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Suggestion Coins! or Things!

Mx.Trinity

Pro Stranger
So this may be a pointless suggestion but I think that an online RPN only currency could be really cool. This currency cannot be bought and would strictly be an element to RPN meant to enhance the fun of things.

How the system (in my head) would work... is that you get a particular amount of coins for amount of followers, amount of likes, posts, etc. Basically it would encourage more player interaction than there already is. Basically how many coins you have would determine how "popular" or how "liked" you or the content you produced is. I realize the system in place with likes and followers sort of already does that but I'm thinking a currency trade could be implemented so that say... if I want a custom OC bbcode template I could pay someone in these coins to make it for me, or I could give extra coins to someone who I feel is EXTRA helpful or I REALLY like their post, something along that line. It could be a fun little experiment.

How it could be implemented is a little icon next to your name that shows up as a gold coin that has a number (how many you have) next to it. Sort of like... on deviantart how they have the free llama currency?

And it would work a lot like a system I've seen on other forums where you can mark a post as "creative", "fun", "intelligent" etc. except marking someones post with "RP Gold" or something like that will make it so that your coin currency increases.

The trade system could be a simplistic minus plus system to where if I want to give someone coins it would just subtract it from my total.

Another way this currency could introduce a lot of fun is for "creative" projects... like if someone draws you a custom character, writes a poem, etc. Idk... just an idea I would personally enjoy this a lot.
 
I don't see any need or reason for that. Particularly the BBcode, we want to encourage sharing that as much as possible. Commissioning artwork is permitted (in Creativity, with the Commissions prefix) but that's for actual money.

This is a roleplaying site, not a merchant site. ^33^

I understand this logic however it wouldn't be an exclusive thing to where everyone would be required to follow the procedure of paying RPN currency to get something... that's not at all the point of it. People would still be able to do things for free and the coins would be a sort of extra "thank you" or interaction, in that particular situation.

I'd like to discuss this further. If you've ever been on Deviantart they have a llama system it's kind of pointless but if you're active in the community people really love to just toss them around as a light "hello" or for fun. I'm not asking RPN to become a merchant site, as I said before the coins wouldn't be purchased with real money they would just be a community thing specific to RPN. You can go onto forums and get likes and follows. RP currency would be something specific for RPN :)
 
I am a veteran of deviantArt. I was actually the group owner of the most popular llama trading group there as well for a while, so I know more than enough of that system along with the pros/cons. The thing is, by adding your system of currency, while your intention is to try and get members to interact with each other more, that isn't how it will more than likely end up going.

Your currency would become a "popularity" contest as you want currency for likes, followers, and such. Likes are not permanent, so they can be removed, and thus not stable. Users could create alt accounts to "pump" up this currency system for themselves. Some members may not want to opt into a currency system. You risk more division than creating a community with such a system.
 
I am a veteran of deviantArt. I was actually the group owner of the most popular llama trading group there as well for a while, so I know more than enough of that system along with the pros/cons. The thing is, by adding your system of currency, while your intention is to try and get members to interact with each other more, that isn't how it will more than likely end up going.

Your currency would become a "popularity" contest as you want currency for likes, followers, and such. Likes are not permanent, so they can be removed, and thus not stable. Users could create alt accounts to "pump" up this currency system for themselves. Some members may not want to opt into a currency system. You risk more division than creating a community with such a system.
Alright well I'd like to talk about the possibilities. Not what's wrong with the idea but rather what could be done to make it work rather it's practical or not. A lot of the reason people are here is to have fun. I understand you guys are staff so you know more about the inner workings of the site that I probably don't but on the topic at hand... I'd really like to discuss the positives of an idea rather than the negatives. I understand that the negatives are important to the longevity and well being of the site BUT I'd also appreciate it if you could make a counter argument to your negative statement or at least something that could theoretically work.

What about if it wasn't tied to the likes or followers?

This suggestion could really use your input Fable Fable since you know about the llama trading system. I'm thinking something similar even if it's not currency. Just something small, that people would enjoy trading and having :)
 
I mean you guys are welcomed to discuss it all you like but I have no intentions of including a currency system for the same reasons why we hid post counts away to user's profilles and nothing can be really seen in post in a thread. This is a writingg/roleplaying site and there is no need to add more "noise" with something people are just going to abuse/make more cliques out of and divide the community like Fable Fable said.
 
