I'd like to suggest a bagdes threat and some feature that counts how much a player (not character) has posted.

It would be like my favorite language learning app (duolingo): You could get a badge for participating in a game that fulfills certain criteria: like being in a game that runs for at least a year, the player reaching 500 posts in a game etc.

There'd also be a special newbie badge for new joiners without any badges.

That way, you could get an impression on whether a player is a reliable poste ror not. It would also push players to give their best.

I'd stay away from stuff that can't be counted like "Player of the month", because that would lead to conflicts and arbitration issues.

I'm no computer wizard, so I am not sure if this would be complicated to do, but I use similar badges to motivate my students on our moodle platform and it motivates them in ways that never cease to amaze me.

In reply to butter78 (msg # 1):

If this was implemented, you'd want some mechanism to prevent "hat collecting". That is, people making perfunctory or low-quality posts just to bump their post count in order to earn those badges.

Afraid this won't happen.

            /help/?t=faqs&page=frf

As for the "Newbie Badge"... how long any player has been a member of the site falls under the general criteria of "personal information", and is nobody's business but theirs.  If they want to reveal that information, that's up to them, but RPoL will not set up an automatic system to reveal it.

In other words...

We don't need no stinkin' badges.


Come one, you know I'm not the only one thinking it....

In reply to tmagann (msg # 4):

I'm going with bigbadron and tmagann on this one.  I've been a member for many years and the admins do not need any extra headaches.  They do a damn good job.

Truthfully, mostly, I was just going for the (very dated) pop culture reference. But no, I don't think we need more than already exists. The cast list has a posting count by player for the game. That helps gauge participation level, if the GM feels the need.

A site wide attaboy system? That would become about the badges, and quit being about the games.

<thumbs up>

Okay, badges that rate performance may be unfair and might invite circles of virtual praising, but statistics aren't. Indicators like post per day (within the last 365 days) are used by other sites. And I see nothing wrong with an indicator like average keystrokes per post. And I am sure, there are some other statistics that would be fair to publish. Badges based on such indicators seem unproblematic to me.

That said, I do appreciate this site in any shape.

In reply to butter78 (msg # 8):

But why would anyone but the GM for a game need such?

I certainly don't need to know how much you post on site. And it would be meaningless without knowing what were game posts as player, as GM, and what where merely comments to opinion forums such this. And the GM already has access to "Number of posts made" in game, "last log in", and "last post".

And while I doubt anyone thinks the rest of us need to know their business to that level I'm sure that I don't want anyone prying into my use that much. Leave it to the moderators to over see me if they feel the need. Random Player #536 doesn't need to know my business.

And if it did happen? Well, I'd miss the site. But I miss Irony Games, too, and I adjusted.
This message was last edited by the user at 16:28, Wed 09 Nov 2022.

I GM many games and have no problem knowing from their cast list when they have logged in and when they last posted.  If it works don't fix it!

But I do sometimes with there was a button to put a kudos, well done, you know, even a smiley face that only a Gm could use for some writers post are pure dead brilliant so they are!  Nothing but a tiny little accolade that would just show at the bottom corner of a post.  But nix that thought too for then some writers might never get the acknowledgement and put them off the game so

Bottom Line:  Again if it ain't broke don't fix it.  Jase and the IT team for this site are busy enough and always making improvements.  Thank you Lads and Lasses!

(Now trimming what shows as games in the Player Wanted ads would be a help but that is a different matter all togehter and not for here!)

In reply to butter78 (msg # 8):

The site has a policy that, as a GM, what your players do in your games is your business.  What they do in another GM's games isn't.

In your own games, you have access to information regarding how active your players are - you can see post counts, and can keep track of them yourself.

You know , I meant what I said about the issues pertaining to each game not players in others games.  After over 17 years of using the Cast list to see when a player last posted or checked in.   I DO believe in privacy per game.  In turn I think if a GM deletes a game it should be their business not  broadcast in every games ad of different games.

I humbly disagree. This is the only way a player can get a feel for an unknown GM.

If there are 30 deleted games and most of them only have a few hundred posts, I will likely pass on the game since it's likely that it will not last very long.

I know that the deleted games list can probably be gamed, but it's better then nothing.

Let'z agree to dizagree on that point it izn't for here really but it doezn't tell you anything about a GM'z life.  Back to the Badgez thing.

In reply to Greymist (msg # 13):

And if that same player has two or three games that have thousands of posts?  Deleted games aren't the only thing you should consider.

In reply to pdboddy (msg # 15):

There is nothing else to go on!

A GM posst to Player's Wanted. As a player you have the description of their game, anything they post in the RTJ, and their list of games. I never said it was perfect, only that their current and deleted games might provide some clues.

In your hypothetical example, I would probably apply to the game, hoping this would be one that would last for thousands of posts and not blow out after a few hundred! :-)

I'll be brief here, because it's far from the original topic, but the current system, when interpreted in the way Greymist speaks of, also disproportionately affects GMs like me that run solo games. A few hundred posts is hardly anything for a game with 5 or more players, but it can represent months of daily posting for a solo game.