View RSS Feed


Awarding Experiences

Rate this Entry
I recently implemented an awards system that is currently being tested in the live game. If you have logged in within the past couple of weeks, you have probably received some awards, particularly for time spent online and character anniversaries (years since character was created).

The idea behind the awards system is to give people goals to accomplish, if they are so inclined, and to recognize those accomplishments. The awards thus far are easily measured, and were by and large quick and easy to implement. This is so that I could get right to working out the mechanics.

I've gotten feedback for and against posting award criteria (what awards are available, and how to get them). I'll probably take the approach of having the players document what they've discovered in the wiki, if anyone is so inclined. Part of the fun for some people is figuring that sort of thing out. I know others would rather just know. Players documenting awards on the wiki would seem to satisfy both "styles," much like how there are maps on the wiki for those that don't want to explore on their own.

Since there are relatively few awards available, many of you have the same sorts of awards, particularly the ones for time online and anniversaries.

Not all of these awards have been seen, but here's a list in order of precedence, lowest to highest. The level of indention on the award list is also based on precedence. Descriptions are guidelines.

Award - For lower levels
Insignia - These awards will be revoked when a character is no longer eligible. For example, the "Unaligned Army" insignia would be revoked if that character worships an Immortal (but this does not happen currently).
Emblem - This is one that hasn't been seen yet. For lower levels.
Badge - A badge is the highest level of award for achievements that are less "quest-y" in nature, or OOC, or earned more "passively." The highest "time online" and anniversary awards are badges.
Medal - Medals are the highest award.

I'm still working on awards criteria, even for the awards that are already in test. Earning medals will take some dedication and hard work. Also, Neophyte and Novice quest ribbons are being demoted to emblems.

Ideally, we'll have lots of easier to obtain awards for lower levels which will no longer be available at higher levels. This raises a question as to whether these awards should be "retroactively" available for higher levels. Right now, they are not. For example, the lower time online awards are not available to Immortals, which is why I only have 3 awards for online time, and Belsambar has 7.

Other issues I'm pondering:

1. Gold and XP awards - Should these be retroactive or just given if you earn an award subsequent to awards going live. Triple 30 characters could end up with a lot of gold and experience points, which I certainly have mixed feelings about.
2. The size of the awards - Some of these achievements take a lot of work, so on one hand, should be worth a lot of gold and/or experience. On the other hand, I don't want to go overboard.
3. Whether there should be other things earned, such as spendable quest points.

Notably missing are exploring awards, but for these, I still need to develop a way of keeping track who has been where, so I'm still working out the logistics. There are no PK awards, and only a couple of survival awards. I'm pondering how to structure these. So, still lots of work to be done, but I hope you at least enjoy the idea.

Submit "Awarding Experiences" to Digg Submit "Awarding Experiences" to Submit "Awarding Experiences" to StumbleUpon Submit "Awarding Experiences" to Google

Tags: None Add / Edit Tags
Version 5



Total Trackbacks 0
Trackback URL: