Help us name (and design?) new User Ranks!

[Gloves | 11,790]

As we're working on getting a new system for Charms (aka Badges/Achievements/whatever), there's another system in place and tied to it which is Ranks. While we do the work of filling out the Badges so we can award users who have done cool stuff, we've already set up a base system for Ranks including the points required per tier, and some placeholder names and images.

But they're just not our style, man. Ya know? Some villain used AI tools to create images, despite having a cool artist on staff, probably to save a buck. What a jerk.

So now we need your help. With two things.

Thing 1

We need names for the Ranks. Currently there are 14 total Ranks, but we'll need at least 15. 20-30 would be cool so we don't have to go back to the drawing board too soon once someone (me) clears all the ranks (again). 

Rank names show on desktop/large screens beside each post, and on your profile:

Feel free to get creative. Let's forego the simplicity of "Rank 1, Rank 2...", and of course, obviously, nothing that could even be construed as offensive in any way - these are positive milestones to work toward to show everyone how cool you are, so nothing like "Forum Addict" for a high rank, stuff like that; keep it positive.

The ranks could be references to gaming, to specific games, maybe even a journey through a group of games. For instance maybe the game you reference changes every 5 Ranks:

1. Mario
2. Luigi
3. Daisy
4. Peach
5. Bowser
6. Power Suit
7. Varia Suit
8. Phazon Suit
9. Fusion Suit
10. Gravity Suit
11. etc...

The above example makes it easy to add another 5 levels in the future by just picking a new game/series and pulling from that. But that's just my first idea off the top of my head. Feel free to steal it and provide your own list, or come up with something else entirely.

 

Thing 2

We need images for the Ranks. We're not looking for you to draw them, we know a guy. And obviously some of them may be obvious (in a fictional world where this is a gardening forum, a Rank might be "Potato" and the image would obviously be of a derringer), so in that case no real need to make suggestions. But if you're thinking of doing something like we've done with the Subscriptions where the names are aspirationally vague and come with a little adventure of sorts...

... then you can suggest what your interpretation of the name(s) provided might look like in picture form. 

The images/icons will likely be rounded like the currently existing placeholders, and may end up having borders to differentiate them.

 

Anywho. Thoughts, suggestions, lists, Rank names, pictures of cats, whatever. Let us know what you want to see, help us shape the place a bit more! Or else!

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

Rank 1: Ranky McRankFace

Last Rank: Purple Ganon

[T-Pac | 7,560]

Here's my pitch:

4 different categories of fantasy RPG classes, with 5 tiers each. So you rotate through all the classes every 4 ranks until you get to "Sage" at rank 20.

And the icons would be like a little Pez-dispenser VGS avatar whose attire and equipment reflect their class / rank.

1 ) peasant

2 ) thief

3 ) huntsman / huntswoman

4 ) mage

 

5 ) squire
6 ) archer
7 ) falconer
8 ) conjuror

 

9 ) prince / princess
10 ) guard
11 ) horseman
12 ) warlock

 

13 ) baron / baroness
14 ) swordsman
15 ) shapeshifter
16 ) sorcerer

 

17 ) king / queen

18 ) knight

19 ) dragon-rider

20 ) sage

 

Obviously a bunch of these ranks would need workshopping, but I think this could be a neat, cohesive approach that's on-brand with VGS.

[T-Pac]

[Murray | 2,449]

We need a handsome Murray rank 

[AirVillain | 490]

16 hours ago, T-Pac said:

Here's my pitch:

4 different categories of fantasy RPG classes, with 5 tiers each. So you rotate through all the classes every 4 ranks until you get to "Sage" at rank 20.

And the icons would be like a little Pez-dispenser VGS avatar whose attire and equipment reflect their class / rank.

1 ) peasant

2 ) thief

3 ) huntsman / huntswoman

4 ) mage

 

5 ) squire
6 ) archer
7 ) falconer
8 ) conjuror

 

9 ) prince / princess
10 ) guard
11 ) horseman
12 ) warlock

 

13 ) baron / baroness
14 ) swordsman
15 ) shapeshifter
16 ) sorcerer

 

17 ) king / queen

18 ) knight

19 ) dragon-rider

20 ) sage

 

Obviously a bunch of these ranks would need workshopping, but I think this could be a neat, cohesive approach that's on-brand with VGS.

