Hertz

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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.

Yes, Ironik, I do all the voices myself (except for the Circle of Thorns captive in Issue 10, that was Debt-Girl). You say you've heard most of the shows ... have you been listening to them in sequence and haven't caught up, or what?

As an irrelevant aside... you know, if somebody wanted to use the COH engine to do video for Stan and Lou, that'd be awesome. I don't know enough about /demorecord editing to do it myself.

Glad you liked it! But you know, Sesame Street wasn't the only reference.

Here we go:

Stan and Lou on Striga Isle

Next up: Croatoa.

Nice Hitchhiker's reference.
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"Eddies," said Ford, "in the space-time continuum."
"Ah," nodded Arthur, "is he. Is he."

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It's been catch-as-catch can on the puzzles so far. I think out of five issues, four different people have done puzzles.

You can PM it either to me, Marcian_Tobay, or to Snow_Globe, I guess.

The deciding factor was that we noticed at the last minute that several of the clues of the crossword were wrong. Oops. A substitute was put into place.

As Marcian says, we're looking for 1-2 people who wish to cover PVP, and we though it best if they came from within the PVP community. See this thread in the PVP forums if you're interested.

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OK, Genetically engineered viral mutation?

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Think "Trials and Tribble-ations."

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White/Black Nictus shards?

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Think "Superman IV."

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Wedding Ring?

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Think "Green Lantern."

And I assume you caught "Hans shot first."

Go for it! We'd love to have material from lots of different fans, on every game-related subject.

Did you have any particular idea in mind? Toss a few thoughts our way, either to me or Marcian_Tobay.

Thanks for trying to put it into words. I know humor is hard to quantify.

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I don't ever want to hear you say that again.

This is funny on many levels, but I think, from a technical level, the part that got me the most was the surprise of who was saying it. Stan is so very submissive to Lou that it surprised me that the mitochlorion (sp?) statement was so offensive as to give Stan the strength to tell Lou to stop talking.

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I chose to use 3l33t Haxx0r for this scene because he is exactly the kind of obsessively nerdy person to engage in an argument over storyline retcons, but also because he's weak enough that Stan could argue with him. You're right: Stan could not sustain an argument with Lou about trivialities for as long as he argues with 3l33t. Not only would it be contrary to his character, but it would stop being funny very quickly.

Great idea, Cyclone_Jack. We're hammering on it right now, investigating various ways we might make it work.

A round-table discussion from various archetypes would be one way. You do different things as a Blaster than as a Controller or as a Mastermind.

At what, if I may ask?

I do these to make myself laugh, and I'm never sure if other people really get my sense of humor.

How many retconning jokes can you find?

Here is Stan and Lou in Faultline.

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All joking aside- humble suggestion for those who want to contribute to the City Scoop, a guide would be helpful (not that you guys don't do enough- HAH- just DO MORE!!) and also word count and colum length requirements would be helpful too.

Unless I missed something (this doesn't exist)- I have an idea for an on/off colum but I am wary of how much space there would be vs. time requirements and stuff....

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A guide to City Scoop submissions is an excellent idea. I'll try to start an egg rolling on that in our private discussions and see what hatches.

In the meantime, until we get an official Guide, consider this unofficial Hertz Guidelines.

1. No grandstanding. We're not trying to play favorites to any one person or supergroup, or focus exclusively on a single server. This is meant to be a publication by the fans, about the fans, so we want to fairly represent everyone. (But we're not perfect... So if you think something isn't being covered enough, tell us! Or write something up yourself.)

2. No soapboxing. We're not here to editorialize or rant about anything. When I interview I try to get differing opinions. Some people like certain changes and some don't. Even though I don't personally like every aspect of the game's economy, I can still fairly present the opinions of people who do.

3. Make it clean and presentable. Just give us the text, don't stick in your own HTML or UBB code. Proofread it yourself, or get a friend to help you. We can't promise to consult you on every single edit we must make, so if you send something that has lots of spelling errors and funky grammar, don't be surprised if someone on the Scoop cuts it down to size before it hits the press. It's your article, so pretty it up before you shoot it our way.

4. Friday is our publication day, but we have our stories done by Wednesday so Thursday we can do layout. If you have something timely to report, like a Hamidon raid or a Task Force, then get it in early in the week.

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I keep forgetting that only in my fictional utopia of internet community do character and consideration bear greater significance than explicit regulations.

