Story Story Forum Index (ATTENTION! For All Story Readers and Writers)

[surendar]

This has been created mainly to prevent too much sticky threads at the top. This has been already tried in our Battrick forums.

For All New Story Creators/Readers,

A Warm Welcome to this forums! Before starting any stories, you can see some of the indexes below(click them to visit those) and get some ideas on what the story really is about! You can visit some of the stories here to get many ideas as well.

Thread Topics(Click)

The above mentioned was created ages before. For the current situation,

* Thread Topics might be anyone which you choose. Eg : A Country's Diary, A Country's International Season, A Player's Diary and so on.
* Two general categories of a story - A Team's Story(like International Seasons) and A Player's Career Story.

Story Titles(Click)

It Would be nice if the above mentioned standards are followed.

Do's :

* Bermuda's International Season(c0x),Ber Vs Aus, First Session.
i.e Title,gameused,Current match, match status.

Don'ts :

* Bermuda's Internation Season(c0x), Bermuda Vs Aus, Please Post Comments.
* Bermuda's Internation Season(c0x), Bermuda Vs Aus, New Picture Done/Posted.

Story Tips(Click)

The above thread contains a wide variety of tips recommended by many members. This should be useful for many new story readers.

Recently Added Tips :-

• 
  [*]Hawkeye Tutorial.
  [*]Scorecard Tutorial.
  [*]Suggestion for Pitch selection to be used in GFX.
  [*]Tips from many story writers in writing a story.

Have Any Problem With Images Uploading? Click Here to see the Tutorial

This explains the basic steps for uploading the images in stories. This is very handful for many story writers.

For Polls :

For editing/changing polls, we story mods are the right ones to contact. The Current Story mods are : myself(surendar), Phil(PhilD123) and Brett(Brett_Lee).

SOTM(Story Of The Month) Contest

We have a regular contest here in this forum every month called, " Story Of The Month". Since many story writers are giving their best to entertain the members here, this contest gives the best writer of that month some small rewards.

General Reward to SOTM Winners :

* VCash of 200.
* A tag for one month.

*Note : This doesn't mean, only the stories which have won are the best here since many many writers here are putting their level best efforts. Each and every story efforts is to be appreciated. These contests are not to be taken seriously. They are just for fun. If one's story didn't win the SOTM, that shouldn't discourage the writers to stop their stories. It would be better if they(Writers) concentrate on entertaining the members(readers) irrespective of what and how the contest ends up.

Current Nomination Strategy for the Contest :

We have decided that the nomination system will no longer exist and we will be going back to the old system MWaugh used to use.

What will happen is at the beginning of each month i shall pm them and ask for 5 nominations. What will then happen is i will put them together and then whichever get the best say some get 3 votes some get 1 i will then post the nominations based on that. Some weeks we might get 5 nominations, others maybe 7 or 8.

But there will be one main rule with this new system:

a) If a story wins one month, it wont be allowed to be nominated for 2 months after winning the SOTM. This is so the same story doesn't constantly keep winning.
b) If a writer has two stories running, the writer won't be nominated for consecutive times if his one of the stories win the SOTM contest.

Eg : User 1 wins SOTM for Story A in Xth month. User 1 won't get nominated for Story B in X+1th month but he can be nominated for story B after X+1th month & story A after X+2th month.

MWaugh used to have a very similar system to this when he looked after the story forum.

Also with this system we get longer time to vote. Instead of 10-20 days, we will get a whole month.

There are no requirements for length of this system either the only requirement is for us to think your story is good so keep them going with good graphics etc!

Thanks
Brett_lee, Surendar and PhilD123
Story Moderators

Regarding Voting In The Polls Of SOTM :

We kindly request that it's better to honest in their opinions while voting for the stories. Just because, some one tells you over msn or PM's, please don't do the voting in their favour. You can contact(PM) story mods for these kind of issues if it happens.

Remember, most of the story writers applies their level best efforts in running their stories.

Also, feel free to contact any of the story mods to get/give any kind of helps,tips or suggestions for any problems/issues regarding the story forum.

-- Story Mod Team,
Suren,Phil and Brett.

Coming Soon in this Index thread,
Some of the Standard Recommended Stories here in PC. Stay Tuned for the Updation!

