List of ranks

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Ambidextroid
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Ambidextroid »

Aye, I think having Ales and Magician the same rank would definitely fit best, similar to the Mocking Bird.
Though I think the hunter is perfectly fine as is, we do need some Rayman 1 ranks after all.
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Harpic fraîcheur »

Ray502 wrote:Image
I'm for because this includes my Razorbeard image. :mrgreen:
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Shrooblord
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Shrooblord »

Ray502 wrote:Image

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I *love* these!!

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Keane wrote:Something I brought up in my application was replacing the list of ranks with a sort of rank "store" where people can use tings to purchase ranks at different prices, giving them more freedom to choose which ones they like while still having an incentive to earn tings.
Shrooblord wrote:Interesting point about a store, Keane. I'm milling it over in my head, and I must say, I kinda like it.
In fact, I liked the idea so much, I made a mock-up of how it could work!

(Please note all of this is just suggestions; but when I get excited about a concept, I tend to work it out in fine detail... please don't feel like I'm pushing this on you like "this is what we gotta do" - they are just my ideas I had and am excited to share with you guys.)

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I don't know if you can read my almost illegible scribbles, but the relevant boxes pointing to the picture of the UNIQUE rank (more on this later) read:
Cost: The Pirate Head Trophy [more on that later]
Only one ever in the community, either in [the] Exchange, or somebody's Inventory.
And then the buttons next to the Lums read "EXCHANGE".

Soooo... basically, the idea is the following:

Instead of the current Ting-based Ranklist, we'd have a rank "shop" where you can purchase ranks called The Exchange at the Crossroads of Dreams (name pending).
By spending Tings you've earned, or a new resource, Lums, which you could earn by either spending Tings in the Exchange, or by winning certain contests. My idea was that the different events and contests we host (TTQ, Record Day, SOTM Contest, among others) award you specific variants of Lums, but perhaps we could hand them out according to the "level of reward" - more on this later. More "premium" ranks would cost Lums of various varieties (maybe combinations of Tings and Lums or who knows), while the more "basic" ones would cost solely Tings.

I wasn't sure about where the ranks would go after you purchase them. Maybe you could have a permanent inventory of ranks to switch around from, or maybe you'd have to buy one rank and then switch out the one you currently have each time you purchase a new one, losing the old one permanently.

People could submit new ranks and, upon review, they'll be added to the Exchange. Rank creators receive bonuses like Tings, Lums or Trophies (more on that later) depending on what they made (a "basic" rank vs a "premium" rank for example) and their history of contributions (frequent contributors of good content being rewarded for continued submissions of good content).

You could also earn certain Trophies for special occasions, which can either be kept for bragging rights, or sold for exorbitant amounts of Tings in the Exchange. Trophies cannot be bought or transferred.

Lums, like Tings, can be transferred/donated to other users.

This is where that picture above comes in: it shows five "levels" of "premiumness" in ranks and an area of the shop where you can exchange Tings for Lums of certain varieties (again, the exact costs and whether or not some types should even be obtainable this way is completely up for debate; just some ideas) - the most basic ranks, costing only Tings, more curated ones costing the cheapest sort of Lums, more 'rare' ones being more expensive, super "premium" content costing the most expensive or hard-to-obtain type of Lums, and "unique" ranks, of which there would only be one in the whole community at any given time. They would cost something ridiculous like certain Trophies, or a crazy amount of Tings/Lums, or be awarded at certain achievements/occasions. They could be sold off from the Inventory for a crazy amount of Tings, too.

---

These were my ideas! Tell me what you think. :)
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Master »

I've been fairly quiet about this, but I do admit, I am kinda liking the whole rank shop. Whether or not it's feasible or ever going to be put into practice is ultimately Humch's say. But I think that it'd entice newer members far greater than what's becoming an ever more stretched out and cumbersome ranklist. Having a rank shop also eliminates issues like this argument over Ales' position on a ranklist. Having no ranklist eliminates such controversy (though I guess you could have a similar argument over ting prices).

Having two currencies seems a bit excessive though, I'd say we stick to one. Obviously, having a rank shop eliminates the Special Rank idea, which is one of the biggest draws for SoTM and TTQ. Your trophy idea sounds promising, but again, I wonder if should just cut out the middle-man and just increase the ting rewards. I'm wondering maybe instead of giving special ranks for SoTM /TTQ etc, give out some sort of achievement.

I've been wondering if we could have some sort of badge or achievement system akin to say, a gamerscore on Xbox Live or just simple trophies like on PSN. It'd be solely for bragging rights, as it were. We could also hand out such rewards for any special achievements, such as getting top score on Record Day, or technical achievements, such as Ad's RayTwol, or Droolie's work on RayTunes, or RibShark's various achievements.

My apologies, I didn't intend to hijack your ideas with my own, but this is turning out to be an intriguing discussion, and I felt compelled to give my two cents.
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Shrooblord
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Shrooblord »

Sweet! I like it; so you could have "badges" below your name, showing your 'level of TTQ winner'ism or how many different types of achievements you've had in the community over the years? That'd be real sweet. It's bragging rights and constant, permanent recognition of hard work all at the same time.

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Look at this badge list for someone over on the Unreal Forums. It's actually quite rare for someone to have so many badges, but boy does it look cool when you rack up those badges in a row like this guy.

EDIT:
I KNOW
We could use the healthbars from Rayman 1 as a "level" indicator, gaining bibs as you gain levels. (Of course only gaining the badge itself at your first level of something.)
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Ambidextroid
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Ambidextroid »

I quite like the ideas too, especially that^ badge idea. However, I'm not so sure on the rank shop. For one thing, I think people like to keep their tings as a value, and if you actually trade them in for a rank (especially an expensive one) you lose that intrinsic value and you just have a picture which isn't as quantifiable, if you see what I mean.
In other words, say someone really likes Jano and another person likes Clark just as much, but Clark is only 1000 tings while Jano is 5000 (random numbers, I'm not actually suggesting these prices). The person who likes Jano would have to pay 5000 tings but would be no better off than the person who bought the Clark rank for only 1000.
Raw tings on the other hand, you're always "better off" if you have more, so it's more fair in a way. The current system means not only do you get a nice rank, but you keep your tings and thus the "value" of your rank is always displayed.
One other thing is that I can imagine people buying one rank and then never buying another. On most sites or games that have purchasable items like this, they are actually accessories that you can add to your character. That way you can buy multiple items and not worry about losing your last one. If you were to purchase ranks however, you can't have more then one rank so people might just buy their favourite rank and never visit the shop again.
Sorry if I seem like I'm just pooing on the idea, I don't mean to, these are just a few nit-picks of mine that I can see possibly being a bit problematic.
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Shrooblord
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Shrooblord »

I see merit in your points. The one about buying the favourite rank and then never returning again is actually quite a valid one. I'd have to have a good think about how/why that could/should/would be prevented.

Because to be honest, I've got my favourite rank right now and I've been dumping Tings into my bank account every time I earned "too many" to jump up one; I've basically "visited the shop once", so to speak, and my behaviour hasn't much differed from this hypothetical one-timer shop visitor, but without the shop part.

Maybe we could have rank borders to go along with higher-priced ranks, to indicate the "value" of more premium content. Like golden-rimmed ranks or ones studded with gems, or heck, even animated (whaaaaat) ranks?

But I do get your point about Tings as a value to hoard and boast about.

Maybe we could add one of those banner things that displays how much you've splurged at the shop (i.e. "One-timer" to "Impulse Buyer" to "Casual Peruser" to "Loyal Customer" to "Shop Connaisseur" or what have you).

But maybe I'm overcomplicating things with those ideas. I do tend to do that from time to time. :P
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Ambidextroid
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Ambidextroid »

Shrooblord wrote:or heck, even animated (whaaaaat) ranks?
I like this idea, it reminds me of the days when I would go on random forums looking for help in some program or game and everyone had animated gif avatars :D
Maybe there could be other things in the shop too? Though I'm having trouble with thinking of anything that's virtual yet worth spending your precious tings on...
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Shrooblord
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Shrooblord »

One thing I know people get excited about on other forums is the ability to modify your username in certain ways, like change the colour or add an icon, or basically change the name outright.

There's stupid little things like flourishes or premium smileys, but I totally hate content like that that's locked away from the entire community and only available if you "buy" it.

But "additional" things like the banners or name colours or what-have-yous (even ranks) are totally A-OK to me being "exclusive" - that's something to look up to, but not something that actually inhibits your ability to use the forum just like any other member.
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Keane »

People buying one and then sticking it to it for a while doesn't seem like a big problem, that's basically the same thing as people storing tings in their alt accounts right now except more accessible. Again, under the current system there's not much progression either, I'd rather have a Rayman 2 rank than a gay, retarded Clark rank, but it's gonna take me like two years of posting to get there.

