Conquer Club

New Medal or Banner for Game Participation PLUS…[Contest]

Concise description:

• New Medal or Banner that recognizes participation in games.
• Refer to this as a Participation Award
• Awards a Medal or Banner at a variety of levels to stimulate interest and decorate the wall
• Unlocks a free one-day trial of premium after 80 games (arguably this aspect could kill the suggestion, but it is a cool idea, right?)

Specifics:

• ### Completed Games> Earns: Medal/Banner!
• 005 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Aluminum!
• 010 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Tin!
• 015 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Nickel!
• 020 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Lead!
• 025 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Copper!
• 030 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Iron!
• 035 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Steel!
• 040 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Bronze!
• 045 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Brass!
• 050 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Pewter!
• 055 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Gunmetal!
• 060 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Silver!
• 065 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Tungsten!
• 070 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Electrum!
• 075 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Titanium!
• 080 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Gold!
  
• Free Trial would be a code that allows the player to play one day of Premium on the day of his/her own choice, but expiring two weeks after the 80th game is completed.
• 400 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Platinum!
• 1000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Crystal!
• 2000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Diamond!
• 4000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Water!
• 8000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Earth!
• 16000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Fire!
• 32000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Air!
• 64000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Plasma!
• 128000 Completed Games> Earns: Participation Antimatter!
  

This will improve the following aspects of the site:

• Add another medal or perhaps a new item called a banner to the wall
• Sparks interest and discussion among players because of the beauty of the new medal/banner
• Much more interesting than the stat “Games Completed” on every player’s wall
• Could stimulate new players to stick around when they are awarded a medal after 5 games
• Could stimulate players in the 10-80 “Games Completed” range to continue playing to earn more medals, especially if they haven’t earned the Standard Achievement and aren’t otherwise winning games.
• Positively affects player retention by providing medals at levels that EVERY player: new, current, freemium, premium or founding members can earn.
• Provides something for players who have every medal at the go achievement level to strive for
• Encourages players to play frequently and play lots of games
• Increases enjoyment of the site with more decorations and more to look at
• Could stimulate more Premium Accounts if the free trial that is activated after 80 games is included.
• Could stimulate players to stick around so that they can unlock the free trial after 80 games.

Contest:


1) Take the preceding blank for a participation medal and color it in yourself for one or more of the achievement levels of this award! (Note the medal has 5 spoils and two dice.)
<OR>
Create a banner, pennant, flag, or other that could be the representative of this achievement.

2) Post your concept as a comment to this topic with the link to the image!

While the award of a one-day free premium is intriguing (though what if you already ARE premium???), the rest is just a waste.

The standard award basically IS a participation award. Play enough games and you will earn it through sheer "dumb luck" wins. If not -- well, the only people I know of who lose that much are working at it. (one reason for the 100 point maximum).

PLAYER57832 wrote:The award of a one-day free premium is intriguing (though what if you already ARE premium???)

Thank you for your input. If the player is already premium, there is nothing to unlock. The hope is to attract players to pay for premium and to stimulate interest amongst the players who are most likely to leave the site and never return. As you have played 7700 games, there is no aspect of interest that the lowest levels of the award would provide for you. These could potentially be an attractant to new players but your comment is noted. Thank you!

One of my drawings for an award...

Another idea for the Fire Level:

An idea for the Air Level Award:

Plasma Picture Idea:

Water Medal...

Diamond Medal Idea....

I really like this. This is a way better idea than the other one. I'm a medal hog as well and would like to see my play on the site recognized this way.

Is this the suggestion you've been working on? What happened to the unlocking of maps?

shanksdigs wrote:I really like this. This is a way better idea than the other one. I'm a medal hog as well and would like to see my play on the site recognized this way.

Is this the suggestion you've been working on? What happened to the unlocking of maps?

Thanks, I think. Not sure which other one you're referring to, but I have a guess its the big one that locks new players out of maps. This suggestion is part of the larger one I'm putting out. Yes, it is taking forever.

As to THIS suggestion, it is all about trying to keep people here without limiting them AT ALL. Little rewards are always appreciated. These little awards that come early and often are well-worth consideration...

...just hoping someone comes up with an idea for the design of the medal.

Queen_Herpes wrote:

shanksdigs wrote:I really like this. This is a way better idea than the other one. I'm a medal hog as well and would like to see my play on the site recognized this way.

Is this the suggestion you've been working on? What happened to the unlocking of maps?

Thanks, I think. Not sure which other one you're referring to, but I have a guess its the big one that locks new players out of maps. This suggestion is part of the larger one I'm putting out. Yes, it is taking forever.

As to THIS suggestion, it is all about trying to keep people here without limiting them AT ALL. Little rewards are always appreciated. These little awards that come early and often are well-worth consideration...