 

[surendar]

Compiled by Aditya:​

​

Planet Cricket all time best stories​

India's Journey To WorldCup by Surendar

England's Tour of New Zealand and Zimbabwe by M_Vaughan

Scotland play Natwest ICC Knockout Trophy by Barmyarmy

A Season In The Life Of.....................Me...!! by Briggsey

The Ashes Series by BrettLee

Ashes 2006/07 by tjh1989

Australian Domestic Season by The Mongrel

Coming Of Age - A Bangladesh Story by Griffo

England's Journey to World Cup by Gamerkid22

Australian Int Season by MWaugh

Scotland's Road to Glory by Jarl

Pakistan aim to become the Ultimate by Karachi Express

Three Lions on the Shirt? by Highlander999

England International Season story by Treva

A Story of A Young Spinner by Simbazz

Kent - A Cricket07 Story - Season Finished by Kev

Club Life - The Diary of a County Cricketer by Evertonfan

Sachin Tendulkar - The Story Of A Master by freddiw

NewZealand Road to Glory by Shantanu_Rooney

Smash, Bang & Wallop. English Style by Pakistan Army

Pakistan International Season by Pakistan Army

Born to Fight for Success, An Untold Story! by Surendar

The HRV Cup: The Knights' Quest by Just_Cricket

New Zealand - A Force To Be Reckoned With by CG123

My Career Diary - hedger_14

India's journey to world cup 2011 by Aditya​

Planet Cricket yearly award winning stories​

Best Cricket Story Thread - 2004

Tour of New Zealand and Zimbabwe as England by m_vaughan

Best Cricket Story Thread - 2005

England's International Season (Oct 2004 onwards) by m_vaughan


Best Cricket Story Thread - 2006

Australian Int Season - RETIREMENT by MWaugh

Best Cricket Story Thread - 2007

India's Journey To WorldCup by surendar

Best Cricket Story Thread - 2008

Three Lions on the Shirt? A Career Diary by Highlander999

Best Cricket Story Thread - 2009

Born to Fight For Success, An Untold Story! by Surendar

Best Cricket Story Thread - 2010

India's journey to World Cup 2011 by Aditya​

 

[Highlander999]

New Story of the Month Rules

These rules will come into effect from this month after speaking with both Surendar and Jaztheman:

- Stories will still only be able to win SOTM every 2 months
- Playing a match is no longer required to be entered. The creator of SOTM will choose the stories that he feels are deserving or have potential and submit those into the poll
- The prizes will be staying the same.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to PM any of the story mods

 

[surendar]

Thank You System

Update On Thank You System
​

Well, from now on, we are happy to introduce the " Thank You " system in story forums too.

It's a known fact that there are quite quiet regular readers to read the writer's updates & going without any replies. And you know, what " A Reply " means to the writers after putting lots of efforts in the update(s). This " Thank you " system can be utilized well by such readers.

If a writer can capture readers' satisfaction, and the story readers can very well use the " Thank you " system. This adds further encouragement to the writers. However, this doesn't mean that readers should stop replying. They can still reply if they want to.

Added to the above, from now on, the replies, " Keep it up! ", " Good work, KUTGW ", " Well done, looking forward to it ", " Looking forward to the next update ", " Keep up the good works, Looking forward to it ".. all these one line lonely replies would be deleted. Instead of these one lines, the readers are advised to make use of the effective Thank You system.

So, no more one line replies saying, " Keep up the good works ". Once again, I would like to remind the readers that, Thank you system is not there for preventing the replies & it is just there for the readers who doesn't find time to reply after reading and to avoid the one line, " Well done & keep it up " posts. Comments for the update means lot to the writers, & lets continue encouraging the writers with encouraging comments & thank you system.

Drop a PM for any clarifications & as always, don't hesitate to give us the feedback for improving our story forums.

Give us your valuable feedbacks,
http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/cricket-games-stories-strategies/story-forums-feedback-suggestions-55793.html#post1449328


Thank You,
Suren :onpc

 

[surendar]

Story Forums-Rules/Changes

Hello everyone,

There is something which we have been discussing for a while in Feedback thread, i.e the way which story forums works - ups and downs. It was good to see some quality readers/writers posting their opinions.

Alright, based on those opinions we are going to slightly change and suggest few things.

For Writers :

Story line :

Please do fix proper story lines. Any new story starters wondering what a story line is? Well, it is the way/path in which you are going to take the story. Story without story-lines won't be of any success. :readit

Just browse through STORY FORUM INDEX thread :readit and you will find some benchmark stories there. If you read some of those, you are sure to get a grip over what a good story line is.

For example, If you are starting a Ashes thread & you are playing as England in EA Cricket 2005... Just because you are so comfortable with C05, you cannot simply hit 6 Sixes in a test match and end up with some total like 700-800 in a day & bowling the CPU out for 20-50 odd runs.

Drawback of the above scenario is - a) Very unrealistic b) Simply invests 0% interest among the readers. We should give the CPU team also a fair chance and take the game in realistic way.

I am sure, everyone here who are going to start a story/started stories of late, would be aware of what a general story is! Atleast in our young ages, we would have heard stories from others. That do have a story line. Without any storyline( introduction, happenings & proceedings, climax, end ) can there be any story or movie? The same applies here too.

Take the story in the story line which you think that it would be interesting to take it. Can't Ashes be exciting, if the final run to win is taken down to last wicket & last ball of the day! But oh wait, that doesn't mean you do have to bring the exciting matches in story always. It's just realism factor along with some unique ideas that comes out from every writer.