As far as price range goes, I picture it separated into price-based categories where you'll have like the 5,000 Ting group and there's like 4-5 ranks that are all that same price. Another thing I really like about this idea is that it eliminates having to try and select the most "important" or liked characters for a rank list, we could incorporate like 50 new ranks and distribute them over the price ranges. You'd never see a Ray Plumber or Spiky Ball rank in the list, but with the store you could totally have those.
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Shrooblord
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Shrooblord »

Exactly, it even opens up the possibility for users who would like to, to use Rabbid ranks (ugh - Sergeï, however, is quite bad-ass). And ranks that we had previously, but have been scrapped in favour of newer/more updated ones, could see a return.

The more we talk about it, the more I like the idea.
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Harpic fraîcheur »

Nice idea. Also, I think it would be nice if users could set their special ranks themselves though the store. Imagine you win a SOTM or either a TQ, you could be given a special rank item you could use to get your rank on the store.

I don't think a such system would be hard to set-up, but I'm not sure though. I just like the idea. :P
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Bradandez
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Bradandez »

I'm all in for Keane's Store idea. It's much better than having an updated yet awfully constructed ranking system.
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Master »

Hmm, perhaps it's time to get Humch's attention then and see what he thinks. I'll give him a nudge.
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Hunchman801 »

Yeah, I saw this last night but I was too tired to reply. :mrgreen:

First of all, I have to say that I find our current sytem pretty cool. We've had it for almost fourteen years now, and it's worked quite well ever since, providing a nice element of gamification to the community and becoming some sort of a trademark for this place. So, whatever path we choose, my point is that we should keep its spirit.

It's also great to see so much enthusiasm for improving it. I've read plenty of good ideas, so here are my thoughts:
  • People seem to care about their Tings, and might not want to go back to square one just to buy a rank. Might be better if all previous ranks were automatically available for each threshold. That would also solve the constant dilemma between buying a rank and waiting for the next one.
  • Simple is better. The idea of multiple currencies is cool and it reminds me of that forum RPG I was working on in 2004, but it never saw the light of day because it was overly complex, and we probably want to avoid that. I'm pretty sure that we can make it work with just Tings.
  • I like the idea of achievements/trophies. We could have bronze, silver and gold trophies, and why not platinum too, which could be obtained after unlocking a certain amount of gold trophies. It would take years of commitment to the community to get one, but the user could be rewarded with a special rank.
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Shrooblord
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Shrooblord »

Sweet, I like the input and changes/suggestions. The main point of my ideas is usually to get the ball rolling in a conversation - sometimes I don't even expect people to like the full idea itself necessarily, but rather the gist of it, if you know what I mean, and spin off of that.

Multiple currencies sounded really cool in my head, but you're right in that we have enough in having just Tings.

What do you mean with "all ranks available for each threshold"? That people don't "buy" ranks by spending them at the shop, but rather get access to all ranks of a certain Ting-level as soon as they reach that amount of Tings and can then freely switch between all ranks of their threshold level and below? That's pretty cool. I like that thought.

Yes, trophies should be hard to get! But they could reap valuable rewards to... and don't forget: immortal bragging rights!
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Hunchman801 »

Shrooblord wrote:What do you mean with "all ranks available for each threshold"? That people don't "buy" ranks by spending them at the shop, but rather get access to all ranks of a certain Ting-level as soon as they reach that amount of Tings and can then freely switch between all ranks of their threshold level and below? That's pretty cool. I like that thought.
Yep, that's exactly what I meant (after reading my post again I realized I could have been clearer :oops2:). There would be no need for Ting accounts anymore.
Shrooblord wrote:Yes, trophies should be hard to get! But they could reap valuable rewards to... and don't forget: immortal bragging rights!
Well, bronze and silver should be reasonably easy/doable to encourage newcomers to keep going, but gold trophies should be reserved for outstanding achievements and platinum only owned by the most senior and dedicated members. But what better than a permanent special rank (or several...) when it comes to immortal bragging rights? :hehe:
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Shrooblord
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Shrooblord »

Hunchman801 wrote:There would be no need for Ting accounts anymore.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Aside from being used in comical situations as is the case with the (in?)famous ZombieChicken6, they don't really serve that much of a purpose other than "I want to keep this sweet rank but hold on to my precious Tings."
Hunchman801 wrote:But what better than a permanent special rank (or several...) when it comes to immortal bragging rights? :hehe:
Yesss sweet!!

So, when do we unlock yours? :bad:
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Haruka »

Hunchman801 wrote: [*]I like the idea of achievements/trophies. We could have bronze, silver and gold trophies, and why not platinum too, which could be obtained after unlocking a certain amount of gold trophies. It would take years of commitment to the community to get one, but the user could be rewarded with a special rank.[/list]
Didn't I suggest a similar concept a few years ago? It sounds good to me.
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Re: List of ranks

Post by Aaron »

Can you still choose to be a baddie once you chose to be a goodie?
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