I mean you guys are welcomed to discuss it all you like but I have no intentions of including a currency system for the same reasons why we hid post counts away to user's profilles and nothing can be really seen in post in a thread. This is a writingg/roleplaying site and there is no need to add more "noise" with something people are just going to abuse/make more cliques out of and divide the community like Fable Fable said.
okay what if it's not a currency but a trading system in which users can create 8x8 or 16x16 pixel characters/creatures or something the community can take part in creating. Once it's created they can be given to users? Sort of like the donation badges people are collecting and have to pay real money to get?
 
okay what if it's not a currency but a trading system in which users can create 8x8 or 16x16 pixel characters/creatures or something the community can take part in creating. Once it's created they can be given to users? Sort of like the donation badges people are collecting and have to pay real money to get?

Isn't that still a trading economy?
 
Not in the same social sense. Likes are like critique or grades in school or silly ratings.
well I'm not saying it has to be a currency system anymore, I said that... I think in my last bigger reply. Now I'm thinking it could be fun just to have little characters that could be given, similar to the like system. Just something simple, fun, and silly that perhaps even people from RPN could have an opportunity to create these little icons that could be given as a like can be given. It would encourage more community involvement and idk if RPN has ever done something like that.

Or another idea is that for doing good deeds on RPN would result in a gift box that you opened once a month to receive one of these art pieces/creatures and they'd be put in a special place on your profile so that forum posts and the like didn't get cluttered by profile "swag". haha

Idk I'm just throwing around ideas here for something similar to the llama badges on deviantart but made custom for RPN users by RPN users c:
 
well I'm not saying it has to be a currency system anymore, I said that... I think in my last bigger reply. Now I'm thinking it could be fun just to have little characters that could be given, similar to the like system. Just something simple, fun, and silly that perhaps even people from RPN could have an opportunity to create these little icons that could be given as a like can be given. It would encourage more community involvement and idk if RPN has ever done something like that.

Or another idea is that for doing good deeds on RPN would result in a gift box that you opened once a month to receive one of these art pieces/creatures and they'd be put in a special place on your profile so that forum posts and the like didn't get cluttered by profile "swag". haha

Idk I'm just throwing around ideas here for something similar to the llama badges on deviantart but made custom for RPN users by RPN users c:

I think that would conflict with the existing system of badges which users get for contributing to the site. I can understand wanting to implement a system to add a fun bonus to social interaction, but a forum site like this one is already all about social interaction. It's why most users are here, so there doesn't really need to be an extra incentive added.
 
I think that would conflict with the existing system of badges which users get for contributing to the site. I can understand wanting to implement a system to add a fun bonus to social interaction, but a forum site like this one is already all about social interaction. It's why most users are here, so there doesn't really need to be an extra incentive added.
buuuuuuuuuuuut it couldn't hurt. and like you said I think many people would have fun with it. Anything extra isn't really necessary the site is usable and fun as is. But I didn't think that was the only purpose of the suggestions...
 
buuuuuuuuuuuut it couldn't hurt. and like you said I think many people would have fun with it. Anything extra isn't really necessary the site is usable and fun as is. But I didn't think that was the only purpose of the suggestions...

I actually think it could hurt the site. It would discourage people to become patrons of the site, since they could get for free an equivalent sort of reward that contributors get for donating. There's not as much of an incentive to donate to the site if you get rewarded The same or a similar thing simply for using the site a lot.

Additionally, if it's used to supplement currency for commissions, that is unfair to artists. And while artists could still ask for money, it would foster a "why should I have to pay when this other artist essentially does it for free?" mentality. I say that because of what I've seen on DeviantArt and Tumblr. I mean, that mentality exists anyways, but it's exacerbated when people can feign supporting artists even though the artist didn't get anything concrete out of it. A better way to show appreciation is a heart felt thank you and promoting their art to encourage others to seek them out. For artists who do free commissions, that's often just as meaningful if not more so than llama badges.

With all that said, I think it's good that you shared your suggestion with us. It shows that you really enjoy this site and want to see it improve in fun ways! I'm sorry that this is unlikely to be implemented, but your passion for fostering a fun sense of community is wonderful to see. It makes me very happy that there are users like you in the site who want to see it improve. We're going to do our best in that regard ^_^
 
I actually think it could hurt the site. It would discourage people to become patrons of the site, since they could get for free an equivalent sort of reward that contributors get for donating.

I don't mean to be rude... I personally feel it's a little unfair that the rest of us can't have something cool like the donaters get simply because we're too young to borrow money from our parents to pay for the donation towards the site, or we have personal expenses that don't leave money left over for donating, or we're unemployed and can't donate because we don't have any money, or any other circumstances that you can think of.

I understand the importance of giving to your members something a bit extra and unique for taking their borrowed, or hard earned money to help the server out. However I think it's also important to have something in place that has equal value in the hearts of people who really enjoy the site but can't afford to donate.

