Patton wrote:

As usual, great work!  Truly impressive how this site continues to make strides, I must tip my cap!  I am sure I am not alone when I say, with all sincerity, THANK YOU!!!

+1

Nice to see these improvements. Now perhaps I am one of the heavier users of the forum, but it would have been nicer for it NOT to be backdated. I have all these medals an never got the sense of achievement at the time.

If I get another one, is there a notification of it?

Finally, it is also a shame they over run each other. If there is one medal for your first win, and another for our 10th. That should be two medals.. not one replaces the other.

Aiken Drumn wrote:

Finally, it is also a shame they over run each other. If there is one medal for your first win, and another for our 10th. That should be two medals.. not one replaces the other.

Our discussion regarding achievement types:

As I see it they fall under three types:

Progressive - These would be awarded when you reach a plateau and the medal would replace the previous medal, so you would only have one at a time.  Includes: Games Played, Games Won, Released boards, etc.

Status - These would also be awarded based on your current status and will go up and down the scale as your status changes.  Includes: Rank.

Collector - These would be awarded and could not be revoked. I see these awarded the first time it is achieved and only once.  Includes - Fog, Tournaments, Other.

The issue of retaining each step in the progressive achievements was displaying them.  If we did not replace the medal, you could have over 70 medals in your home screen.  That would stretch about 9 rows deep.  Tom opted for the cleaner look.

Aiken Drumn wrote:

Nice to see these improvements. Now perhaps I am one of the heavier users of the forum, but it would have been nicer for it NOT to be backdated. I have all these medals an never got the sense of achievement at the time.

 

If I get another one, is there a notification of it?

Tom and I focused the first phase of achievements around the basics.

We wanted to get them out there and started.  Unfortunately this meant that many of the awards were already achieved by the veteran players (including myself).  We are currently developing  a phase two list that will be more creative and exotic in nature.  Tom will post here with any future achievements as they are released.  

Yes you will get an instant notification if you get a new medal.

The issue of retaining each step in the progressive achievements was displaying them.  If we did not replace the medal, you could have over 70 medals in your home screen.  That would stretch about 9 rows deep.  Tom opted for the cleaner look.

If that is the concern, perhaps the medals are being given out for too insignificant things? Does anyone really get a benefit for getting an award for their first forum post, or their first game? I see I have one for playing a game with fog on?

I know some people are completists and will love getting all these different badges.. but they seem pretty weak

Each award should at least require some effort, not simply turning up!

i think that as a first step doing something once can be significant.

but understandably most want more difficult things to achieve; thus a progression. there's a start of progression out there, with more to come -- that may be more to your liking. and remember some of these are for FUN.

How about a boot-free series?

50 , 100, 250, 500 boot-free games.

Aiken Drumn wrote:

The issue of retaining each step in the progressive achievements was displaying them.  If we did not replace the medal, you could have over 70 medals in your home screen.  That would stretch about 9 rows deep.  Tom opted for the cleaner look.

If that is the concern, perhaps the medals are being given out for too insignificant things? Does anyone really get a benefit for getting an award for their first forum post, or their first game? I see I have one for playing a game with fog on?

I know some people are completists and will love getting all these different badges.. but they seem pretty weak

Each award should at least require some effort, not simply turning up!

When I first joined, I was reluctant to post in the forums and join tournaments. I was nervous about team games and bothering people.   I think getting achievements for the site basics are important ways to encourage new players to poke around and invest a little into the games - with related features. 

So turning up and being introduced to site features - get a badge. 

On a related note, nice to see a post from you, been a while. 

ratsy wrote:

Aiken Drumn wrote:

The issue of retaining each step in the progressive achievements was displaying them.  If we did not replace the medal, you could have over 70 medals in your home screen.  That would stretch about 9 rows deep.  Tom opted for the cleaner look.

If that is the concern, perhaps the medals are being given out for too insignificant things? Does anyone really get a benefit for getting an award for their first forum post, or their first game? I see I have one for playing a game with fog on?

I know some people are completists and will love getting all these different badges.. but they seem pretty weak

Each award should at least require some effort, not simply turning up!

When I first joined, I was reluctant to post in the forums and join tournaments. I was nervous about team games and bothering people.   I think getting achievements for the site basics are important ways to encourage new players to poke around and invest a little into the games - with related features. 

So turning up and being introduced to site features - get a badge. 

 

On a related note, nice to see a post from you, been a while. 

+1 on everything.

I know some people are completists and will love getting all these different badges.. but they seem pretty weak

Each award should at least require some effort, not simply turning up!

Please provide some examples of achievements that require some effort.  We will add them to the phase two list and see if they can be implemented.

The initial phase of achievements were designed to improve new player retention. The idea was to encourage full participation in the site and keep the player that was trying things out more involved. 

We wanted to go ahead and roll this out as is and cover all of the basics.  It did not make sense to implement an a achievement for "80% H rating on 15 boards played in total fog" and not have an achievement for playing a game in fog first.

This is an evolving process and it is unfortunate that so many veteran players have already received so many of the basic awards.

Raptor wrote:

Please provide some examples of achievements that require some effort.  We will add them to the phase two list and see if they can be implemented.

This is great stuff Raptor.  Thanks for helping with it.

These may not be well thought out, so no offense if not implemented -and I may repeat some you already have since I am brainstorming.

- Winning a 16 player game  (Actually could be winning X number of games with n number of players - where the X is progressive and a different achievement for each n)

- Winning a game for each # of players.  (2-16)

- Having over X number of games played on a board you design.  (Progressive)

- Having CP's on X number of boards.  (Progressive)

- Having wins on X number of boards.

- Winning a team game when your teammate was booted.

- Starting X number of tournaments.

- Having the #1 slot on X number of boards.

- Playing X number of games on beta boards.

- Being on the review board

- Working on the wiki

- Winning/placing in a board design contest

- playing X games without a boot.

- Winning a game (or having CP's) on each board in a particular category - categories could be theme oriented (Sports, LOTR), creater oriented (Yertle boards), etc.

- posting on other player's walls.

Alright, back to work...

Raptor wrote:

I know some people are completists and will love getting all these different badges.. but they seem pretty weak

Each award should at least require some effort, not simply turning up!

Please provide some examples of achievements that require some effort.  We will add them to the phase two list and see if they can be implemented.

The initial phase of achievements were designed to improve new player retention. The idea was to encourage full participation in the site and keep the player that was trying things out more involved. 

We wanted to go ahead and roll this out as is and cover all of the basics.  It did not make sense to implement an a achievement for "80% H rating on 15 boards played in total fog" and not have an achievement for playing a game in fog first.

This is an evolving process and it is unfortunate that so many veteran players have already received so many of the basic awards.

Raptor, again I think it's awesome no matter how you slice it. I loved seeing the bunch of Achievements show up.  And, poking around to see what I got, what they meant, and what was missing.  

Amidon37 wrote:

Raptor wrote:

Please provide some examples of achievements that require some effort.  We will add them to the phase two list and see if they can be implemented.

This is great stuff Raptor.  Thanks for helping with it.

These may not be well thought out, so no offense if not implemented -and I may repeat some you already have since I am brainstorming.

- Already on the list Winning a 16 player game  (Actually could be winning X number of games with n number of players - where the X is progressive and a different achievement for each n)

- Added Winning a game for each # of players.  (2-16)

- Already on the list Having over X number of games played on a board you design.  (Progressive)

- Added Having CP's on X number of boards.  (Progressive)

- Already on the list Having wins on X number of boards.

- Added Winning a team game when your teammate was booted.

- Added Starting X number of tournaments.

- Added Having the #1 slot on X number of boards.

- Added Playing X number of games on beta boards.

- Already on the list Being on the review board

- Added Working on the wiki

- Already on the list Winning/placing in a board design contest

- Already on the list playing X games without a boot.

- Added Winning a game (or having CP's) on each board in a particular category - categories could be theme oriented (Sports, LOTR), creater oriented (Yertle boards), etc.

- Added posting on other player's walls.

 

Alright, back to work...

Thanks

Amidon37 wrote:

- Winning a game (or having CP's) on each board in a particular category - categories could be theme oriented (Sports, LOTR), creater oriented (Yertle boards), etc.

I'd say this one could be interesting if utilizing Board Tags.

And expanding on the "Added Winning a game for each # of players.  (2-16)"

Win 'X' number of 2 player games

A few others...

• Designer - Place in a Design Competition
• Designer - Utilize Capital Cities
• Designer - Utilize Dual Layers
• Designer - Create a SimulGear Board
• Mark a Board as a Favorite.
• Create (and Complete) 'X' Tournament(s)
• 'X' Games Lost (Not too high, but kind of fun)
• Win against 'X' number of Unique Opponents

How about an 'underdog' achievement.  Beating someone with at least 2x your GR on that map.

On the theme of encouraging people to try new things, can we get a badge for playing/winning Simulgear?

BTdubs wrote:

On the theme of encouraging people to try new things, can we get a badge for playing/winning Simulgear?

Oh yeah, that's truly needed. +1

smoke wrote:

BTdubs wrote:

On the theme of encouraging people to try new things, can we get a badge for playing/winning Simulgear?

Oh yeah, that's truly needed. +1

That is already on the Phase two list

Please don't get me wrong, I love the feature. I guess I am just a little sad I triggered all the basic ones, an those left to me are probably quite hard.

Would it be possible to create something which displays the achievements you DON'T have, so that you might know what to focus on?

Hi Ratsy, I did have a quiet spell after some previous dramas. I would like to get into the forum side of things more, so hopefully more posts from me in the future :)