Do we get compensated for writing?

It seems only fair that we get compensated for any books we write that end up in the game. Writing a short story is adding content to the game just like creating a piece of digital art is adding to the game.

We should be compensated. I'm fine with it coming in the form of addon store credit that we can use toward our pledge or addon store items. I'm not asking for hard cold cash here. Just addon store/pledge rewards.

 

Player created books will eventually be an in-game mechanic, at least if what FireLotus said in the instructions holds true. The submission process here is only to populate some and test. It's not going to be part of the story or world descriptions as far as I can tell. It's a small thing and I'd be surprised if there was any form of compensation, beyond the non-monetary perk of seeing your own writing in game.

 

The good thing about story credit is,,, it wouldn't cost them anything. Looks like a win win to me.

Sent from my DROID RAZR

 

then why have this formal Scribes of Novia?

If they just want to test a game mechanic they don't need us to write stuff to populate the libraries. They can find short stories on the Internet and put them in books and test their system and see if you can search for the books, then they delete the copied books before it goes live.

The grammar police should have nothing to do with any of the writings being presented here. Once the game is launched will there really still be a group of people making sure the books make sense? Airplanes flying over New Britannia... etc. If not then this is all a waste of time. UNLESS, these initial books are something special, or are endorsed by the game itself!
(Lord British will be reviewing these books... Tell me he will be doing that for every book written once the game is launched! DOUBTFUL... sounds like these will be officially endorsed books for the game, and we deserve compensation.)

SHOW ME THE MONEY (digital money for my pledge or for the add-on store)

Everybody who is writing anything for SotA right now is getting short changed. I propose a writers strike!

 

This topic might offend people, but Lord British is a business man. If you give him stuff for free he'll take it. He won't hate you if you want to be compensated. He would want to be compensated for anything he contributes to a game, even if it were just a little bit of publicity.

Certainly they couldn't pay for a dedicated employee to write all of these books. A few addon store credits isn't going to break Portalarium's bank. I certianly doubt I will ever write enough books to get me to the next tier unless they pay $40 bucks or more per book. The most it would probably do is get me close enough that I would be willing to spend a bit more to upgrade.

I was thinking at least $10 store credit per published book. That seems reasonable. How many books are people going to get through the system? 20?

Personally, I'm not writing anything else until we get in store credit.

 

The benefit is that although these help with testing, the books will persist in game. They will have a very, very small, but officially sanctioned place. And if they are going to, there must be quality control. FireLotus is too busy I take it to do it all herself. Hence the scribes. We don't know yet about the publishing process for books in game and there may be a review panel, who knows....

Anyway the "scribes" could make a better argument for payment than the mere writers.

 

We've already done this in spades you realize through the Kickstarter right? We invested with a zero possibility of return. If this were simply a business proposition no one would have contributed more than the value of the game. And with that posting volume you've invested a lot of time to help make the buzz and the community of the game better which draws in others....

 

THE MERE WRITERS!

Maybe agents and editors should get all the fame, nobody should care about J.K. Rowling because she wasn't the intellectual who checked her work for grammar and spelling.


Writers are donating time just like any of the scribes. If the scribes think they are superior to the mere writers then there is no point in anybody writing except for the scribes themselves.

I really hope you are role playing.

 

Remember, I am speaking as a mere writer who has probably contributed the most. And I'm happy to do it for many reasons. Fan fiction is fan fiction. If you want to make hay about it, I'm not going to stop you....

 

Why are they compensating the artists creating small objects for the game? If these books aren't important then who cares. Let's not worry about it. we can write books in game and let this whole thing die. Fine with me. Is that okay with Portalarium? It's no big deal right? Just some books.

I was being serious about a compensation. I wasn't expecting something large. I said this with a good attitude. No worries dudes! However some people in this thread seem to think they are superior, and some people in this thread are taking this stuff personal. DUDES BACK OFF!

Hey if they won't pay no sweat man! I don't care. I'm not writing anything else, but really it doesn't matter. Big deal.