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All of the City Scoop players are volunteers. We are not employees of Cryptic or NCSoft and we are not reimbursed in any monetary way, or with in-game or game-related loot. Our behavior is neither better nor worse than the average literate Internet forum-goer. We have no magic powers; we cannot delete posts or discipline other forumites. You'll note that Ex Libris and Lighthouse post our HTML for us, too.

I believe many of us expressed uncertainty at being asked to participate, largely on the grounds of our sometimes controversial opinions and stubborn positions on certain aspects of the game. We saw what happened with the PVP Event Committee and the board inflammation therefrom.

But heck, we were selected because we like to build community, not because we're perfect and professional and completely without bias. We are a fan-based publication, not an official Cryptic/NCSoft mouthpiece. The rednames do not tell us what to post; they do not edit our columns unless they notice a factual error; they have not exercised any final say on layout — though, as moderators, I assume that they would edit anything truly objectionable.

You'd probably be very surprised how much we do consider character when we try to bring new people on board the City Scoop. We debate personalities, we ask what a person can bring to the table. We comb through someone's previous posts. We want people who are knowledgeable, team-friendly, and unafraid of work. What we don't do is exclude people because they have an opinion — opinions shouldn't be suppressed.

We're just a group of fans, like any other. We produce a game newsletter that is no better or worse than the average fan-based publication. The only difference, the one tangible difference, is that we are paying customers building a community here on the forums. That makes us much, much more constrained in our content than an off-site fansite. We must obey the Forum Guidelines and EULA while we are here.

If you think someone in the City Scoop is unprofessional, I'm sorry. If you think somebody on the City Scoop is breaking forum rules, report the post to a moderator.

The real shame is that off-site fan forums don't have to obey any rules of decency and etiquette at all. If you want to go trawling for rude players, the lawless Internet would be a better place to start than the moderated forums here.

Got shows all weekend — Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and a matinee on Sunday. I think I can squeeze in some time Sunday after the show, though.

Hey, those clues were mighty generous, if I do say so myself. I told you where to look!

Darn. I should've written the clues as "Technology contact with a mustache."

Writers? Stay tuned.

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I like the City Scoop and all, but will there be some asking others to do things in it?

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We have been considering many people to see who is both willing and able to step forward and contribute on a regular basis. We are also tracking which servers have had our attention, to help us from playing favorites with one particular group of players. It isn't easy — some servers simply have a traditionally limp response to being interviewed. (I have tried many times on Triumph, villain-side, sometimes for hours, in multiple zones, and have had to give up.)

I think that since we have only had two issues with a dedicated art section, it's a little premature to level accusations of elitism.
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I think having different factions have a go at the scoop might be nice and makes it more open to everyone and less of a elite type thing.

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It took us weeks to get organized and get our house in order before we could even do one issue. A weekly rotating staff would be a nightmare I don't even wish to consider.

What I would encourage you to do is to write up your own article on whatever topic you feel is under-reported. Proofread it, polish it up, and send it in to Marcian_Tobay or Teldon. We encourage people to send in stuff! Just be aware that since the Scoop appears on Friday, our deadline for story submission is Wednesday. Last-minute stuff can't be put in.

I'm thinking it'll go like this:

26: 3l33t discusses the 5th Column
27: Striga Isle vampyrs and warwolves
28: Croatoa and the pumpkin flu
29: Dark Astoria, first showdown with The Guy in the Hat
30: Siren's Call
31: Cap au Diable with the Luddites?
32: Sharkhead Isle
33: St. Martial
34: Nerva Archipelago
35: Warburg, nukes and Longbow

Still not positive what I'll feature in 32, 33, and 34.

I've been thinking about it this morning. Mostly it's a matter of figuring out which episodes come in which order.

Striga Isle, with some Vampyrs and Warwolves. I'd sort of like to bring 3l33t back for one episode, since he's the best person to handle a certain perspective on the 5th Column.

I sort of missed out on Faultline... might have to add one of those in.

Need a Dark Astoria before it gets too late.

And I've got to get them to Croatoa so they can see the real pumpkin flu.

The question is, which do I do next?

Hey, you're the one who got interviewed for the newspaper.

Dark Ether:
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Castillo reminds me of one of the voice-overs from an old graded school film strip - I kept expecting to hear a 'beep' for the next picture.

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I was actually thinking of an annoying morning DJ.

Fifth Column was definitely mentioned in Breakout, the Hollows, and Boomtown. There might have been more, but I can't recall every word of each episode from memory. I only know them well enough to record them, and I move on to the next one.

Unfortunately you can't edit inline HTML. Those errors will have to stay, and we'll just have to do better next time. Unless you're volunteering to join the staff as a proofreader.