Forum Badges/Titles

[Zolkovo]

I had a quick search to see if this idea had been floated around before, and while it has been briefly touched on I don't think it's been explored to its full potential.

 

Now if forum badges are technically unfeasible, what about titles in place of where the roles are? People can earn titles based on community actions like

• The Writer e.g. written a guide
• The Accomplished Writer e.g. written many guides
• The Host/Hostess e.g. hosted many events
• Boosting Guru e.g. hosted many successful boost sessions (this one is probably harder to implement but we're just throwing ideas out atm)
• The Generous e.g. donated many prizes to charity
• The Charitable e.g. donated a prize to charity

And perhaps even some fun ones like

• Need for Post e.g. 500 total posts
• Avid follower e.g. following 50 people
• Meme Queen/King e.g. post 200 memes (you know who you are..)

These can be either blue or gold depending on membership status and would go in place of where you already have the Member/Premium Member text. Obviously the infrastructure is already in place for this so technical reasons shouldn't pose any limitations. Also we won't be introducing any new colours so the guide team and moderators should still be easy to distinguish.

 

My inspiration behind the idea:

Spoiler

The reason I would like such a system is because I've noticed that this site has practically no charity events and I think there are a lot of people on here who are passionate about at least one such organisation. I would like to set up a quarterly event (every 3 months) where the main focus is charity out of my own pocket.

 

As an example, this could be a giveaway or a competition where anyone can enter, but they can choose to donate their prize to charity for triple it's value. For example if the normal prize was £50, the charity would get £150 instead. I would hope something like this encourages people to consider helping some great causes out there, without having to reach into their own pockets.

 

Now this is where I would like some sort of official forum badge (that is either displayed alongside your avatar, on your forum profile, in your signature or all three) or a title (in place of role) that is awarded for those who've been lucky enough to win the giveaway, but also generous enough to donate it away. Such a badge/title would surely be rare and prestigious as you'd only have four opportunities every year (assuming no one else hosts these types of events) and assuming we have 250 people enter each time (this is a conservative estimate), that's a 1/1000 chance of acquiring the badge in any given year.

 

My hope is that something like this would give added incentive for people who may be on the fence and result in more people opting to give to charity. The charity of course can be anything you choose, as long as it's properly certified. It's also a nice thing to display, not to be boastful, but for others to see that you are thoughtful about some of the less fortunate out there. Even if you were to only give to charity to have something elusive on your profile, the net result is still the same. Someone somewhere out there would be very grateful.

 

Obviously only guide team and staff would be able to give out these to prevent abuse of power, but event hosts simply have to refer winners to them and once the system is in place it should be as simple as checking a box. I know for a fact there are so many talented artists and designers out there who'd be more than willing to help out with the badges themselves.

 

NOTE: In case there is any confusion, I am not asking the site to fund or endorse me. I am not asking for crowd funding. The money is entirely from my own pocket, I would just like a badge/title system to entice more people into considering donating the prizes that I'm offering to worthy causes.

 

Now I've only listed a few applications for the appeal behind forum badges/titles, and I'm sure there are plenty more all you beautiful minds can think of.

 

This is just a very rough idea, so please I would like to hear everyone's thoughts and suggestions on this and how it can be improved. I want to hear all opinions, not just the ones that are in favour of this.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Zolkovo

[B1rvine]

I’ve suggested forum badges as well, for submitting guides and other site related things. I like the idea, but it was rejected multiple times before.

[Zolkovo]

Just now, B1rvine said:

I’ve suggested forum badges as well, for submitting guides and other site related things. I like the idea, but it was rejected multiple times before.

 

What was the reason behind the rejection?

[DaivRules]

 

 

7 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

I would like to hear everyone's thoughts and suggestions on this and how it can be improved. I want to hear all opinions, not just the ones that are in favour of this.

 

Do these forums have the technical capabilities for badges? As far as I remember, all ideas for badges as a thing have been turned as a thing, regardless of what they represented. Why not do the Charity thing anyway and list it in your About Me?

[sealightbreeze]

Sounds good to me 

[Zolkovo]

@DaivRules Over the years I've found that something "officially" recognised has a lot more appeal than something anyone can simply write on their profiles. This isn't actually a badge for me, but for people who win the events I host and choose to give to charity. As I've said in the OP, while it shouldn't necessarily be a reason to give, it can be for some people and the more people that want to for whatever reason, the better.

 

Also I think it's nice to have something like that underneath your avatar on every post or on your sig. Of course this isn't just about charity badges, but also as @B1rvine mentioned other things like guide writers and people who in general contribute a lot to the community. I like the idea that these people are recognised for their generosity and work, because no one is obliged to do these things but they choose to do so to help others. That's something that should be encouraged and rewarded.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Zolkovo

[Mesopithecus]

I do like the idea of badges, but it all depends whether it is in the realms of forum capabilities.  In the absence of something that goes on your profile, a lot of event runners have been creating their own badges or the talented artists on the forums have been creating badges for them.  These then go in signatures, about me pages etc.

 

Check out some of Toogie's or Dragon-Archon's events as they both have some great examples of badges that have been given out.

[Beyondthegrave07]

Yeah, I think it was outside the capability of the current forum software being used or something like that if that makes any sense. I'm no technical genius... Haha.

 

I like the idea. And I throw an annual trophy hunting day event every September (starting last year, haha). I would love to see someone match the number of trophies earned in the event and donate it to charity. Unfortunately, I don't have +$1200 laying around to give. ? If anyone did that, they'd deserve a badge of honor.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Beyondthegrave07

[B1rvine]

49 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

 

What was the reason behind the rejection?