 

As both a writer and a Scribe, I can honestly say that I am volunteering my time to improve the quality of the game Sure, I'm happy that my writings may persist in-game long after I'm gone, but I are doing this to show my support for the game, not to make a quick buck

 

Maybe you just chose the wrong word. It really came across snooty. No harm done. I'm out of here. I don't want to cause any big deal over this. I just thought if our books get formally added to the game and approved from the top, "as Portalarium approved books" give us $5 bucks per book.

I know I said $10 bucks, but I figured they would only be willing to do $5... but now I really honestly just don't care. I wouldn't write anything good enough anyway. It was all in good sport. Have a nice day.

 

"Please Don't Beat the Bold Stranger, Try to Beat His Works Instead"
And For Gods Sakes, Make it More Attractive!

Are you saying that Tracy Hickman needs refund Portalarium whatever they gave him for his writing skills?


"The Powers of Attraction"
I think that if Portalarium would offer some reward as described by Isaiah in the form of online store credit "which doesn't cost Portalarium but a push of a button" is not too much to ask for if the writing is accepted, no matter if what is accepted is Lore or not, "it's writing talent all the same"
After all, what is being accepted as ingame music from the Poet's Circle is being compensated by real $ <---<<< cash $

Such reward could even bring better writing skilled people to enter some works for consideration which could add more quality to what will become program mechanically rendered in the game.

These in game books are suppose to become "an attraction" that would be inviting for the reader to actually have a purpose for reading them and I don't think it's unfair in any way to expect a reward for being so "attractive".

So far in every post I have ever seen on the subject of player written in game books, has had "Prospective Council Member/s" stomping on any question that has to do with what the council's parameters of considerations are.

"I Do Hope This Will Change!"
Change to become more inviting to the "common player" who is not of the privileged class that will become "The Council". I do know that there are some of our finest player members coming on board to achieve "having a good council", yet thus far, I have not seen a proper "Welcoming Mat" given to invite the public's literary works.

Writing is all about "The Powers of Attraction", and I will expect a very high standard for more welcoming of our common masses of non-council players to be encouraged to participate!
Otherwise, in my opinion, "The Council won't be showing we commoners how attractive they can make such a public offering through their own writing skills and powers of attraction".

http://oev.hilands.com/library-books.html
Checkout what has come before in the form on Ultima ingame books through this link above.

"Fabio the Poor", was the finest writer of the Ultima Online ingame book series. His works have contributed through many examples, of how attractive a small ingame book can be and also be very informative to a true hidden Ultima history of how our Ultima Online was first made, "yet had nothing to do with the Official Lore that was the basis of that gaming world".

"Fabio the Poor's books were very attractive and deeply inner thought provoking!"
And more to the point of being attractive, make sure and let every Councilman know it, learn it and live it, when it comes to Fabio the Poor's lessons that can be had through his book called "The Bold Stranger"... and not run off those that grow flowers where their feet tread, "which represents here within this post, the silence of any massive amounts of players wishing to contribute their works", and not just those works of the Council Members.

The Poet's Circle had a massive amount of literary works that came in the form of Valentine's Day Player Written Poetry. I will expect even more attraction to be created by our Council, "because they are writers!"
The Poet's Circle did a great job promoting and encouraging that by making it more attractive!

"I Hold the Council to a Higher Standard of Attractiveness!"
And asking for our accepted writers to be compensated by something that doesn't cost our Portalarium Company a dime, "is not too much to ask for!"
As well as a higher form of attracting talent through our Council's Advertizements to the Public for it!"

"The Bold Stranger, Dose Not Need to Be a Stranger Here, Nor Should He be Encouraged to Run Away From Being Beaten With a War Hammer of Lore Lawyers!"

"Attraction and Creating Something Attractive is What it's All About!"
~Time Lord~

 

Isaiah does have a point here.

If asset creators are getting compensated for their time and creative input, and musicians are getting compensated for their time and creative input (at a MUCH higher standard than asset artists), then how is that any different from writers getting compensated for their time and creative input?

