New Feature Idea: Site Experience (Need Feedback)

So this is feature that's definitely being implemented; I need your feedback on how.

Site Experience - fake internet points earned for activity on the site! Who doesn't love fake internet points?

The idea is to reward you with nothing meaningful for using the site! Actions on the site would give you "experience", which would result in gaining levels, which would grant you access to... stuff. The question comes down to how much experience various activities add, when you should level, and what leveling should get you.

Earning XP
First, lets talk about gaining experience (remember, these are theoretical and up for discussion):
- Making a post earns you 1xp

- Creating a game earns you 10xp
-- When a game you're running hits 500 posts, and every 500 thereafter, you earn 50xp
- Being accepted to a game earns you 5xp
-- When a game you're playing in hits 500 posts from when you joined, and every 500 thereafter, you earn 25xp

- Resetting every 7 days, making a character earns 10xp, a second earns 5xp, and everyone thereafter earns 1xp
- For every 25 views a character you have in the library gets, you'll earn 5xp (for this, I'll probably set it up so people can't just refresh to get a view; maybe one view per hour per user? And no, your own views don't count.)

What else should earn xp?

Leveling
As for when to level, I'm thinking you need 500 * level to earn the next level. So starting at 0, you'd need 500 for level 1, 1000 for level 2. But that means you'd need a total of 1500 to be at level 2.

Rewards
So my first thought of reward is at level 1, you can upload images. Right now, I don't have a system of uploading images, but its easy to implement. I didn't add anything because I don't want anyone to abuse it by uploading files that could contain a virus (I've tried to prevent stuff like that, but I'm no security pro), or by uploading a ton of files, eating up the server space. Something a lot of other forums do is give you a limited amount of upload space; I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Setting other privileges with leveling is also an idea, but a mixed one. I don't want people to feel left out because they don't have the points yet.

An easy reward as you level is access to titles and ribbons; vanity items basically. The problem is, I'm bad at that kind of artwork and would need help with that.

What other rewards could I add?

I love fake internet points! It works for Reddit! Sounds like a great idea, and you would have time to think of further rewards, as it would take a little bit to get to 500.

Well, I'd make as much of it as possible retroactive, which means some people would already be at level 1. Maybe (Level) ^ 2 * 500 instead? But that might be too much... level 3 would need 4500xp.

Threads and posts maybe should earn something. To keep it from being spammy maybe limit xp earned for posting 3-5 times a day, but at least it would hopefully inspire some discussion on the site. If it gets too spammy you could always stop doing it.

I agree that you should get XP for posts, the longer the thread the more XP. Maybe something like 5/3/1 for the first three threads in a week's time, with +5 (3?) XP when you get 10/25/50/100/150/200/etc replies.

+500XP when a post you make gets stickied or becomes a "hot" post.

The issue with the longer the thread, the more XP, is it encourages threads to go past their prime into other topics. Plus, someone shouldn't be penalized because their thread isn't as active IMO. If someone's in a lot of games, they'll get a lot of post XP (as game threads tend to go for a while), rather than someone who's more active on the public forums, where threads will be naturally smaller. I did try to take into account bonus XP when a game is active however, as seen above.

Also, any admin can sticky, and that would encourage needless stickying :p

I was meaning just the "community" boards, not in-game boards. In-game XP should be different. I don't know if that is feasible or not, though.

An interesting idea, but I can see a few issues with that.

1st. You won't be able to post maps for your game until you've ran your game for a while.

2nd. You won't be able to upload your files of homebrewed (although, this one is less of an issue since you could use external links to some hosting site) for your campaign until you've ran your campaign for a while.

I get that you are worried about people posting virus-infected files, but at the same time, it seems to me anyone using the internet this day and age should be using some decent anti-virus by now... and if you're not then might I suggest you check Avast: it's free and a really good anti-virus, but I digress.

I'm not against this idea of XP and levels and perks, but removing tools GMs need to run their games until they earn the XP to use them seems a bit counterproductive to me. Perhaps you should revise your ideas of perks for gaining levels. For example, many other forums I frequent have member titles. One of them allows you to edit your own title and make it whatever you want once you reach 500 posts. This could be one possible idea of a perk for gaining levels right here...

Well, in theme with the site, I was gonna offer more and more titles as you level, and maybe have custom titles at a higher level, but yah, where it goes is what this discussion needs.

As for images: I wouldn't remove the ability to link images, as now, but rather not needing to host them elsewhere. But my bigger concern on viruses is instead server side, not user side. And of course, its the space issue.

Perhaps add a constant amount to each level? 500 1st level, 1100 2nd level, 1800 3rd level, etc.

could always borrow the exp curve from your favorite rpgs (d&d, pathfinder, etc)

I've been considering that. For example, the standard there is previous level * 1000, if I remember correctly? I prefer something with a sharper scale. The issue is there isn't too much I can offer for leveling right now, so I want it to be a sharp scale. I'm really considering 500 * (Level) ^ 2 (1: 500, 2: 2000, 3: 4500, 4: 8000, 5: 12500). It allows for average activity to quickly get level 1, but further levels require time. Or maybe 250 * (Level) ^ 2 (1: 250, 2: 1000, 3: 2250, 4: 4000, 5: 6260), or something between 250 and 500. No matter what we pick, it'll probably end up needing tweaking as time goes on (if I do so, I'd set it up so if the level reqs go up, you'd never lose privileges, if they go down, you may level early).

How about current level squared times 100?
so you get
100
400
900
1600
2500
3600
4900
6400
8100
10000
12100
14400
etc.

100 is too low. Getting to 400 or 900 with the current xp rates listed above would be achieved far too quickly. Something between 250 and 500 is best I think...

Current level squares times 250 then. I was thinking this exact formula might not be exactly to your likings, so the "100" was more than a placeholder than anything. feel free to change it with whatever number you feel is more appropriate...

Heh, sorry, I thought you meant 100 as a recommendation. I proposed (Level) ^ 2 * (multiplier) in the post right above yours :p Thanks for the input though!

It really depends on how much exp each different thing gives. If a post gives 5exp for instance, 100 takes a while to get to.

Oh, my bad, I did not understood what "^ 2" meant... I see that my suggestion is pretty much what you had already planned on doing...

Well, not really. At 5xp, only be posting, if you're in one game and active in the public forums, you'd hit 20 posts in a week or two. If you made a game or added some character's, you could hit 100xp in a few days. I'm leaning to 250. I don't have much in the way of rewards yet, so what'd be the point of leveling?

So that's the big question we need to discuss: rewards. What do you think of privileges as rewards? What rewards would you like to see, and if the rewards are generic (like titles), how should that be split up?

--Person with most exp in a forum // subforum gets a special mark or title. This can be stripped if someone oneups you.

--Awards, icons, titles, ranks. You could do contests that award exp or special things like that for instance.

--If you happen to get beta's that come thru you have the spots open to people of certain levels or requirements.