12-26-2010, 04:48 PM
This is my prototype for a system change. It's really long, there's a TLDR at the bottom. Sorry for the book, I hate discussing mechanic changes without looking at the system as whole. Of course, it's not perfect as I only really fleshed it out mentally last night, but here goes.
My prototype is such (of course, credit goes to anybody who has mentioned similar ideas, but I'm not going to clutter this with parenthetical citations anymore):
1. Canon characters are brought back - but as NPCs. Not many people seem to complain about not playing as Thrall in WOW, they're just glad to be able to interact with him. As has been mentioned in most discussions about canon, this will keep the draw of DBZ without newbies being disappointed by Goku being claimed already.
2. Writers are not allowed to be, like, "THIS IS MY NEW CHARACTER HENRY; HE'S VEGETA'S BFF." The bigger canon characters are kept as higher ups in the universe. Writers can discuss them, show them in snippets on the news, have them be grand marshal at a parade, but new characters cannot directly interact with the biggies.
3. As a result, the worlds are CONSIDERABLY more fleshed out. I get the whole "give writers freedom" mentality. That's great. But having concrete structure to the universe gives writers a greater point of inspiration. Also, it helps newbies out. Piper was consistently pestered by me the first week as I kept asking questions about the state of the world, despite the answer usually being "It's up to the writer." Giving a person too much choice can be overwhelming.
4. Better updating on universal world events. Something like Central City being half destroyed in a saga should be required to be put in a news post if it's going to become world canon. Again, this can just help give writers a burst to get through writers block - a stagnant character might be motivated by worrying if their sister did in an attack on their home city. Non-staff saga rewards and events that unfold later on should require a staff A-OK, of course.
5. A new Reputation point system is created. As the characters gain reputation, they gain the ability to interact with more influential NPCs (probably divided into tiers to make like SOMEWHAT easy on the staff). Characters in the top tier of influence would have considerable freedom with how to use the big canon characters due to the fact that they would have considerable pull in the universe.
6. Consequently, a new questing system is introduced. NPCs (written by the staff) offer quests to be taken up by characters. After the completion of the quest (can be taken and completed in a personal storyline, as before), a reward is granted. For lower tier quests, NPCs would reward zeni and, for outstanding performance, reputation points. As the character gained reputation, they would gain access to a new tier of quests offered by more influential NPCs. The highest tier quests from Goku/Vegeta/famous people would require ridiculous effort, but the reward may be considerably ridiculous as well (the quest giver now owes you a favor - you can use them in a personal storyline, you are granted a universal title of nobility, etc.). Lower level quests might be "Deliver this package!" whereas high tier might be "Overthrow this government!".
7. Saga winners can be granted reputation as well. Just sayin'.
8. Jobs can be kept for zeni farming and an independent goal for those who use them (what kind of DBZ website doesn't have a cook, after all :p). As a writer moves from one job tier to the next, they earn a handful of reputation points (a percentage of which is lost if they change jobs)
9. Achievements are implemented just as a personal motivation for writers. Nothing hugely game-changing in there, but little motivations are awesome. Piper's list is incredible. Writers can also suggest new achievements for staff approval. Achievements would add in points to Writerscore - similar to gamerscore, but with writers. A forum for approval would be needed (like current quests/jobs).
10. A greater reviewing system would be implemented to encourage peer involvement. Similar to what's been already been mentioned without huge game changing effects. The rewards might be access to formerly restricted forums or something. A good critique, by the way, is at least one specific area of improvement/con and one specific thing they did well/pro. None of that generic "I liked it" shit. Each successful critique would merit Community Points, which would reward access to different areas of the forums or the ability to post new threads on OOC or whatever (this might mean a temporary lock out of some popular forums while people build up their CP, and as a result, some dissent at first, but popular forum access would probably be, like, 2 CP). Bad critiques could mean CP would be lost. CP would be degenerate over time.
11. Community Points could also be granted for helpful involvement in site issues. For instance, people who put forth great effort in this thread (even if their ideas were not used) could be granted CP from staff. Perhaps staff could also (very, very rarely) grant character rewards for extensive effort in CP.
