Title: In-game Newspapers
Summary:
Back in the good old days, there were lively newspapers on the wiki. That sort of died a death over time, especially after the forum launched, as overall player interest in the wiki declined. So I'd like to suggest that newspapers are brought in-game instead with nobles able to create newspapers which are visible to characters across the continent and can be accessed by them.
Details:
Add a new Newspapers item in the Politics menu. Players could could click on it to either found/edit their own newspaper, view the list of newspapers for the continent (along with when they were last updated), subscribe to individual newspapers and send a message to the editor of a newspaper which they're subscribed to.
The mechanics of a newspaper would function similarly to a message group. Each "edition" of the newspaper would be a standard letter-type text box which shows up in messages with a custom header (in a similar format to World News messages). Different articles could be encompassed within one edition of a newspaper by using the styling options to sub divide it up (e.g. headlines in block capitals or bold, bylines in italics, or whatever) at the editor's discretion.
Each newspaper could have multiple characters as editors (each editor would be able to add new editors but only the earliest added editor could remove other editors) and the role of an editor would be to create new editions and dispatch them. The editors could also give the newspaper a one sentence description to be displayed alongside its name in the list of newspapers for a continent.
By giving characters the ability to write to the editor of a newspaper they subscribe to would make it possible for characters across the continent to write and submit articles to a newspaper without having to become editors.
Founding a newspaper would be open to anyone but should cost a token amount of gold - I'd suggest 25 or 50 to keep it affordable.
Optional extra: Charge characters a nominal sum of gold (1 gold) to subscribe to a newspaper for a month. The gold from subscriptions would be paid to the editor which would provide a small financial incentive for creating and maintaining them.
Benefits:
Newspapers would be restored to Battlemaster, only in-game where players would be much more likely to read them. Just like in the old days, some might be genuine attempts at impartial reporting while others would be simple propaganda sheets dedicated to promoting their home realm and blackening the name of their enemies. In the case of the latter, it might incentivise realms to create their own propaganda sheets to counter those of enemy realms and would help drive more activity in the game.
It would also allow regular knights an additional way to become influential and well known by running a newspaper or writing articles for one, helping to make the knight game more interesting.
Possible Downsides/Exploits:
Could further draw people away from the wiki and could potentially make it easier for characters to share OOC info continent-wide or to engage in griefing. However, I think the existing game rules, and the fact that anyone could subscribe to any newspaper, should prevent that from becoming a significant problem.