How to Make an Update in Story :

Still making updates with only pictures and scorecards without any writings? I will strongly advise to stop such things. What is the whole point in displaying the scorecards alone without any writings? This is nothing but a story book with full of screenies so that a baby can understand from those visuals in-front. :

Do spend some of the efforts in writing and describing the events of happenings that is being involved in one's story. The writer can describe the update in ' n ' number of ways,

1) The writer can just describe what's being happening in the match.
2) The writer can also include his own creative thoughts & put feelings into it and it will attract the readers for sure. Writers' expressive thoughts put into a story is an useful tool to cultivate interests among readers.
3) Writer can describe even out of story things like, cricket chat shows or reviews/previews or something similar to these.

As I said, go through some of the BENCHMARK STORIES in the STORY FORUM INDEX THREAD :readit & you will get many such ideas.

There is a good old saying, " Pen is mightier than Sword! " & yes, the writings are indeed powerful. So lets not make the mistake of going with scorecards alone without any writings in it. Stories do have to involve some efforts spent in writing, otherwise, it won't make full sense & readers won't be bothered to read too.

Frequent switching between stories :

Does it make sense, when you sit in front of a TV and just tune with the remote different channels alone without watching any channel for not more than a minute? How annoying it would be for the people watching TV along with you? :readit It is the same case here too.

What is the point of starting 3-4 different threads in a month without any commitments and dedications to it? If that is the case, why bothered to create a new thread?

This is mainly due to lack of storyline. The story writer is just clueless what to write in it or tend to loose the interest in the game. I saw one of the threads like, " please close because new version of the game is out! " : Does it make sense?

One more thing which I want to bring into attention for the writers, Never bother about what AI patch you use or what Game you use. However easy the game may be, we should try to cultivate realism into our story line and take the story line accordingly. It is of waste to say, " The AI in which I played was so easy that I scored 1000 runs in 50 overs and bowled CPU out for 10 runs! ". If that is the case you want, then the right section is " Cricket Records Section " and not Cricket Stories section. :readit Atleast former will earn you a ' Record Holder ' tag.:

When you are not interested to continue the story which you started some days ago, that doesn't mean that you have to start another story and switch to the third one in the third week.

This will, inturn chase all the readers away from story forums. Consistency is the important factor in which every writer has to pull up their socks and bring it on!

Story presentation

As I said before, the story line is important. :readit You can find many stories which have been successful with feeble and minimum graphics and it is because, they did have a good story line.

Graphics is just an extra portion. i.e utility! This can be added to get better/best attraction of the readers & even storyline has that power to pull the readers too!

What I can say about presentation is, " Invest some effort in the update with good writings & story line to get the better reward which is, the hearts of readers! ". :readit

For Readers :

Readers Coming forward to encourage :

Yes, we do understand that many of the above factors have lead to some serious annoyance among the readers. But it's us who have to correct the story writers and take it in right way.

As much as we can, we will try to spot the mistakes which a writer makes & encourage them when the writer is putting his best. After all, we are like family members here.

Like, when a story writer starts his second story in a short period of time, we will spot him and ask, " Are you sure to continue this for a long period of time? Then later don't feel for noone reading your story! ".

Though we have good quality readers, it would be nice if they come forward and express their opinions about that story. We are having " Thank you system " now and we can utilize that atleast if we don't have time to post the comments. :help

Incentives for readers :

Well, this is the part which we story mods have to discuss that first & confirm with the admins. I am having some thoughts in my mind & I will let you know on moving forward!


Changes From Now : :readit

1) No Story writer will be allowed to manage more than 2 stories(including the combined stories) at a time.

a ) If the writer exceeds the two stories within 3 months, the threads will me merged and closed for 2 weeks time. After two weeks, if the writer is still interested, the thread will be reopened with the latest title for continuing, else, it will go as closed one.

b) If a writer wants to start the third story so desperately, the writer should contact the story mod team. His past story or stories should have been consistent enough & atleast 3 months old OR he did not write any story for the period of more than 3 months. OR the story mod team should have a belief that the story writer can manage 3 stories at the time.

2) The story participating in the SOTM should be atleast 2 months old & efforts for the the last 2 months should be worth for the nomination. There is no point in putting some efforts during the first 20 days & going inactive after that. Efforts applied for writing the story matters a lot!

3) The lonely replies like, " Keep up the good works ", " Well done ", " looking forward to next one " etc will be deleted on sight. We strongly advise the readers to use ' Thank you ' system if the readers want to convey only those one line messages.

4) Thank you system is also suggested for the busy and quiet readers who doesn't come forward to reply but have the habit of reading regularly.