[T-Pac]

This. Exactly this. Nailed the pictures, of course, as fully expected. 

Complete, comprehensive, and not complicated. Alliteration, BAYBAY!

Also, the placement underneath the user's Avatar looks best (to me) if that's any input you're looking for as well. 

I actually feel a little slighted at being called a "Novice" right now. It hurts. Then some generic gaming guy with a controller and headphones like I'm a NOBODY!? 

Whoever came up with the original names and AI generated pictures really did us dirty. They ARE the true villain here as @Gloves pointed out... I just don't know who could be responsible for such a terrible thing. I hope they can sleep at night. 

I want to be a peasant! It's more accurate to my true identity. 

[Gloves | 11,790]

2 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

This. Exactly this. Nailed the pictures, of course, as fully expected. 

Complete, comprehensive, and not complicated. Alliteration, BAYBAY!

Also, the placement underneath the user's Avatar looks best (to me) if that's any input you're looking for as well. 

I actually feel a little slighted at being called a "Novice" right now. It hurts. Then some generic gaming guy with a controller and headphones like I'm a NOBODY!? 

Whoever came up with the original names and AI generated pictures really did us dirty. They ARE the true villain here as @Gloves pointed out... I just don't know who could be responsible for such a terrible thing. I hope they can sleep at night. 

I want to be a peasant! It's more accurate to my true identity. 

The feedback on placement is totally valid and appreciated. I'll mull that over. 

[Gloves | 11,790]

17 hours ago, T-Pac said:

Here's my pitch:

4 different categories of fantasy RPG classes, with 5 tiers each. So you rotate through all the classes every 4 ranks until you get to "Sage" at rank 20.

And the icons would be like a little Pez-dispenser VGS avatar whose attire and equipment reflect their class / rank.

1 ) peasant

2 ) thief

3 ) huntsman / huntswoman

4 ) mage

 

5 ) squire
6 ) archer
7 ) falconer
8 ) conjuror

 

9 ) prince / princess
10 ) guard
11 ) horseman
12 ) warlock

 

13 ) baron / baroness
14 ) swordsman
15 ) shapeshifter
16 ) sorcerer

 

17 ) king / queen

18 ) knight

19 ) dragon-rider

20 ) sage

 

Obviously a bunch of these ranks would need workshopping, but I think this could be a neat, cohesive approach that's on-brand with VGS.

[T-Pac]

Cool approach, but do you have thoughts regarding scaling? ie what might come after 20? For reference, I should be rank 20 in about 3-4 years from now. 

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

@Gloves you mentioned there was other ways to gain XP to level up like baubles and charms. Any idea on other ways? I’m not really a fan of a system that just requires you be a forum whore for points lol

[AirVillain | 490]

15 minutes ago, Gloves said:

The feedback on placement is totally valid and appreciated. I'll mull that over. 

 No.... YOUR response is appreciated. You could do whatever the hell you want, haha. But I appreciate the input both ways. 

Mostly because it seems like the ranking takes precedent OVER (literally) a persons Avatar aka identity. 

When I first logged in I got kinda confused and was like "who the hell IS that tlaking?" then I realized everyone essentially had 2 pictures 

The placement underneath seems "classy" and a "nice touch."

Edited October 2, 2023 by AirVillain
I know you can see this...

[guitarzombie | 924]

If you want to be really geeky, maybe go by some game rarity. Id be leaning towards NES but you get the idea.

[BlackVega | 583]

5 minutes ago, guitarzombie said:

If you want to be really geeky, maybe go by some game rarity. Id be leaning towards NES but you get the idea.

[Gloves | 11,790]

31 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

@Gloves you mentioned there was other ways to gain XP to level up like baubles and charms. Any idea on other ways? I’m not really a fan of a system that just requires you be a forum whore for points lol

Charms that you earn will have individually hand-picked rating points, so there's a ton of ways to help rank up. Play in a game night, participate in an event, put up a score on a leaderboard, help make a homebrew game, have a gaming tattoo, etc.. Lots of different ways than just "post a lot". Giving and getting reactions will increase your ranking as well so not just posting, but making posts that resonate with others will especially raise your rank. 

