Suggestion for changing the ratings/badges in MA
By
Adept,
Posted on: 2009-05-15 23:13 in Mission Architect
This does sound like an interesting idea.
Thrythlind's Deviant Art Page
"Notice at the end, there: Arcanaville did the math and KICKED IT INTO EXISTENCE." - Ironik on the power of Arcanaville's math
I like this idea also, esp. separating rating MArcs from external influences. I would rather have zero ratings on my arcs, then having people rate them because they are working on badges. The more ratings are tied to external reasons, the less reliable they are.
By accepting what is and making the best use of every situation, life can be fulfilled without a constant demand for more.
--Wen Tzu
The current method of getting star ratings on your arc, with badges awarded based on the stars "earned", has several problems/disadvantages to it. This system focuses players on their own arcs, and how to best get others to give them stars. Because people often rate arcs based on their relationship to that person instead of the content of the actual story, the rating system as it stands is nearly meaningless.
I propose that we make stars just opinions, unconnected with badges, for starters. This removes the incentive for friends to rate it highly, and prevents a griefer from being able to do actual damage to another player. The stars go back to being just what they were meant to be: an honest reflection of opinion.
Instead of getting badges based on stars you managed to get for your own arcs, how about we shift the focus by making badges for recommending other people's arcs? This would entirely shift the focus and eliminate the ability to grief. Suddenly, there would be more of a reason to go through and play other people's stories!
Here is how I'd picture this working:
Players would recommend arcs for Dev consideration. You couldn't recommend an arc you wrote yourself. The devs would have to figure out the parameters, but I'd think that players would be limited to one or two recommendations a month, perhaps? And the Devs would only look at the "x" number of missions, perhaps the 100 most recommended for that month? I have no idea how many missions they could look at, nor how many people they have examining missions, they'd have to come up with the figures they could handle. The point being, not every mission that was recommended would have to be looked at, because I could see that overwhelming their staff. The person who recommended the arc would receive points (or stars) based on the quality of the arc they recommended. If the arc they recommended becomes Dev's Choice, they get a special badge, like, "Connoisseur". Since players are limited in how many recommendations they make, and since that would be the only avenue in which to earn stars, they'd need to be careful in which arcs they'd recommend, so to maximize their chances of earning stars.
Additional thought, here: perhaps we need an element of accountability/player credibility. With that thought in mind, players could gain or lose points in recommending an arc. This would make players think twice before putting in a story for a friend, unless they felt the friend deserved it, and it would hopefully keep the quality of recommendations at a high level.
Players would earn badges for being recommended, and for being selected for Dev review. Earning badges for being recommended has the potential to perpetuate the "I'll get my friend to do it" pathway we see so often, but if we limit the number of submissions and penalize poor quality submissions, there will be a smaller number of players willing to do this.
Again, these suggestions shift the focus from each person on their own arc, to each person looking for the good stories that are out there, saving the devs time in the process! We'd still earn badges, but hopefully, this system would reveal the very best that the MA has to offer, instead of the difficult to distinguish mess we have currently. To those who would say that we'll be able to distinguish things more easily after we get a better navigation system, I'd say yes, a different navigation interface will make finding certain types of missions easier, but that won't change the griefing or get people to focus on something besides their own arcs like changing the star rating/badge system will.
These are suggestions, not a polished system, I'm sure there's room for improvement, but do you like the direction of this idea? Any suggestions for improvement? Let's hear from you!