WHAT IS THE RMN SNEWS?

What is the RMN SNEWS?

The RMN SNEWS began as a suggestion by Feldschlacht IV in the News Item Requests back in January of this year (2009, in case you didn't know) wherein he stated that it would be good to have an article highlighting weekly news in the community like interesting discussions and things going on in the forum (involving both games and General), and new games, articles, and such on the site. I (kentona) agreed, and in fact had been considering something similar for some time. Feld even wrote a prototype post for the first This Week on RMN article. Unfortunately, the idea fell through and was not picked up again until I proposed the RMN SNEWS in the super secret Secret Mod Forum on April 9th.

I have to admit that the primary motivation for the RMN SNEWS was boredom. I was bored out of my mind at work: I was between projects, Hero's Realm was finished, and nothing new was on the horizon. Even so, I attempted to gather the staff in hopes of them helping with the news article. I knew that the first article was going to be a solo effort, but I had hoped that interest with various staff members contributing articles and content on occassion, or at least feedback on my own content. It was like herding cats. Sadly, it did not happen.

Disillusioned, I pushed forward with RMN SNEWS on my own, making it entirely a solo effort. I realize now that this is the best direction for the article, as other staff works have better venues than a buried piece in a single article. It is much better for a staff member to write their own review, or post their own article, or carry on with their own solo efforts and responsibilities. Their contributions make RMN as a whole a better community.

But boredom and disgruntlement weren't the only motivations for the start of RMN SNEWS. It was boosting my Makerscore. Release Something! Day VI was fresh and new, yet with the long absence of brandonabley, there was not going to be a new RMNCast forthcoming. With a need to fill the void, I tapped the skills of halibabica, who was already deep into reviewing every game released, and pressured him to make an official article on the event. (I also pushed hard to make halibabica a Contributor which turned out to be a great boon for RMN). RS!VI and halibabica's Release Somethine Roundup became the focal point of the first RMN SNEWS. I threw in some thoughts on active threads, spoke a bit about some endeavors on the site, and highlighted some cool games at the moment. The Spotlight interview was a last minute idea, but I now consider it to be one of the best sections of the article as it is the only section that is unique to the RMN SNEWS.

I should mention that months ago there was an attempt to make a professional and all-encompassing newsletter headed up by our own YDS. It was an ambitious piece, with input and contributions from many outstanding members. Lamentably, the newsletter fell apart and the team disbanded. RMN SNEWS is like its bastard child.

But what about the name? I admit it's pretty stupid, but that is a reflection on my views of the RMN SNEWS: it's pretty stupid. Why write an article summing up the events on a site and then post it on that site? Why not just go to the site in the first place? But no matter. People seem to like this, and I like writing them. Other reasons for the name include:

1) Reading the article has a great chance of putting you to sleep (SNEWS == Snooze)
2) I am glib
3) SNEWS looks a lot like SNES, which is always a good thing

Lastly, I must admit that I stole the idea for Spotlight On... from my work's newsletter. Here is me featured in the June 2009 issue:



And now you know the rest of the story.


What I'd like from you

I write the RMN SNEWS on a roughly e-Weekly basis (you laugh, but it usually works out to be every two and a half weeks). But now with the return of the RMNCast (which went on hiatus for a while and from which the SNEWS arose to fill the void), I'm wondering about the SNEWS's viability. So I hope to have a few questions answered.

1. Do you know about it?
2. Do you read it?
3. Do you care for it? (Would you be upset/disappointed if it stopped)
4. Do you want to write for it?
5. Have you any suggestions for articles, spotlights, games, hidden gems, shout-outs (or even new content)?
6. Any suggestions overall?

By my calculations, the next issue should be written around mid-week next week (say, the 15th).

You can read the past newsletters here: http://rpgmaker.net/articles/who_knows/

My dilemma is three-fold:

A. I hoped to spur discussion with the pieces, but they have so far (mostly) failed to do so.
B. The content overlaps a lot with existing facets of the sites, and so I feel that the SNEWS doesn't offer much.
C. Is it worth the effort?

I'd like to hear the communities thoughts on this.