...just hoping someone comes up with an idea for the design of the medal.

I've thought about it and though I like medals, I think this should probably be a banner or a pennant like you said in the suggestion. Participation is not really medal-worthy.

Perhaps participation should be recognized by "campaign ribbons". The wide range of recognition is a good idea, and the "early and often" concept is sound. As far as the free day of premium play, why not tack an extra day onto the premium that a player has already bought?

Doesn't go far enough. Here are a few more necessary changes to draw in a whole new level of traffic:

Medals for posting in the forums.
Medals for total number of attacks across all games.
Medals for defeating the same player multiple times.
Medals for logging in.
Medals for clicking anywhere on any page of the site.
Medals for having so many medals.
Medals for complaining about luck on the forums.
Medals for C&A reports that don't turn out to be baseless vendettas.
Medals for C&A reports that turn out to be baseless vendettas.
Medals for farming ?'s on feudal.
Medals for pointing out inconsistencies in CC justice.

I've got a few more if you like where this is going.

ender516 wrote:Perhaps participation should be recognized by "campaign ribbons". The wide range of recognition is a good idea, and the "early and often" concept is sound. As far as the free day of premium play, why not tack an extra day onto the premium that a player has already bought?

Great idea! I didn't know how to handle it, but that seems like it would work out just fine.

Well, I must say you have thought a lot about this and done some work on your own.

Few things.

First of all, there is a medal suggestion list. I even looked it up for you
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=95780

Second of all, more levels of medals is suggested pretty frequently too. I, as would many players, like to see more. However, generally
1) People have problem with medals that don't require winning
2) No one wants to encourage someone starting 100's of games and then not really playing them to get a medal
3) Your current levels are unbalanced. I would estimate that the vast majority of people on CC would be at Platinum or Crystal. Also, why go every five until 80, then jump to 400. Also, as far as I know JohnnyRocket24 is one of the most numerous players. With 16,000, he is no where close to 128,000 games.

A few other issues:
1) The site currently does not support enough room for all the medals now. More medals is not the answer, methinks.
2) This is already clearly available on the players page under "Games Completed."
3) As far as an award to motivate players to keep playing even if they aren't winning. a) Maybe they should be motivated to win and b) even if you are a terrible player, like myself, you will keep getting medals. No, not everyday, but I get them fairly often. And one is always close enough to 'work on.'

As for the Premium trial, I think it is a good idea too, but I think you have a completely different suggestion there. Also, that is something that could be easily implemented right this very minute, but hasn't been. I would say the management here does not want to do that, not that no one has thought of it. Also, like PLayer57832 mentions, this might discourage people from purchasing premium if they are instead looking for free trial handouts. Not necessarily saying I want this to happen, but if you are truly looking towards the interest of the overall site, it seems like a tough sell.

As for the "Banner" idea, I assume you mean signature, and I think I speak for most users when I say that I would rather my clan sig, or my custom sig, or whatever text I want there, instead of a banner saying how many games I have played. Especially when it is on my profile page.

So therefore, I think this idea is in the wrong forum, poorly thought out, and really unnecessary, for the previously stated reasons. You have some good ideas, but they don't quite fit with this particular site.

Having said that, your medal drawings are right on. They fit with the current theme and are catchy. You should translate them into computer based images. See if you can follow the Suggs and Bugs topic, and maybe design the next round of new medals. Or, even better, design me some medals that I can give my tournament winners.

SuicidalSnowman wrote:Well, I must say you have thought a lot about this and done some work on your own.

As for the "Banner" idea, I assume you mean signature, and I think I speak for most users when I say that I would rather my clan sig, or my custom sig, or whatever text I want there, instead of a banner saying how many games I have played. Especially when it is on my profile page.

Thanks for your other thoughts. The one quoted here misses the mark. In reference to a banner or pennant or flag, I am not talking about the custom sig. Instead, I am referencing an entirely new concept. The new concept is an "award" but not a medal. I purposefully did not include this post on the medals suggestion list as, quite frankly, it isn't necessarily a medal-worthy achievement we are discussing. It does, however, recognize participation in the games on this site, something that many players achieve while at the same time they do not achieve medals. Rather than a medal, they would be awarded with a new banner, pennant, or flag. This would be on their wall and perhaps mixed in with the medals or perhaps next to their avatar. Location is not important to me. Recognition is.

SuicidalSnowman wrote:Having said that, your medal drawings are right on. They fit with the current theme and are catchy. You should translate them into computer based images.

I am not an artist and I have no ability to build computer based images, so I therefore toss it back to you and to the other members...good luck in the contest!

the medals are well.... ill refrain...but the idea of one day of free premium is a nice idea...except... every new recruit could then set up 50 games and would tax the system pretty heavilly...especially on speed games....

