AtariAge Ranks

[KAZ]

This is nitpicking, so I'm sorry....BUT

 

My original statement about people having over like 900 posts also having cartridges that are over at least a 6 on the rarity scale I feel is still right.

 

 

You mention about how SOME people with low posts might have good cartridge collections, which I agree totally. Sylentwulf comes to mind, he just doesn't visit here as often.

 

 

So here's the summary (kinda logic style):

All People with more than 900 posts on here have at least one cartridge with a rarity higher than 6.

Some people with less than 900 posts have at least one cartridge with a rarity higher than 6.

 

Therefore, there are some people with under 900 posts who DON'T have even one cartridge that is a 6 rarity or higher, but ALL people with 900 posts or more have one cartridge that is 6 or higher.

 

 

Pretty wordy...

 

I have like 500 posts, and my highest rarity is a 5. So I of course prove my own theory.

 

Perhaps every 200 there could be a corresponding rarity cart change...

 

0-100 posts would be a cart with 1 rarity

101-300 posts would be a cart of 2 rarity

301-500 would be 3 rarity

501-700 would be 4 rarity (close to mine actually)

701-900 would be 5 rarity

901-1100 would be 6 rarity

 

You can leave off rarity of 9 and 10 (for obvious reasons)

But a person with like 2000 posts still has a rather good chance of getting a cart that is of this level. 8 is definitely reasonable

 

etc. etc.

 

reaching the corresponding post counts would probably match the cartridges that you've collected, whether it is Atari 2600, 5200, or 7800

 

I'm more talking 2600 tho, of course.

[Pitfall Harry]

If you are going to assign epithets derived from cartridge rarities... which titles do you choose? Should they all come from the Atari 2600 library? I think the choice would alienate many of the members who come to this site whose primary interest is in the Lynx or the Jaguar or any of the other non-VCS forums. One of the admirable qualities of Atari Age is that it caters to a variety of classic videogaming tastes. I would hate to see it implement a software imposed gaming platform bias on ALL members of ALL forums. Even if that bias happens to be for my personal favorite gaming platform, the Atari 2600.

 

If you're going to force a user to become a "Beamrider" or an "Atari Super-Duper God" or whatever after they contribute a certain number of posts... what if they happen to HATE Beamrider? Or, what if they HATE being labeled a "Super-Duper God?" I didn't like being called an "Atari Novice" back when I had only a handful of posts. I liked being called an "Atari Pro" even less. I personally dislike presenting myself as someone who is above anyone else. Or below. I just like to make posts wherever and whenever I can to help other members find information they seek or just to have fun. Had I ever seen "High Atarian" or six exclamation marks attached to my name... after a good vomit, I probably would have stopped making message board posts altogether.

 

I can't be the only one here who thinks software-mandated self-congratulation is for everyone. If the new phpBB software is as flexible and easy to program as Albert brags it to be, then why can't there be a provision in this naming scheme to permit users the option of suppressing the display of "Grand Imperial Atari Poobah" or suppressing the display of 8 (so far) joysticks attached to their every post if that is their preference? Better still would be to allow users to specify their own custom epithet, as was permitted by the old board set-up. That way, those who only like the Jag can be a "Dino Dude" instead of a "Plaque Attacker." And those meebers who are perfectly happy to simply be called a "Member" may continue to enjoy that status, regardless of how many posts they make.

 

 

Ben

[KAZ]

This sounds like a job for the FIRST POLL of this message board don't you?

 

I don't think I've seen a poll yet, but somehow you should do it the democratic way maybe.

 

And I'd be satisfied with the results, as it would be what the most people would want.

 

Is that Utilitarianism?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

This is nitpicking, so I'm sorry....BUT

 

My original statement about people having over like 900 posts also having cartridges that are over at least a 6 on the rarity scale I feel is still right.

Actually I wanted to say, that not everybody on this board is collecting.

[Alex]

I have to admit, I never thought the ranks would cause so much discussion. It's just meant to be fun, but I can understand if people don't like it.

 

One change is to bring back custom status. We have already decided to do it, it's just a matter of getting to it (every little thing takes time!).

 

Another option would be for users to enable/disable rank status in their profile. So those who like ranks can display them and those who don't can just use their avatar and a custom title. I think this is a good solution, and we should be able to do this as well although again we have some other issues to get to first.

 

We could also do away with rank names and just use joysticks.

[Chris++]

After reading Pitfall Harry's posts, I admit that I'm really starting to see it from his vantage point. There's no need to force people to have ranks. I've never even really looked at mine, but now that I notice, it says Atari Novice. What would be more accurate is AtariAge Novice, because I've been playing 2600 games since 1981. Hardly a novice! But I agree with Harry that the cute rank-name "feature" should be turned off if the member wishes.

 

For all of you who care that you're member #(insert one or two digits here), the amount of posts will still be displayed, I assume, so you needn't worry about your superior posting status.

 

CF

[Tempest]

I don't even get a cool ranking because I'm a Moderator. Bah!

 

Tempest

[Alex]

We do our best to make sure nobody is pleased.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I could live without that rank very well, the joysticks plus the post counter are doing the job already more than good enough. Trippled information is a real overkill.

 

But a custoim state would be nice.

[Varan]

I have fewer than 100 posts and I have two 10s in my collection.

[JCroniger]

I like the idea of rank. It's all in fun. I don't really consider myself a newbie, but so what. I also like the joystick/icons. Pretty cool. I'd leave it as it is.

Instead of wasting time fooling with this, I'd rahter have the powers that be spending time on add scans or whatever. Just my two cents.

[Chuck Gill]

We do our best to make sure nobody is pleased.

 

LOL! That made my day.

