[Suggestion] member titles

[Wink]

You do realize that there are various other communities that have deeper and darker donation incentives?

Take Herocraft:

It's gotten to the point that their donations link was renamed to "Shop!", and brings up a page with the following options at different prices to 'pledge' support. Compared to our current system and minor (2) incentives, I see no problem adding a very minor third that moderators+ already have access to.

And before you go off at me for ignoring the removal of statuses, I believe we had no intent what-so-ever to change the status display initially, certainly not to the extent of encouraging an influx in donations for a month. And if you miss knowing at a glance what someone's up to, you can always just click their name!

 

[JtTorso]

having it as a donation incentive seems icky
might come off as a bit desperate- haha they're the ones who make people pay for a small title and removed the status bar
to be fair, we are desperate for donations, but having these rewards may encourage people to make a small one-time donation simply to get the thing and not bother with it in the future, as they got what they wanted. plus being desperate drives away some people.

note that i'm pulling the above and below out of my ass but it may still have merit
if this ends up as yet another cosmetic donation reward, it separates members from donators AND staff by putting them on a higher tier
something should not be both a staff exclusive feature and a donator perk

What are you basing any of this off of? You're sort of just saying things are problems but those complaints are all really stretched and don't wholly make a lot of sense.

might come off as a bit desperate- haha they're the ones who make people pay for a small title and removed the status bar
to be fair, we are desperate for donations

Well, that's just like, your opinion man. Some might see it that way, some might not. Even if it was considered desperate, so what? If we were that desperate then what would it matter, why should we care?

but having these rewards may encourage people to make a small one-time donation simply to get the thing and not bother with it in the future, as they got what they wanted.

And what's so bad with that? Isn't any donation better than none? The people who can afford to donate time after time (bless them) will do so, I don't think this has a lot to do with incentives and more to do their ones financial situation.

it separates members from donators AND staff by putting them on a higher tier

Because donors have been known to assert all the authority we give them? How does paying $10 make someone on tier with staff? Because it's a rank? Oh, I see, I suppose no one mentioned removing titles from staff, but I assume that went without saying? I neglected to mention that but the only way to make it fair would be to give it to exclusively donators, giving staff a donor incentive just for being staff would just be ludicrous.

 

[Hunter]

note that i'm pulling the above and below out of my ass

JtTorso i do/did agree with your last point- i'm not entirely against it being a donator perk, but i feel it'd be best as a free-for-all feature.
whatever works, though. having it removed from staff may cause...problems. what about ex-staff who already have titles? perhaps they're embarrassing? could they change or remove them?

surely there'd be a bit of hassle making it a donator perk which would be avoided if everyone had equal perms.

again, not saying it'd be the end of the world, but i [personally] don't care for donator perks. the banner thing was a good idea though.

 

[Naoh]

Alright, here's my suggestion. I'm being totally serious here, so please don't crucify me immediately.

EscRestart Premium

Like I said, I'm serious. Bare with me.

The donations were overwhelming during the opening of the overhaul, but I'm sure we've all noticed that dropped again this month. I believe the reason behind this is simple. There's no incentive to donate every month. I mean, sure we all love EscRestart, but there oftentimes isn't a reason to donate every month. That is why I am suggesting a "Premium" version. For a monthly payment of something small but reasonable, say $5-$10, you would receive an upgrade. It wouldn't be something that would put a "Premium" member above a regular member, but it would have perks. Here's a few I thought of.

• The classic "Donator" banner would be replaced with a "EscRestart Premium" banner instead.
• Some form of title on the servers as well, "Premium", "VIP", ect.
• Some form of server side bonus. Nothing that would cause regular players to be disgruntled, just something special.
• Bullet points are fun

The point is, the community cannot function without donations. I think this might help in some way. I don't know.

 

[Vatumok]

Alright, here's my suggestion. I'm being totally serious here, so please don't crucify me immediately.

EscRestart Premium

Like I said, I'm serious. Bare with me.

The donations were overwhelming during the opening of the overhaul, but I'm sure we've all noticed that dropped again this month. I believe the reason behind this is simple. There's no incentive to donate every month. I mean, sure we all love EscRestart, but there oftentimes isn't a reason to donate every month. That is why I am suggesting a "Premium" version. For a monthly payment of something small but reasonable, say $5-$10, you would receive an upgrade. It wouldn't be something that would put a "Premium" member above a regular member, but it would have perks. Here's a few I thought of.

• The classic "Donator" banner would be replaced with a "EscRestart Premium" banner instead.
• Some form of title on the servers as well, "Premium", "VIP", ect.
• Some form of server side bonus. Nothing that would cause regular players to be disgruntled, just something special.
• Bullet points are fun

The point is, the community cannot function without donations. I think this might help in some way. I don't know.

