You know what would be awesome? Global event alerts.
 

You should be able to specify a list of servers who's events you want to be alerted to. Then whenever a server from your list puts an event up on the event tab while you're playing Graal you get some kind of alert (unless of course you're on that server).

I think Stefan planned this once, but never finished it.

Though, what peference would be liked to see done?

Like, some little popup window at the top of the client window or?

How about AIM style? Like "BAM IN YOUR FACE MOFO!"... or a pop up could work too...

Some kind of special PM bubble in a new tab or list section. For example, the global playerlists could be expanded, and if any events were put up, there'd be a PM at the top containing the details.

Sounds like a very cool idea. Movement between servers to check out everyone's events would promote general server populations and interest in events in general.

There are already events announced on the forums in a similar manner. (See Maniaman's sig, if he still has it like that.) I'm sure that small notifications could be made somewhere, but the question is... where?

I like the AOL Instant Messenger pop up idea and the global playerlist expansion.

I don't like the idea of pop-ups, because it could interrupt something important, when a person may or may not care about the event.

Option to recieve popup or on-screen message... or even a message from the npc-server would do.

I still have it, but it no longer works because Maloria Dev is down :(

(Gscript1 IRC bot on Maloria sent the event data to a Gscript2 IRC bot on Maloria Dev, which used the requestURL() function to send the data to maloria.com's webserver.)

Well, not a pop up window like pop up ads on a website, but a little scrolling thing, opposite of the map on the client screen, similiar to AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger.

or XFire while playing a game.

I think an unintrusive, different colored, PM bubble would be neat.
Playerworlds like to put a variety of different things on their worlds, which can be in different places on your screen, so if it was made into some kind of pop up, or scroller, it might interfere with something setup on certain playerworlds.

Maybe one color for gold worlds, one for classic, and one for hosted (3 different colors)
and you can choose which PW's you want alerts to come from.
Just an idea.

I read the topic, and thought that a PM would be the best way.

Then I saw Moonie's post. I like this different colors idea.

A PM from the NPCServer is fine.

It is planned to put a little pm-icon/button near the minimap which will show when an event is announced. You can click on it to see the events info, then either subscribe, ignore, or ignore all events from the server. It will be scripted so servers can eventually modify it if it doesn't fit the style of the server.

For suspense, I'd suggest a timer. "Maloria's Annual Spar Tournament begins in 01:37:23...22...21...", and you can leave it open ticking down, grab a sandwich, finish your quest, then log on with 5 minutes to spare and try to find a good seat...:-P