There's an important distinction we are talking about here, because crowd-sourced writing which will be included in the game is NOT FAN-FICTION.

fan fiction (also fanfic)
noun.

a fictional account written by a fan of a show, movie, book, or video game to explore themes and ideas that will not or cannot be explored via the originating medium

 

So it looks like things are getting a bit heated. Just skimming the thread, I don't see anything immediately actionable...but I think we all know how that can change on a dime.

So: pause. Breathe. Continue pausing. Continue breathing.

Count to ten.

Now, resume posting. Keep to the Virtues!

 

Don't fight it Bubonic. It doesn't make any business sense for Portalarium to pay the community to write these books. I think they want the books, and maybe even feel they need the books to provide a good start for the library system. It's just one of those things that they cannot afford right now.

For all we know "Vyrinor" is Firelotus' alt, "The One" is Oneandonly's alt, and "Time Lord" is truly alternative... sort of like me.... HAHAHHAHAHAHHAahhahaha

 

Nope. Nobody is trolling in this thread. I've seen the future. Either way I guess if the thread gets closed nobody will blame anybody. I don't blame them for sending in the moderators on this one. Isaiah may not have been thinking right when he made those posts...

Portalarium is on a tight budget. People please don't squeeze blood from a rock. or something

 

Well, I dont think anyone is "fighting it" but why the disparity? This was, and is, sold as a crowd "sourced" game with compensation for all the current (up till now) endeavors of creative content.

Why is books, or writing, drawing a line? Not even that it is, there is just zero mention of it being compensated currently.

This should be the same standard that any content gets, whatever level is deemed appropriate.

I mean we are talking 500 words or less, so, its not going to be 40$ for 500 words of copy. But I think anything ranging from $1-$5 is reasonable for a page worth of text content, depending on the requirements perhaps.

Now, because of the "approachable" nature of writing versus say making a Model or Texture of quality, yes, you are opening this up to tons of "not so good" submissions, especially when/if compensation is approved.

So, having a good system in place to review it, and score work AND users, is a first line of defense against being inundated with less than ideal content.

But, regardless, there should be some remuneration.

 

Some Doctors belong to Doctors without borders doing things for free .

I suppose they should never Collect a Check for their services.

If Portalarium gave a writer something Virtual how is that look upon as greed or out to make a buck ?

A talent is a talent Don't hope its discriminated against because its not a 3d model, land Map, a Song , Or a Weapon. just because its not completely in your face content.

Common Release 9 !

 

"Our Competitive and Reward History of Note"

Take a good look at the Poetry Competition that was held by the great people at our Poet's Circle and guess what's missing from our ingame book advertizements.
"What made this competition so attractive?"

I'm not sure why the moderator came. Maybe to him I/we seemed to have strong opinions that go against what is being presented by our game for it's literary talents?
If I harmed anyone by my opinions, I truly apologize, but the logic of attractiveness seems to be not up to the standard for which our game has been best known for, in the form of rewards for exchanged talents.

The past history of compensations between our parent company and it's game's playing members has been a great one, yet within that greatness, needs to continue their prize winning legacy to it's public in a consistent way. This quoted post from the great Poet's Circle Leader "Holt", should support such an opinion as I have, as well as the opinion that others have within this subject of compensation for literary talent and the need of this literary outreach for talent to become more attractive.

It was Holt inquire himself, that caused such offers from Portalarium for not only the Poetry Contest, but also for the rewards that our musical talents that have had artistic talents that will appear to be enjoyed within our game. This is why I say, that it is up to "The Council" and their leadership, to ask Portalarium for an offer, so that more talents of our larger community can be attracted to offer their better talents to achieve the objective.

I am not any member or leader of our Council, so I don't feel it would be proper for me to ask Portalarium on the Council's behalf, "so I do hold them in my opinion, to the standards of leadership in the arts such as our Holt has in the past".
"Leadership always helps fellowship, when anyone is in a leadership position, such as our Council"

Or we are only running off "The Bold Stranger" of better creativity...
Did anyone here ever read that book I posted a link for?
There's some life lessons in that book

~Time Lord~