Whereas donations are absolutely necessary and there may need to be extra motivation for people to donate I don't think such a system should be used. With the overhaul and stuff wanting to go forward this would be honestly a big step back. You make some good points but using "premium" or "VIP" as titles sound elitist and plain wrong in my opinion. Also, I'm definitely against server side bonusses.

I think the biggest issue is a lack of newer/fresh players that discover the servers and want to help out by donating a little bit. The community exists only of long time members that sometimes don't find it worth to donate money. Of course there is no short term solution to this so maybe a few things to increase donations should be done.

 

[GmK]

That your status doesn't show on threads beneath your avatar is an oversight, the template edit simply wasn't done yet since we switched to the new forum template.

Malcovent will certainly add it back in just a moment.

EDIT: Did it myself. Styling is still wonky, will get better

 

[Jivvi]

oh; having statuses not in threads but having the new profile posts was a bit sleeker imo

 

[Hunter]

​

What are you basing any of this off of? You're sort of just saying things are problems but those complaints are all really stretched and don't wholly make a lot of sense.

Well, that's just like, your opinion man. Some might see it that way, some might not. Even if it was considered desperate, so what? If we were that desperate then what would it matter, why should we care?


And what's so bad with that? Isn't any donation better than none? The people who can afford to donate time after time (bless them) will do so, I don't think this has a lot to do with incentives and more to do their ones financial situation.


Because donors have been known to assert all the authority we give them? How does paying $10 make someone on tier with staff? Because it's a rank? Oh, I see, I suppose no one mentioned removing titles from staff, but I assume that went without saying? I neglected to mention that but the only way to make it fair would be to give it to exclusively donators, giving staff a donor incentive just for being staff would just be ludicrous.

dunno why you think i'm disagreeing here- that's literally what i meant
actually yeah, having titles as donationthings isn't all that bad an idea
still think it'd work better if everyone had it

 

[JtTorso]

dunno why you think i'm disagreeing here- that's literally what i meant
actually yeah, having titles as donationthings isn't all that bad an idea
still think it'd work better if everyone had it

there are so many problems with that it's not funny
and having it as a donation reward is just BLEAGH

having it as a donation incentive seems ick

i'm not entirely against it being a donator perk, but i feel it'd be best as a free-for-all feature.

again, not saying it'd be the end of the world, but i [personally] don't care for donator perks. the banner thing was a good idea though.

 

[Jubjubers]

I gave myself a dickish and hubrisitic title in 2013 when I was still controller

not even mad

 

[SirComputer]

Having it as a donation perk will probably annoy the people who can't donate, for reasons, and those who donate on the behalf of people who discover they can't donate for them (got told by an admin donations on the behalf of someone don't count).

This community was historically anti-pay2win, right?

It would be a good incentive to new players though.

 

[Defiant_Blob]

I'm fine with it being donator perk.
Maybe a monthly thing.
So donate and you get donator perks for a month, just to add incentive for people that do want to pay for something as silly as a title.

It's really just another way of saying thank you to the people that keep the community alive.

And for those not donating, then perhaps premade titles based off Trophy Points?

Edit: also, historically I believe we've had discussions before about being anti-pay2win but being okay with cosmetic donation perks for SMP (but never really getting around to it).

 

[Hunter]

speaking of trophy points isn't there a 1500+ posts one?
if so then where's mine D:

 

[Hunter]

Was this decided against being a donator perk?

 

[Pick Yer Poison]

The general consensus (backed by multiple higher-ups) seems to be against it as a donator perk, yes.

 

[Catcocomics]

I think keeping the servers and community alive should be incentive enough to get donors.
That, and there are way too many places I've been where it's literally donate to win.

I think titles should be more for deeds people do (being pre-overhaul, being at a certain event, hosting something spectacular, ect...)
and over all, rewards that any one can achieve if they work for them.

 

[Hunter]

I think keeping the servers and community alive should be incentive enough to get donors.
That, and there are way too many places I've been where it's literally donate to win.

I think titles should be more for deeds people do (being pre-overhaul, being at a certain event, hosting something spectacular, ect...)
and over all, rewards that any one can achieve if they work for them.

those aren't achievements, silly, and those would work better as banners
for being at a place at a time
but having a lot of banners is cumbersome and i doubt that could work

 

[Catcocomics]

those aren't achievements, silly, and those would work better as banners
for being at a place at a time
but having a lot of banners is cumbersome and i doubt that could work

It could be like, you participate in/host an event or something big like that, and you get new titles to a list of titles you have somewhere in personal details.

 

[Hunter]

It could be like, you participate in/host an event or something big like that, and you get new titles to a list of titles you have somewhere in personal details.

that's what banners are good for
basically the same thing as badges