Member Awards?

[Stars 0]

This thread gave me so wonderful ideas, thank you!! I'm using a theme that has a built in award system, and I'm struggling to think of awards to add. 😄

 

I've found OTM can make some members anxious, so I think it depends on the general consensus within the community on whether you have a voting system. I know some have found it a popularity contest in the past, and get disheartened when the same people win over and over again. I really enjoy the IC awards though, as when I play, it really does encourage me to post and plot different things. Anything for shiny badges! 😛

[gavinvenom 1]

The one time I tried member rewards we had it where members voted on them and it was just members voting for their own things or for the other character in their pairing. Turned out they weren't reading anything else on the forum outside of their relationships so they didn't even know who the other characters were. It was sad and eye opening.

[NyxDarklore 92]

I'm really really not a fan of the standard awards that I see on sites - such as player of the month, etc. - if done as a popularity contest because that just screams elitism and cliquishness to me. However, with that in mind, there are awards that we offer on site to members as incentives but that are not a mandatory part of participation (so if people don't care, they can just ignore them) and are also something that members can control:

• Posting Awards - basically, who has contributed the highest number of words and posts (it's a factor of both) to the site for any given month (it resets at the start of each month).
• Achievements - like in video games, just reaching milestones or doing different things: 25k words written, 25 posts written, 1 month on site, creating X character, different things like that.

Members respond differently to it - some care, some don't, and that's fine but it feels like less of a popularity contest and that is what we were aiming for.

 

Edited June 5, 2021 by NyxDarklore

[Hysteria 56]

As someone that collects things, often to odd levels, I find that some of the best rewards are some of the weirdest to earn (ex: punched a clan leader in the face). The sort of awards that not only seem pretty out there, but speak about the sort of character you're playing. To go off of that, I love custom awards - the sort given out by staff to members who just do the unexpected and reward for creativity.

 

I also like the simple awards, or the ones that cater to writing styles (Poetic Roleplayer, Detailed Writer, Rapid-fire poster, etc) or the sort that award for having a multi-thread plot going on (worldbuilder, storyteller, etc) or the kind that award for making use of adopts...the list can go on, honestly.

 

Being recognized not just for innate forum activity, but what you personally bring to the forum, is always nice.

[Sophie Hatter 38]

 

On 6/4/2021 at 8:05 PM, Hysteria said:

As someone that collects things, often to odd levels, I find that some of the best rewards are some of the weirdest to earn (ex: punched a clan leader in the face). The sort of awards that not only seem pretty out there, but speak about the sort of character you're playing. To go off of that, I love custom awards - the sort given out by staff to members who just do the unexpected and reward for creativity.

 

I also like the simple awards, or the ones that cater to writing styles (Poetic Roleplayer, Detailed Writer, Rapid-fire poster, etc) or the sort that award for having a multi-thread plot going on (worldbuilder, storyteller, etc) or the kind that award for making use of adopts...the list can go on, honestly.

 

Being recognized not just for innate forum activity, but what you personally bring to the forum, is always nice.

 

ohhh i love this response! i have member awards and i definitely want to make them seem more appealing to people - i never considered doing some niche/funny ones.

 

i'm thinking  "poetic roleplayer" and "rapid fire" type awards would be good for member to gift to other members. 

 

most of my member awards are tangible achievements. evolving pokemon, getting married, defeating a villain character in a battle, etc. 

[Hysteria 56]

5 hours ago, Sophie Hatter said:

 

 

ohhh i love this response! i have member awards and i definitely want to make them seem more appealing to people - i never considered doing some niche/funny ones.

 

i'm thinking  "poetic roleplayer" and "rapid fire" type awards would be good for member to gift to other members. 

 

most of my member awards are tangible achievements. evolving pokemon, getting married, defeating a villain character in a battle, etc. 

 

I used to be a moderator on a forum where most of my job was just member-engagement and figuring out ways to reward people and encourage things like out-of-the-box events based on what characters were doing in their own threads to make it feel like what they were doing "normally" without any expectation actually meant something on the board overall. Sort of like a Dungeon Master for Forum Roleplay, but without railroading anyone.

 

This, added with custom rewards made for members versus generic rewards anyone could get, made for a very personal experience each member could enjoy and engage in to varying degrees based on how comfortable they were. There was a "Member Chart" showing members who were comfortable with that setup, and those who would rather play in the background without personalized awards and events catered to what their characters did in threads. That way, they wouldn't somehow feel "called out" for something (though most wanted to be lol).

 

The only downside was it required a LOT more effort than normal staff duties, and it could be quite draining (so it wasn't something someone with little time could do).

[Ice 0]

We have both IC and OOC awards that offer different things.

Our IC awards are kinda story board awards that show things like, saving another character, living in a pride for an IC year or longer, not being in a pride for an IC year or longer, claiming a pride, challenging for a pride, and more. We tried to think of things that were life moments that could be reachable.

Our OOC awards are for things like post count, word count in a post, threading with other members and things that dont have any IC affect.

We have some members that want to collect them all and others that don't care about them. We do have some that, if they get them great but they aren't seeking them out.

[ElusionRP 1]

I adore using the badges and awards system on my Jcink site. I enjoy proving awards to incentivize members to post open threads and participate in group threads and site events. I know a lot of my members enjoy collecting as many badges as they can and it really improves site activity. The members who do not care as much for awards don't mind and simply don't participate, so it works out well for us.

[Hitokuchi Roleplay 3]

I'm thinking of doing profile badges and then having these badges as special rewards for participating in topics, or for winners if it's a contest. Might be good for post counts too, 100 posts gets a badge etc.