We're open to suggestions if you have anything specific in mind. 

[Hammerfestus | 3,853]

3 hours ago, Gloves said:

Charms that you earn will have individually hand-picked rating points, so there's a ton of ways to help rank up. Play in a game night, participate in an event, put up a score on a leaderboard, help make a homebrew game, have a gaming tattoo, etc.. Lots of different ways than just "post a lot". Giving and getting reactions will increase your ranking as well so not just posting, but making posts that resonate with others will especially raise your rank. 

We're open to suggestions if you have anything specific in mind. 

[guitarzombie | 924]

4 hours ago, BlackVega said:

But I want to be an NWC 90

[avatar! | 1,819]

How does one spend experience points? Just as in some games you spend them for power-up it would be cool if there was some way to spend your EXP for "things"

By the by, I've never fully understood the "exp" on the left and the +number on the right. If you zoom on the + it says "Members total exp" which is less than the exp on the left, so yeah, seems strange.

[Gloves | 11,790]

6 minutes ago, avatar! said:

How does one spend experience points? Just as in some games you spend them for power-up it would be cool if there was some way to spend your EXP for "things"

By the by, I've never fully understood the "exp" on the left and the +number on the right. If you zoom on the + it says "Members total exp" which is less than the exp on the left, so yeah, seems strange.

Yeah I've been meaning to make the numbers make more sense. Right now I agree, it's a bit unclear. Part of this update were working on! 

[Jicsan | 589]

Isn't the XP number on the left the number of actual posts and the number on the right the number of reactions your post have received?

Edited October 3, 2023 by Jicsan

[ikk | 560]

23 hours ago, Gloves said:

Cool approach, but do you have thoughts regarding scaling? ie what might come after 20? For reference, I should be rank 20 in about 3-4 years from now. 

You could always take a smaller number of classes, let's say 10, and swap background colors to go from bronze, silver, gold or something for lazy easy scaling.

[Gloves | 11,790]

14 hours ago, Jicsan said:

Isn't the XP number on the left the number of actual posts and the number on the right the number of reactions your post have received?

Pretty sure, yeah. The problem I think, and this is my fault for trying to be fun, is I called them both "Experience" in some form. Need to rethink verbiage methinks.

[T-Pac | 7,560]

23 hours ago, Gloves said:

Cool approach, but do you have thoughts regarding scaling? ie what might come after 20? For reference, I should be rank 20 in about 3-4 years from now. 

I don't think it's unreasonable to just be happy about making it to the Sage rank.

I mean - if it takes the owner of the site 7 years to reach level 20, I think it's quite an accomplishment. And I'm always in favor of having an "end goal" rather than just infinite scaling. 

But that's just me...

[T-Pac]

[Jeevan | 8,912]

1 minute ago, T-Pac said:

I don't think it's unreasonable to just be happy about making it to the Sage rank.

I mean - if it takes the owner of the site 7 years to reach level 20, I think it's quite an accomplishment. And I'm always in favor of having an "end goal" rather than just infinite scaling. 

But that's just me...

[T-Pac]

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

1 minute ago, Jeevan said:

Making it to level 20 unlocks New Game+  

[Gloves | 11,790]

15 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Making it to level 20 unlocks New Game+  

Once anyone including me reaches level 20 I'll manually reset their points to zero like 2000 points later.

[avatar! | 1,819]

2 hours ago, Gloves said:

Pretty sure, yeah. The problem I think, and this is my fault for trying to be fun, is I called them both "Experience" in some form. Need to rethink verbiage methinks.

Again, I rather like the idea of people accumulating "experience points" and then spending them on something - maybe like a sword, shield, etc all stuff that could be added digitally without resulting in any actual monetary expenditure

Maybe this could also be used in a tournament, or quests, or something fun like that down the line. Just some thoughts...

[FireHazard51 | 2,044]

On 10/3/2023 at 11:02 AM, Gloves said:

Once anyone including me reaches level 20 I'll manually reset their points to zero like 2000 points later.

What, you trying to like an old Volvo where you just have the odometer roll over and you just mentally keep track how many times you've rolled over?  That would be a cool Charm to have