 

Along the lines of trophies being enough for people to earn, and not adding something else to worry about showing off for (mostly) trivial achievements.

 

Also I think people wanted to go a different direction than an unnamed website.

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by B1rvine

[Yrva]

Not quite exactly what you meant by titles, but if we aren't able to have badges, I think "roles" or something along the lines of what you described as those titles would be a great idea! Like, highlighting users for what they're good at, or enjoy to do. For example, people who have written plenty of guides could have a guide/writing related one, or those with some of the most ultra rare trophies have one related to all that good stuff!

 

Overall I agree with pretty much everything you mentioned in the OP!

[Zolkovo]

3 minutes ago, ManaFear said:

Not quite exactly what you meant by titles, but if we aren't able to have badges, I think "roles" or something along the lines of what you described as those titles would be a great idea! Like, highlighting users for what they're good at, or enjoy to do. For example, people who have written plenty of guides could have a guide/writing related one, or those with some of the most ultra rare trophies have one related to all that good stuff!

 

Overall I agree with pretty much everything you mentioned in the OP!

 

Well I just personally think "Member" and "Premium Member" are really boring to look at! That space could be taken up with something that shows some sort of community contribution rather than a reflection of your gaming. If that's what you mean by roles, then my mistake!

 

This is why I don't necessarily agree with the argument that "trophies are enough", because this suggestion is to do with someone's forum profile, not their PSN profile. It may encourage people to use the forums more, get involved more and ultimately be enticed to buy Premium membership. Win-win for everyone.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Zolkovo

[Yrva]

1 minute ago, Zolkovo said:

 

Well I just personally think "Member" and "Premium Member" are really boring to look at! That space could be taken up with something that shows some sort of community contribution rather than a reflection of your gaming. If that's what you mean by roles, then my mistake!

 

This is why I don't necessarily agree with the argument that "trophies are enough", because this suggestion is to do with someone's forum profile, not their PSN profile. It may encourage people to use the forums more, get involved more and ultimately be enticed to buy Premium membership. Win-win for everyone.

That is what I meant by roles, but I absolutely agree. I think it'd be a great idea to highlight community efforts that people contribute to! Certainly an idea like this can be nothing but good in my eyes.

[B1rvine]

I want a badge for successfully removing 5000 cheaters :-p (Half kidding)

 

6 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

Well I just personally think "Member" and "Premium Member" are really boring to look at!

This. Titles based on community actions, and not limited to one. Ie you can be a “Guide Guru” and “Boosting Session Hero” etc at the same time.

[nyonmyan]

Why not just donate instead of doing it to get the -I'm better than you are- bling?

[Zolkovo]

3 minutes ago, nyonmyan said:

Why not just donate instead of doing it to get the -I'm better than you are- bling?

 

It's a tried and tested method. There's a lot of MMOs that do something similar where you can donate in-game wealth which will be converted into a donation for various charities, and you get a title or something along those lines in return.

 

I agree people should ideally be donating out of the goodness of their hearts but let's be honest. That's not the world we live in.

 

Anyway although I was inspired by charity, this idea goes beyond the charity element. So let's not get bogged down in the details.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Zolkovo

[ExHaseo]

For the charity thing, if you want to run a charity event, go for it. For the site though, I'm not sure it's all that feasible for them to. I'm not 100% on this, but from what I understand, for there to be a large charity drive, there would need to be some kind of regulation. Either the site establishing a corporation, or a charity organization.

It could very easily turn into a legal mess if someone thinks the funds aren't being put towards charity, or demands some kind of proof of where the money is going. Because of that, there would need to be some kind of public paper trail. Otherwise, the site/Sly/the person running the event/all of the above could get sued.

 

For smaller stuff, like if you're the only one donating, and it's only maybe 100-200, then it wouldn't be an issue. So, if you personally want to do a charity event, then go for it, but you would have to take legal responsibility for it if something happened. Since having some kind of donation pool or something like that, where multiple members are putting up money, is where the trouble could start. Especially if it ends up being a large amount of  money. I know it sounds far fetched for someone to sue over a charity event, but some people are truly terrible.

 

As for the titles thing, that would be neat. As long as it replaced the Premium Member/Member text, and as long as you kept the gold text for premium, and blue text for member. Just so there's a distinguishing factor.

Since if it replaced the current titles, there wouldn't be much point. Since premium members can change their title freely, people could just change their title to whatever they want, without having to do the requirements. 

[Zolkovo]

@ExHaseo The money is from my own pocket, not from the site or anyone else. It shouldn't cause any legal issue, as there is no entry fee or anything like that. You just sign up, sit back and let me do all the work! I'm not trying to get the site to endorse my events, just simply have a badge/title system to entice people into being charitable with the reward money.

 

When you say premium members can change their titles freely, are you referring to "rank" or "role"? I've never seen a custom "role" before and the rank can be changed by non-premium members as well.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Zolkovo

[Dragon-Archon]

3 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

When you say premium members can change their titles freely, are you referring to "rank" or "role"? I've never seen a custom "role" before and the rank can be changed my non-premium members as well.

ExHaseo is talking about rank (the text below the username). Roles (member, premium, guide team, moderator, and owner) can't be changed.

[Dav9834]

I think this is a fun idea! Reminds me of choosing my "title" in FFXIV. Adds that extra bit of touch

 

Though I would prefer larger avatars first... but it doesn't seem that's going to happen. IP Forum templates went from great to sucky ☹️

[Cassylvania]

I like it. It's like trophies...for the forums.

[NutellaOrgies]

It would probably boost activity in the site, more gaming sessions, more guides written, etc

[GT__Jedi]

Forum badges would be the most awesome addition to the site!  I love bling, and this certainly would be a full happy meal!