 

-Chuck

AtariAge Lurker

[Ze_ro]

Is there any way to actually have multiple themes for postcounts, and have the user able to choose which theme gets used in their profile? That way, if someone gets assied "Combat Chaser" when they sign up, and don't like it, they can choose to be an "Atari Amateur" or "Spider Fighter", or whatever other lower ranks are available to them. On the flipside, if someone like Marco gets labelled a "Quadrun Questor", he can choose from the other high rankings.

 

--Zero

[El Destructo]

...it says Atari Novice. What would be more accurate is AtariAge Novice, because I've been playing 2600 games since 1981. Hardly a novice! But I agree with Harry that the cute rank-name "feature" should be turned off if the member wishes.

 

From all the ideas posted so far, here are some observations:

 

* There's no way to reliably relate posting frequency to the size/rarity/quality of someone's collection/posts/joystick.

 

* No single system of ranking names will completely satisfy everyone's attitude and creativity.

 

Based on these, here are some suggestions:

 

1. Any automatic ranking names should only refer to what they measure: posting frequency, and nothing more. The "fan/enthusiast/devotee/maniac" list fits the bill if you replace "Atari" with "AtariAge".

 

2. Let users turn off any automatic naming.

 

3. Allow users to add a custom tag.

 

4. Always display the joysticks. They are a useful visual shorthand.

 

5. A poll is definitely in order.

 

This gives users the following options:

 

* auto-ranking;

* auto-ranking + custom name;

* custom name only;

* nothing but joysticks.

 

Hopefully this would satisfy everyone. Except Kaz, he hates everything, like Mikey in the cereal commercial

 

"non-prophet organization?" GROAN!!

[NE146]

I'd like my old custom tag "Dumbass Atari Fan".

 

My post count is nothing compared to a lot of people here, but who counts posts numbers anyway... oh wait, I guess everybody else does.. *sigh*

[KAZ]

I have yet another idea...

 

how about having a button or a choice below each post where you can specify yourself whether it is a "pointless post"....

 

Each user could decide for themselves whether a post of theirs is pointless or not...

 

And then in their profile, it could list a ratio of:

 

Their pointless posts to their pertinent (non-pointless) posts.

 

 

Like this:

 

Of my 500 posts, 113 of them were pointless (according to me)

 

 

 

This would fix for all time the question about pointless posts

[Skatepunk60]

Again in defense of the custom status , why dont you switch that out for a custom status that was if a newcomer wants to be an atari god so be it i would MUCH rather have a custom status

[Nimtene]

I have yet another idea...

how about having a button or a choice below each post where you can specify yourself whether it is a "pointless post"....

Each user could decide for themselves whether a post of theirs is pointless or not...

And then in their profile, it could list a ratio of:

Their pointless posts to their pertinent (non-pointless) posts.

Like this:

 

Of my 500 posts, 113 of them were pointless (according to me)

 

This would fix for all time the question about pointless posts

 

This would solve nothing. Everyone has their own idea

of what a worthless post is. And most people cannot

be objective enough to accurately decide if their shorter

posts are actually meaningful to someone else, or not.

Moreover, what do I care, if you think 77.4% of your own

posts actually have a point. Big deal. Pat yourself on the

back. Does that mean there's a 77.4% chance I'll actually

read your post? Not a chance. Will I feel obligated to read

someone else's post, just because they think 100%

of their words are important? Will I avoid some at 0%. No.

 

I'll decide for myself what to read, thank you. What it comes

down to is maintaining a reasonable balance in your posts,

and developing a good reputation for your name. And I don't

think that any statistics can accurately convey that.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Cool, that's a setup I like.

 

BTW: The total count of the displayed joysticks varies a bit.

[Albert]

BTW: The total count of the displayed joysticks varies a bit.

 

You probably have some cached images. Trying hitting Refresh on a page where you're seeing an image with seven joysticks. That should force your browser to reload all the images from the server.

 

..Al

[smile_walle]

Yeah, I noticed bit changed Atariage ranks of title, I was suripsed now my ranks is Chopper Commander!! also my joystick rate now back to three black joystick!! I feel much better, so thank you Albert and Alex did listened to the Atariage message board's members!!

 

I would like to hear anyone how to feel about new ranks of titles?? :wink:

 

 

Jason..... :wink:

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I would like to hear anyone how to feel about new ranks of titles??

I like mine

 

Well, Starmaster would suit me better. I think I should start playing that game.

 

Al, could you post the number of posts required and the names? I want to know what is comming next.

[Albert]

Well, Starmaster would suit me better. I think I should start playing that game.

 

Well, the new ranks are associated with games in increasing rarity as your rank increases. So Stargunner is a fairly rare game, much more so than Starmaster. We also tried to represent games from a few different companies, instead of just all Atari or Activision titles.

 

Al, could you post the number of posts required and the names? I want to know what is comming next.

 

I think it's more fun if people try to discern what the new rank scheme is without us revealing it just yet. It'll be a while before anyone hits the final rank, though!

 

..Al

[KAZ]

Excellent, they liked my idea...I am honored!

 

It is neat how it doesn't list the rarity of the cartridge, you have to go search for the title to figure it out (which gets people to view the other great parts of your site).

[Albert]

It is neat how it doesn't list the rarity of the cartridge, you have to go search for the title to figure it out (which gets people to view the other great parts of your site).

 

I was actually contemplating linking the rank image to the particular game, but in the interest of getting the new ranks online decided for now not to do that. Maybe at some point in the future we can add a page that displays all the ranks together, along with the number of posts required for each rank. We could then easily link into the database for each associated title. This isn't helping to shrink our "to do" list!

 

..Al