That may be a conversation for a different time as it seems none of the staff want something like this implemented.

With all that said, I think it's good that you shared your suggestion with us. It shows that you really enjoy this site and want to see it improve in fun ways! I'm sorry that this is unlikely to be implemented, but your passion for fostering a fun sense of community is wonderful to see. It makes me very happy that there are users like you in the site who want to see it improve. We're going to do our best in that regard ^_^

That's very kind, thank you.


Additionally, if it's used to supplement currency for commissions, that is unfair to artists. And while artists could still ask for money, it would foster a "why should I have to pay when this other artist essentially does it for free?" mentality. I say that because of what I've seen on DeviantArt and Tumblr. I mean, that mentality exists anyways, but it's exacerbated when people can feign supporting artists even though the artist didn't get anything concrete out of it. A better way to show appreciation is a heart felt thank you and promoting their art to encourage others to seek them out. For artists who do free commissions, that's often just as meaningful if not more so than llama badges.

Well that's assuming the artists are expecting something money in return for participating in a community event that would clearly state the participation would be voluntary.

I personally would make pixel art stuff for RPN for free, of course if I participated in the event and my pixel art was chosen I'd like it very much if I could get the badge or whatever it was that I helped create. I think that would be a fair trade for my time :)
 
I actually think it could hurt the site. It would discourage people to become patrons of the site, since they could get for free an equivalent sort of reward that contributors get for donating. There's not as much of an incentive to donate to the site if you get rewarded The same or a similar thing simply for using the site a lot.

I wanted to add one more thing to this if I could. If you take a look at deviantart (I know using this A LOT and I understand this isn't deviantart but they do have cool social stuff) you can see that people get things for participating in events, donating to the site, and llama's for being active in the community. So I don't think it would depreciate anything very much or at all.
 
Users already get medals when ever we do events. We just have a separate set for donations.

Theres nothing stopping users from creating pixelart threads, sharing said pixelart and adding the images to both your signature or information tab in your profile where you can display it :)!
 
Users already get medals when ever we do events. We just have a separate set for donations.

Theres nothing stopping users from creating pixelart threads, sharing said pixelart and adding the images to both your signature or information tab in your profile where you can display it :)!
HEY! I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT! Sweeeeeeeeeeeet I think I'll start a movement >:3 that's seriously not a half bad idea, thank you The Dark Wizard The Dark Wizard I didn't know there were events and badges for those events. Ohhhh yeeee gonna start a pokemans trading of pixel characters for signatures! "I'll make you a character if you make me a character!" or "I'll make you a character if you put it in your sig" or "How many collectible pixel doods can i have!?"
 
HEY! I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT! Sweeeeeeeeeeeet I think I'll start a movement >:3 that's seriously not a half bad idea, thank you The Dark Wizard The Dark Wizard I didn't know there were events and badges for those events. Ohhhh yeeee gonna start a pokemans trading of pixel characters for signatures! "I'll make you a character if you make me a character!" or "I'll make you a character if you put it in your sig" or "How many collectible pixel doods can i have!?"

Go ahead.

If it actually picks up traction, we could always try to do something for it int he future, but as it stands, this needs to be something spearheaded by the users.
 
I understand the importance of giving to your members something a bit extra and unique for taking their borrowed, or hard earned money to help the server out. However I think it's also important to have something in place that has equal value in the hearts of people who really enjoy the site but can't afford to donate.

I can't always afford to donate myself, and I missed out on a couple of badges I would really have liked to have. However, that's just how it goes. Giving badges away free would devalue the ones that are given for donating, like tournaments where everyone gets a trophy so winning first place doesn't mean anything.

Speaking of first place: we do have contests from time to time that anyone (except staff) can enter and potentially win, and those who win receive special badges for it. We also have badges for those featured as Member of the Month and Roleplay of the Month in the newsletters, when those are up, and for those who follow us on Twitter. So, it's not just donors that get them.

You can see the full list here.

EDIT: ninja'd by a wizard!
 
EDIT: ninja'd by a wizard!
Yup, you can even see the medals here.
giphy.gif
 
Giving badges away free would devalue the ones that are given for donating, like tournaments where everyone gets a trophy so winning first place doesn't mean anything.

Like I said I really understand the importance of something unique for donaters BUT again I think there needs to be something of equal value (this is very opinion driven) for people who can't donate. Just because it's not a badge or something similar doesn't mean it wouldn't hold equal value in the eyes of the moneyless. It could be anything at all, however it doesn't seem as if anyone has any other ideas.
 

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