5) Weekly Story Tips from different story writing experts & benchmark story of the month(decided by Story mods) would be additional inclusion. This is mainly for the feedback, " After good story writers went busy, there was none to guide the newbies! ".


This will be effective from August and it is where SOTM also restarts with new rules. For SOTM August, the efforts spent in June/July will be considered and consolidated for the nomination. The next 20 days are for the writers to fix their thoughts as per the rules/suggestions above & fill the necessary gaps!

Discuss this in http://www.planetcricket.org/forums.../story-forums-feedback-suggestions-55793.html

Feel free to drop your opinions always. You can do this either transparently in Feedback thread or privately in PMs.


Thank you,
Suren
Story Mod team. :onpc

 

[surendar]

SOTM system changes - ATTENTION all Writers/Readers!

Alright, here we go - Change in the way we run the story contests. After a lot of discussions and members' feedbacks, we are heading in a new direction keeping in our mind,

1) To motivate all the writers
a) by the story contest & rewards based on the efforts.
b) to maintain consistency in the writings for better fame & better rewards.
2) Few concerns regarding the voting system from members.

Regular SOTM

1) SOTM will take place every month.
2) Staffs would be selecting the nominee & poll system to decide the SOTM winner ( same as the current )
3) The duration of SOTM polling is 3 days. Mostly it would include the weekends - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. No more dragging of the contest to 20 days & bringing in the people to vote somehow from somewhere.

Note : If any such issues are observed by any member, you can report to us with the evidence. It can be either a screenshot of VM or PM or Mail or MSN or Yahoo or any messenger request. Just report to us, & we would take care of it. The person reporting with the appropriate evidence would be offered a good reward.

New Fairplay System in SOTM :

1) The top three who makes to pole position ( 1 - 2 - 3 ) would be awarded 5, 3 and 1 point(s) respectively.
2) The points will get carried to next month too. This inturn means - No criteria in not getting nominated if you win one SOTM. The same story can be nominated in next month's poll provided, it stays active with same top efforts/consistency.


What does fairplay points do?

It gets carried forward to the next month & form a base for the nomination of Story Of The Quarter. Yes, We would be having SOTQ as well i.e. every 3 months.

How does SOTQ works?

1) The top 3 stories from the fairplay points would be nominated for SOTQ poll + the story that wins the playoff poll.

2) The idea here would be to put up a poll for the first few days of the voting week with all the stories in SOTM over the last three months other than the top 3, and the winner would also go in to the overall poll, so if a good story just misses out on making it into the top 3, members could nominate it in. This poll duration would be for three days - Mon, Tue, Wed.

3) The poll duration for SOTQ would be 5 days - Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon.


So, same maximum number of votes get SOTQ award?

1) No, it just counts 50%.
2) Remaining 50% is calculated based on evaluation which would be,

a) Commitment as a writer ( Points out of 10 ) - This also includes the writers' attitude of taking the readers' comment and improving accordingly.
b) Quality of a story ( points out of 10 ) - This also includes the writers' tendency to take the story in long runs with consistency.
c) Presentation and Other Innovative stuffs ( Points out of 10 ) - Not only the graphics part, but the way writer presents the story to the readers.
d) Story Line ( points out of 20 ) - Bottom line of every story.

3) To evaluate these, a panel of members would be formed ( TBD ).

Award for SOTM

1) Thread getting stuck for a month
2) Vcash of 200K.

Award of SOTQ

1) Winner(First) gets SOTQ - First/Second/Third/Fourth Quarter tag for 3 months.
2) Vcash of 750K.

First Quarter - Jan, Feb, March
Second Quarter - April, May, June
Third Quarter - July, August, Sep
Fourth Quarter - Oct, Nov, Dec

Hope all members like this new implementation. Anyways, you can always shout back or ask your clarifications or express your concerns,

http://www.planetcricket.org/forums.../story-forums-feedback-suggestions-55793.html

Thank you,
Suren

 

[Aditya]

SOTM Returns

There were several reasons why SOTM was stopped earlier and perhaps it was stopped for good. As we all are aware, this part of the forum had some great activity a couple of months ago but it would be fair to say, the last few months haven't been that great, activity wise. The activity has picked up slightly over the last 2 months or so and that's why SOTM is back but not like before.

This time around, there wont be any separate thread for SOTM. The mods of this section and the active story readers opinions will be taken into consideration and a winner will be announced.

Rewards for the winner
1) - Story thread will get stuck for a month
2) - 3,000 vCash will be rewarded

Story writers work very hard on their stories and this competition is just for the purpose of rewarding them for their hard work.

The all new SOTM starts from one month to now. All the stories going on at the moment and all the stories that will get started in a month's time, will take part in the SOTM. The all new SOTM will take place from 15th and will end on 18th of July. This will be the period where the mods of this section and a selected few story writers will share their views about which story should be awarded SOTM - July. Good luck to all the story writers!