12. Powerups would all be reset due to, like, a quantum pulse across the universe or something (XP refunded). All powerups are now granted by staff as a reward for good writing or saga involvement or whatnot. Writers could privately nominate a peer for a job well done in personal storylines.
13. Power level - this would be a crazy mishmash. I only just thought of it, so it's pretty rough as I haven't stewed it over like a good designer. PL would be introduced. Word count could increase your PL up to, like, 2000 (at about the increase rate of CA). Each time a powerup was granted by staff, the character would also get a boost to their PL. PL bonuses could be rewards for sagas or quests as well. In addition, a percentage (maybe, like, a quarter) of the PL could be influenced by the Writerscore, Reputation, etc. As a result, only the most involved members increase their power level, and it can't just be done by spam writing - you have to be rewarded for good effort and community involvement as well.
14. There is a leaderboard page. It is divided into sections:
[INDENT]1: Reputation - 10 highest reputation characters[/INDENT]
[INDENT]2: Writerscore - 10 highest achievement earners[/INDENT]
[INDENT]3: Community - 10 "most involved" community members[/INDENT]
[INDENT]4: Spam Writers - 10 highest word counts (formerly CA-ish)[/INDENT]
[INDENT]5: Power - 10 most powerful, based on power level[/INDENT]
[INDENT]6: Et cetera[/INDENT]
Clicking on a section would take the user to the full list for that section so they could see where they stand overall. More sections gives people more options for personal motivation - maybe somebody doesn't give a shit about reputation, but loves community involvement and wants to be number 1.
15. Of course, to handle this, new staff members would probably be needed (at least for the initial switch). Maybe designate one for each section - reputation, writerscore, community, general website, etc. Staff neglecting their duties could be replaced quicker that way. I'm not sure if that's how it's done now, so it's just a suggestion.
16. Numbers are fun!
Again, this isn't perfect, but this is the gist of what I think would be an awesome revamp. *shrug* Really, there's only a couple of changes and a lot of fleshing out. As mentioned before, now's the time to do it with most people on break from school.
My prototype is such (of course, credit goes to anybody who has mentioned similar ideas, but I'm not going to clutter this with parenthetical citations anymore):
1. Canon characters are brought back - but as NPCs. Not many people seem to complain about not playing as Thrall in WOW, they're just glad to be able to interact with him. As has been mentioned in most discussions about canon, this will keep the draw of DBZ without newbies being disappointed by Goku being claimed already.
2. Writers are not allowed to be, like, "THIS IS MY NEW CHARACTER HENRY; HE'S VEGETA'S BFF." The bigger canon characters are kept as higher ups in the universe. Writers can discuss them, show them in snippets on the news, have them be grand marshal at a parade, but new characters cannot directly interact with the biggies.
3. As a result, the worlds are CONSIDERABLY more fleshed out. I get the whole "give writers freedom" mentality. That's great. But having concrete structure to the universe gives writers a greater point of inspiration. Also, it helps newbies out. Piper was consistently pestered by me the first week as I kept asking questions about the state of the world, despite the answer usually being "It's up to the writer." Giving a person too much choice can be overwhelming.
4. Better updating on universal world events. Something like Central City being half destroyed in a saga should be required to be put in a news post if it's going to become world canon. Again, this can just help give writers a burst to get through writers block - a stagnant character might be motivated by worrying if their sister did in an attack on their home city. Non-staff saga rewards and events that unfold later on should require a staff A-OK, of course.
5. A new Reputation point system is created. As the characters gain reputation, they gain the ability to interact with more influential NPCs (probably divided into tiers to make like SOMEWHAT easy on the staff). Characters in the top tier of influence would have considerable freedom with how to use the big canon characters due to the fact that they would have considerable pull in the universe.
6. Consequently, a new questing system is introduced. NPCs (written by the staff) offer quests to be taken up by characters. After the completion of the quest (can be taken and completed in a personal storyline, as before), a reward is granted. For lower tier quests, NPCs would reward zeni and, for outstanding performance, reputation points. As the character gained reputation, they would gain access to a new tier of quests offered by more influential NPCs. The highest tier quests from Goku/Vegeta/famous people would require ridiculous effort, but the reward may be considerably ridiculous as well (the quest giver now owes you a favor - you can use them in a personal storyline, you are granted a universal title of nobility, etc.). Lower level quests might be "Deliver this package!" whereas high tier might be "Overthrow this government!".