I think any incentives would have to be done on a number of games basis, not an open pass, to exclude exponential game creation...which Ill guess would only cause problems. I think the best idea in this suggestion is really to offer some speed games after each level of completion to whet their appetite... one very early...and possibly in the first five games....and here i agree...no freestyle or difficult maps either...or it really would be a speed game

then after whatever block makes sense... a few more speed games could be made available... opening the account to premium for a day just gives the opportunity for too many games to be made....especially by those that are still likely to miss more turns than premiums.

It actually gives cheaters a nice way of just playing 80 quick games, setting up 50 games, and deadbeating or throwing them, or whatever else they could think of...

some speed games here or there might very well hook some players though... the medals...well... i have 50 myself... I think if i got another 20 or 30, it would kind of make the whole medal system worth less than it already is...which....is getting there anyways.

AAFitz wrote:the medals are well.... ill refrain...but the idea of one day of free premium is a nice idea...except... every new recruit could then set up 50 games and would tax the system pretty heavilly...especially on speed games....

I think any incentives would have to be done on a number of games basis, not an open pass, to exclude exponential game creation...which Ill guess would only cause problems. I think the best idea in this suggestion is really to offer some speed games after each level of completion to whet their appetite... one very early...and possibly in the first five games....and here i agree...no freestyle or difficult maps either...or it really would be a speed game

then after whatever block makes sense... a few more speed games could be made available... opening the account to premium for a day just gives the opportunity for too many games to be made....especially by those that are still likely to miss more turns than premiums.

It actually gives cheaters a nice way of just playing 80 quick games, setting up 50 games, and deadbeating or throwing them, or whatever else they could think of...

some speed games here or there might very well hook some players though... the medals...well... i have 50 myself... I think if i got another 20 or 30, it would kind of make the whole medal system worth less than it already is...which....is getting there anyways.

Yes, free premium isn't he way to go. A few free speed games would be nice if that is functional to write for this site.

I should say again that I do not think that participation is medal-worthy. Instead, I think it is better to give this award as a pennant or banner or flag. If we have the number of games completed listed on the wall of a player, why not make it an interesting listing....one that is a banner or pennant on the wall that recognizes levels of achievement in the number of games completed? Since this doesn't exist, I had to make the recommendation within the framework of the current site, I therefore referred to it as a medal.

Another thought on this would be to have the achievement levels be various forms of cloth: cotton, burlap, silk, etc. as opposed to metals and alloys. This would help distinguish it from the medals and give rise to something a little more interesting than "Games completed: 1012" on our walls.

AAFitz wrote:the medals are well.... ill refrain...but the idea of one day of free premium is a nice idea...except... every new recruit could then set up 50 games and would tax the system pretty heavilly...especially on speed games....

I think any incentives would have to be done on a number of games basis, not an open pass, to exclude exponential game creation...which Ill guess would only cause problems. I think the best idea in this suggestion is really to offer some speed games after each level of completion to whet their appetite... one very early...and possibly in the first five games....and here i agree...no freestyle or difficult maps either...or it really would be a speed game

then after whatever block makes sense... a few more speed games could be made available... opening the account to premium for a day just gives the opportunity for too many games to be made....especially by those that are still likely to miss more turns than premiums.

It actually gives cheaters a nice way of just playing 80 quick games, setting up 50 games, and deadbeating or throwing them, or whatever else they could think of...

some speed games here or there might very well hook some players though... the medals...well... i have 50 myself... I think if i got another 20 or 30, it would kind of make the whole medal system worth less than it already is...which....is getting there anyways.

Players can already start as many games as they want (unless they are freemium...which is the group that this suggestion is attempting to address) IF someone wanted to "cheat" to get a banner saying they have completed 80 games on their wall, It just seems moronic more than anything. Your comment lacks merit. It is inconceivable that a player would ruin their rank, risk getting terrible ratings from the opponents who they "played" when they deadbeated, and take the time to simply enter games only to get a banner that says they have completed "X" games on Conquer Club.

As mentioned before, if opening the account to premium for a day isn’t the answer, then perhaps awarding them 5 free speed games would be the answer. It would provide an opportunity for a player to get enticed to pay for premium to play speed games more often. I have played against freemiums who were awarded free speed games, so I know the system is in place to award free speed games. I’m hoping for more a more thoughtful response from you on this topic.

Does the phpBB interface allow for submitting a banner next to the user's avatar on the user's "wall?"

This may be an ideal place for the experience banner to be located.

If not, I woul dthink that it could replace the "Games Completed" Stat on a player's wall.