Hi @grilled and @all_fakes. Thanks for the feedback and perspective, especially from @grilled as you're new to the community. We like new perspectives.
We did research badging, recognition and "gamification," and continue to keep up on the latest research and trends. Lithium is a top community provider, and has been for years. I don't like the term "gamification" but the concepts are a part of communities, and go beyond communities and even into social media. I don't think there would be social media without its beginnings in online communities. Every online community I've seen uses gamification and has done so even before it was a formalized and coined concept. Gamification to me includes user profiles, avatars, leaderboards, ranks, post counts, recognition, and social communication.
Badging and recognition are going to remain features of our community. We're open to suggestions, improvement, and evolution and have talked about reworking the naming of the roles and badges.
We'll definitely keep the community in the loop.
Please keep the suggestions coming.
@grilled wrote:
The gamificaition of the community may appeal to some folks. eBay could so some research to see if it does. They probably didn't. We know they accept it as a "best practice," but I'd like to see the research on who is motivated by such tools, who's indifferent, and who thinks it's just a distraction.
I might go for some SIMPLE ranking scheme for members with 3 levels: Novice, Member, Expert. All the silly names have absolutely no meaning or value or incentive for members. 3 labels that have actual meaning in English would convey what eBay intends. Instead they have 10 that just confuse people.
But for those of us who are adults, we can do without the bevy of silly badges and notifications and the meaninless ranking nicknames.