7. Saga winners can be granted reputation as well. Just sayin'.
8. Jobs can be kept for zeni farming and an independent goal for those who use them (what kind of DBZ website doesn't have a cook, after all :p). As a writer moves from one job tier to the next, they earn a handful of reputation points (a percentage of which is lost if they change jobs)
9. Achievements are implemented just as a personal motivation for writers. Nothing hugely game-changing in there, but little motivations are awesome. Piper's list is incredible. Writers can also suggest new achievements for staff approval. Achievements would add in points to Writerscore - similar to gamerscore, but with writers. A forum for approval would be needed (like current quests/jobs).
10. A greater reviewing system would be implemented to encourage peer involvement. Similar to what's been already been mentioned without huge game changing effects. The rewards might be access to formerly restricted forums or something. A good critique, by the way, is at least one specific area of improvement/con and one specific thing they did well/pro. None of that generic "I liked it" shit. Each successful critique would merit Community Points, which would reward access to different areas of the forums or the ability to post new threads on OOC or whatever (this might mean a temporary lock out of some popular forums while people build up their CP, and as a result, some dissent at first, but popular forum access would probably be, like, 2 CP). Bad critiques could mean CP would be lost. CP would be degenerate over time.
11. Community Points could also be granted for helpful involvement in site issues. For instance, people who put forth great effort in this thread (even if their ideas were not used) could be granted CP from staff. Perhaps staff could also (very, very rarely) grant character rewards for extensive effort in CP.
12. Powerups would all be reset due to, like, a quantum pulse across the universe or something (XP refunded). All powerups are now granted by staff as a reward for good writing or saga involvement or whatnot. Writers could privately nominate a peer for a job well done in personal storylines.
13. Power level - this would be a crazy mishmash. I only just thought of it, so it's pretty rough as I haven't stewed it over like a good designer. PL would be introduced. Word count could increase your PL up to, like, 2000 (at about the increase rate of CA). Each time a powerup was granted by staff, the character would also get a boost to their PL. PL bonuses could be rewards for sagas or quests as well. In addition, a percentage (maybe, like, a quarter) of the PL could be influenced by the Writerscore, Reputation, etc. As a result, only the most involved members increase their power level, and it can't just be done by spam writing - you have to be rewarded for good effort and community involvement as well.
14. There is a leaderboard page. It is divided into sections:
[INDENT]1: Reputation - 10 highest reputation characters[/INDENT]
[INDENT]2: Writerscore - 10 highest achievement earners[/INDENT]
[INDENT]3: Community - 10 "most involved" community members[/INDENT]
[INDENT]4: Spam Writers - 10 highest word counts (formerly CA-ish)[/INDENT]
[INDENT]5: Power - 10 most powerful, based on power level[/INDENT]
[INDENT]6: Et cetera[/INDENT]
Clicking on a section would take the user to the full list for that section so they could see where they stand overall. More sections gives people more options for personal motivation - maybe somebody doesn't give a shit about reputation, but loves community involvement and wants to be number 1.
15. Of course, to handle this, new staff members would probably be needed (at least for the initial switch). Maybe designate one for each section - reputation, writerscore, community, general website, etc. Staff neglecting their duties could be replaced quicker that way. I'm not sure if that's how it's done now, so it's just a suggestion.
16. Numbers are fun!
Again, this isn't perfect, but this is the gist of what I think would be an awesome revamp. *shrug* Really, there's only a couple of changes and a lot of fleshing out. As mentioned before, now's the time to do it with most people on break from school.
Quote:TLDR: Bring in canon NPCs, achievements, and a couple of ways to earn points on the website, and sum it all up on a leaderboard page.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
If life gives you lemons, hand them to me!
I've got a great recipe for lemon meringue pie.
If life gives you lemons, hand them to me!
I've got a great recipe for lemon meringue pie.