24 replies to this topic

[greywolf]

Most of the people I see doing reviews are people that have mod or admin status, and I was wondering that if a feature that attributed a review or prep work or *some* sort of contribution were created, then people would be more apt to review games/contribute more. The list of things they've done could be included in their profile, and so that would motivate more people to do more stuff because if they do, they'll have a nice long list in their profile. Just some thoughts/speculation - I don't know if it's practical because of the time it'll take to implement.

[Tom Henrik]

Well, we do have the VIP member status which is given to members who have worked hard contributing to the site

[taikara]

Actually, if you look at the bottom of the review, for example, our latest update: Treasure Island Dizzy, you should see that the reviewer is credited at the bottom of the review.

In general, if a member of the crew takes screenshots for a game, which happens a bit, we won't put it in the credits, just like we don't put it in the credits for prepping a game, because it's inherent in the admin or crew status that we're going to do a bit of extra behind-the-scenes work to get updates on the site.

If you look at Prodigal, you'll see at the bottom that it's credited to Deathdude for the review, and Fawfulhasfury for the screens. This is one of the few (if not the only) game on site that credits two members. We credited Faw because as a member, he deserves special recognition for his effort, but we always credit reviewers, so DD's name went up, too.

Which is the same thing we'd do if two non-staff members collaborated on contributing content to the site, which as of yet, has not yet happened.

Edit: Regarding the credit being in our profiles, I'm not really certain how easy that would be to implement. It would take a fair bit of researching, anyway

[greywolf]

I know that the reviewers are credited in the review, but I just thought it would be a lot easier to see exactly how much work a member does if everything they've done is added into their profile. It might even be easier for admins, too, since you'll be able to see exactly what someone has done, especially when considering someone for VIP status.

Edit: I just thought it might be a good idea to promote the site more, since people will be getting a section in their profile devoted to their accomplishments for AR. (Obviously, admins/crew would have to be denied this privilege, seeing as how it would probably crash browsers from the sheer amount of text to be loaded   ) I know if I had a section in my profile, I'd probably churn out 2 reviews a week. Although the motivation is a bit selfish, and I admit I'm guilty of it as well, it would definitely help the site out in terms of things getting done, and more time on the admin/mod's hands to do other stuff, since they won't be reviewing.

[taikara]

It is a very good idea, and a good motivation for people to help out. A better status symbol than post-count, imho

Kosta is the big dog when it comes to site code, but from my own understanding of coding (which I'll admit is limited), I can think of two main (not only, but probably the easiest) logistical methods of doing this.

One, we mod the forum to allow for the new field in the profile, and only allow admins to modify the field (sort of like post count). Then, every time we update, we can manually bump up the contribution count. This is the "easier" method, coding-wise, but it relies on humans to carry it through - which will inevitably lead to a mistake.

The other way is to mod the forum for the new field, and then tie the count into the database. However, because of the way we update, it could also lead to error, since we don't store particular reviewers in the database and select from a list of pre-set reviewers to tie to the review, we enter their names manually for each individual update. Which means string matching, which means if someone misspells a name, then no credit goes to the reviewer in the profile.

All in all, it would be possible, but it would be a huge undertaking either way, and only Kosta can approve any changes in coding to the site. Modding code can be pretty risky, and I think something like this would need more than a little testing before full implementation - since there's obviously no available pre-existing mods that have been field tested for these purposes.

[greywolf]

Ok, that sounds fine to me. I just figured a suggestion wouldn't hurt. It is, after all, the "Suggestions and Comments" forum. Thanks.

[Juni Ori]

greywolforiginal, on Apr 21 2006, 12:43 AM, said:

Although the motivation is a bit selfish, and I admit I'm guilty of it as well, it would definitely help the site out in terms of things getting done, and more time on the admin/mod's hands to do other stuff, since they won't be reviewing.

And why shouldn't the motivation be selfish? I'm actually grown tired of people who want everybody and everything be unselfish and keep talking of good deeds etc. Honest and pure selfishness has evolved mankind, why not AR?

[A. J. Raffles]

Hmm, but if people were to be credited with every single review they've done in their profile, DeathDude's would have to be several pages long. He must have reviewed something like 20% of the games on the site by now.

[Juni Ori]

greywolforiginal, on Apr 21 2006, 12:43 AM, said:

(Obviously, admins/crew would have to be denied this privilege, seeing as how it would probably crash browsers from the sheer amount of text to be loaded   )

That's it...

[Tom Henrik]

Well, another way to pull it off is to have the members do it themselves

You can edit your own profile as much as you want, and you can easily divide the background bit with a dotted line and write the contributions below.

[Juni Ori]

Ouch, too easy and obvious that our kinds of geniuses would had thought of that!

[taikara]

Also too easy to "fudge".

Besides, if it were up to me, I wouldn't list ALL reviews, that would be ludicrous in the case of some... a simple contribution count would be fine, if it was implemented.

[A. J. Raffles]

Just out of curiosity: how many reviews has DD done? 150??

[taikara]

I seriously have no clue. All I know is that it's a ridiculous amount of reviews

[Juni Ori]

I bet no one can count that far!