't support something that nobody uses. So I'm hoping to investigate now how well this could potentially do.

Some successful things I have done:

- Sketch creation, I have published many small movies
- Movie creation, I have created two 20 minute Blockland movies
- Clans, I ran MicroBlock for over a year which isn't too shabby for a clan (unfortunately ban troubles ruined this though)
- Events, I have developed many event builds that are still available for download
- Isar Tower, which is growing still, is my main point of hosting
- AfterBlock, while it hasn't yet been released its already received decent attention and on its release it becomes a permanent piece of downloadable software

The only difference here is written journalism is and has been a big interest of mine for many years, I think I have the skills to make a website like this work now.

There isn't enough happening in Blockland for there to be a news source like this.

Merged with reviews, opinion, and people stories, I think theres enough there to sustain something.

[Tom]

I don't think this is useful unless you can get inside information. We don't need a blog to tell us when new add-ons come out or someone gets banned when we can see it for ourselves.

If you want to review stuff, just post it in the topic. Most of our add-on topics are lacking intelligent critiques.

[Tonkka]

I was thinking about Blockland Magazine too.

[Reactor Worker]

The general maturity of the community does not bode well for a journalistic source of information. Even if you can find or create enough content, it is still likely to suffer in performance just due to how most players prefer to view information. The forums provide an ideal way to share information about specific topics whilst allowing open discussion. In comparison, a separate site aggregating content in a formal manner with intelligent commentary is just not as flexible.

If you have some opinions or information you feel is worth sharing, deposit into the existing stream of BL content: these forums. It's easier for everyone and is just as effective.