Trophies

[Diana]

I THOUGHT I HAD ALL THAT TROPHY STUFF DISABLED AND HIDDEN! D:<


Trophies are completely useless as a function to the site AND are unsustainable to update effectively. For anything that isn't some automated stat on the forum, a person would have to award the trophy and that requires time and effort for something that really doesn't add anything to the site besides bragging rights.

Which is why we disabled them. We have pretty much disabled any superfluous status symbol that doesn't add something to the site. o__o The stars are there out of necessity. The Donator ribbon is there cause it makes people want to donate to get one. (and that is quite nice for Iwaku!) Post counts are only viewable on profiles and the members list cause a lot of members love seeing how many posts they've made over the years.


And it's true that people will always find a reason to brag and put themselves above others - but it's also true that the more options you have that they can brag over, the more common that nonsense will be. @___@

 

[Izurich]

I THOUGHT I HAD ALL THAT TROPHY STUFF DISABLED AND HIDDEN! D:<


Trophies are completely useless as a function to the site AND are unsustainable to update effectively. For anything that isn't some automated stat on the forum, a person would have to award the trophy and that requires time and effort for something that really doesn't add anything to the site besides bragging rights.

Which is why we disabled them. We have pretty much disabled any superfluous status symbol that doesn't add something to the site. o__o The stars are there out of necessity. The Donator ribbon is there cause it makes people want to donate to get one. (and that is quite nice for Iwaku!) Post counts are only viewable on profiles and the members list cause a lot of members love seeing how many posts they've made over the years.


And it's true that people will always find a reason to brag and put themselves above others - but it's also true that the more options you have that they can brag over, the more common that nonsense will be. @___@

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~ I definitely found the right site for my award-allergic self! *Rides on a muscular unicorn over a rainbow while wielding lightsabers*

P.S: Your avatar is an Owl, your name is Diana, Diana is the name of the Moon Champion in League of Legends (LoL), Owl stays up at night, The Moon goes up at night, I like night better than day. I knew you're the one!

 

[Jorick]

Says the man with only 2k posts. *Giggle Snicker*

In all seriousness though, posts counts are hardly hidden, they just aren't under the username.
If someone wanted to be legitimately elitist with it they can easily click your username to see it.

That and when it comes to stuff like this I think where we need to look isn't "does elitism bring it up?" but rather "would they be elitist any ways?".
Because you can hide as many medals and such as you want, but some people will still find a way to brag.
Its human nature, and to take away what is a fun feature for a ton of people to attempt to deter some elitism just seems fruitless.

That and Iwaku does medals a bit already with stuff like donating member.
That right there is rife to cause elitism. "I've actually contributed money to this site. Have you? No? Oh, get out of here you free loading peasant. I want to drink my tea in peace, aha!".
Yet it rarely happens, people are very responsible with it. So if Iwaku is literally allowing a "Pay for a medal" system already why should we not have it for medals that require time and effort to obtain?

The fact of public display makes all the difference. Jerks will be jerks and they'll find things to use to claim superiority. Otherwise decent people can and do get sucked into elitist group mentalities when the status symbols are right there in the open for easy viewing.

In line with what Diana said, if a possible status symbol does not perform some useful function by being displayed, t's better to hide it or remove it.

 

[Peter Feels]

Yeah, I remember when we used to have trophies and "Member of the Month" awards, but the site's gotten too big for that now.

Like a few have already said, making stuff like that always leads to people feeling they got one up on others, even if it's just bullshit. I recall a certain group that spammed the "like" button on each other and bragged about how they had the most points or some crap. Can't say their name or they get all butt hurt though. I also recall that there were some members to tried to accrue the most negative points until we got rid of that too.

Most you get now is your reputation on how you act, and that's only in the places you frequent. There are people who post often here in General that aren't more than a squirrel fart in a high wind in other parts of Iwaku.

 

[dragonesper]

Trophies, oh, right, those things. They were amusing for the newbie I was when I first joined and they're an insight into what you can do as a member on the site when first joining.
You can be likable, lovable, contribute to the site by writing guides and exercises and a whole load of other stuff. Value beyond that? None. I don't really think about them because I'm more busy having fun with RPs, joining the chatting here in GC and generally have fun. As for my post count? It's occasionally fun to do the math on how many of them has gone to a 1x1 RP I'm a part of but beyond that it just says how many posts you've done, not how much of that is quality.


(Still, @Diana can you make a cookie monster trophy? Just so when someone reaches a large amount of cookies can go "I'm a cookie monster! I love cookies!" I wanna do that at a point :p)

 

[Hecatoncheires]

There are people who post often here in General that aren't more than a squirrel fart in a high wind in other parts of Iwaku.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

I guess this boils down to a difference of values.

I more value the idea of giving access to things, and having people act on the honour system.
While seems to prefer to take more preventative measures.

The Donator ribbon is there cause it makes people want to donate to get one. (and that is quite nice for Iwaku!)

So can we donate money for extra likes, or a higher post count? :3

 

[Atlas Child]

I like the idea of public trophies. The idea that people would use public trophies as a bragging point is moot to me because bragging over Internet accolades just tells people your a tool. That argument remindes me of the people who used to brag over having the most negative points. Yes people can use that stuff to form a circle jerk but at the end of the day everyone knows those people are assholes anyway. I haven't looked into trophies much actually, but a wider variety of trophies, public or not, would be awesome.

 

[Asmodeus]

I bet this thread is much bigger than I think it is.

 

[Peter Feels]

I like the idea of public trophies. The idea that people would use public trophies as a bragging point is moot to me because bragging over Internet accolades just tells people your a tool. That argument remindes me of the people who used to brag over having the most negative points. Yes people can use that stuff to form a circle jerk but at the end of the day everyone knows those people are assholes anyway. I haven't looked into trophies much actually, but a wider variety of trophies, public or not, would be awesome.

Unfortunately we wouldn't all adopt this way of thinking and bragging would still happen. Tool or no tool.

 

[fatalrendezvous]

^ What The Butterfly said.

Why give people yet another way they can act like jerks? It's not as though trophies contribute much to the site anyway, so it's really not worth much.

 

[Hana]

I don't care about the trophies, or whether they're allowed or not. Hardly even pay attention to them on other people, though some trophies were pretty good (like the guides, etc etc and other helpful community stuff).