vBActivity

Taluntain · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 2:54am

You've probably noticed the extra information below your avatars in posts by now, so a bit of explanation is in order. I've installed a forum modification designed to allow members to keep track of their activity, and be rewarded for it. We'll be giving points for many different actions - Posting, Starting threads, Voting, Referrals...

Furthermore, you will get rewarded for creating content which is popular. You'll gain points for every post in a thread you created, points for high thread ratings, for having a good reputation and more!

In essence, this modification is very similar to various in-game achievements made popular in the last few years, the only difference being it applies to our forum and your actions within the community.

This modification is fairly complex and comes with a wide range of settings so don't be surprised if things get switched around quite a bit over the next few days and weeks during the initial implementation stages.

As I'm sure you'll have many questions about this, don't be afraid to ask.

Edit: I see we're having some teething troubles with the past activity not properly showing... I'm looking into this; hopefully we'll have it fixed soon.

Harbourboy · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 8:51am

Awesome. I think. Actually, I don't really understand. Maybe that's why I have zero points.

8people · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 12:24pm

Looks interesting, first thing I noticed was having 19 notifications and thinking something had gone horribly wrong

Erod · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 2:15pm

Is there a way to disable this, or at least to remove the achievements post element? Also the activity notification settings do not seem to work.

Taluntain · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 4:57pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harbourboy

Awesome. I think. Actually, I don't really understand. Maybe that's why I have zero points.

The zero points issue is currently getting fixed; the first 3500 users should be done by now with the rest following in the next few hours. It's a slow process unfortunately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8people

Looks interesting, first thing I noticed was having 19 notifications and thinking something had gone horribly wrong

Yea, the achievement unlocking is gradual for new users, but the existing members get all the unlocked achievements (up to this point) at once, so the more involved you are here, the more achievements you'll get at once in this initial run. As I'll be adding new achievements, the unlocking will be gradual even for our veteran users.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erod

Is there a way to disable this, or at least to remove the achievements post element? Also the activity notification settings do not seem to work.

You can control all your activity settings from the User CP, so this is entirely customizable. However, as I've collapsed both menus below the avatars you don't really gain much by doing so - they're not taking any space now. The achievements display cannot be disabled at the moment.

Which activity notification settings are you referring to?

Erod · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 8:32pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taluntain

Which activity notification settings are you referring to?

These three:

Code:

User CP
- Activity
   - Settings
      - Notification Settings
         - Hide Achievements from notifications
         - Hide Trophies from notifications
         - Hide Awards from notifications

The selection boxes just stay empty. But I am not really sure what they should do either. I assume they mean that you do not get any notifications when you get a achievement/trophy/award. But it did not work that way at least.

Taluntain · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 8:58pm

You can't tick the boxes at all? Or you tick and hit Save, but it doesn't save? Which browser are you using?

And yes, they simply disable your receiving a notification about a new achievement etc. on top of the forum pages.

Erod · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 9:59pm

I can tick them, but after saving they are empty again (and I received notifications after doing this so it is not just a cosmetic problem). Other Activity settings seem to work fine. Opera as the web browser.

Taluntain · Sat, 24th Dec '11, 11:08pm

Do you have another browser you could try this in by any chance? Or just anywhere else that isn't on Opera...

Erod · Sun, 25th Dec '11, 12:17am

Same issue with Firefox 3.6 and rekonq 0.6.1. That is also all the browsers that I can currently test it with.

Taluntain · Sun, 25th Dec '11, 2:11am

Looks like a bug then... I'll report it.

Harbourboy · Sun, 25th Dec '11, 8:50pm

Woo, I've got 4 points now!

Taluntain · Mon, 26th Dec '11, 12:08am

Long story but it took a lot of fiddling with the server to get this mod to work properly. It's now running the point update properly and the first 2500 members should have their points displaying properly. The rest will be done in a few hours. Then I'll need to run an achievement rebuild (which will also last a few hours) and THEN we should finally be all set. Getting big boards outfitted with new functions such as this one doesn't always go smoothly I'm afraid.

Taluntain · Mon, 26th Dec '11, 1:56am

Erod, the issue you reported has been fixed.

T2Bruno · Mon, 26th Dec '11, 2:44am

I haven't been called "fresh meat" in ... well ... almost as long as Splunge.

Taluntain · Mon, 26th Dec '11, 4:03am

http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/vbac...o=leaderboards

Mmmm, pies!

Taluntain · Mon, 26th Dec '11, 7:54pm

OK, we're up to date on everything! Now for some tweaking...

Harbourboy · Mon, 26th Dec '11, 8:21pm

Woohoo 45 points now.

Taluntain · Mon, 26th Dec '11, 9:02pm

That's your level actually, the points are above that.

henkie · Tue, 27th Dec '11, 9:11pm

So will we be able to hide the picture achievements in the future? Because they add a lot of extra vertical space to each post. Actually, can we do the same for the mood thing?

Taluntain · Tue, 27th Dec '11, 9:17pm

I'm probably going to limit it to 5 latest achievements so it'll take less space, but it's not currently possible to hide achievements completely (not without being exempted from vBActivity altogether, which will become an SPS feature). Mood will probably be removed until there's a fix in place to make it work for all users.

Silvery · Tue, 27th Dec '11, 11:25pm

What is the point of this? Not being funny, just want to know

Taluntain · Wed, 28th Dec '11, 12:39am

What's the point of achievements in games? To give you a sense of accomplishment in a certain aspect - and to encourage and motivate you. Of course introducing a feature like this to a board where the majority of still active members already have a bucketful of achievements doesn't serve that much of a purpose for them, but for any new users it just might give them that extra bit of encouragement to post. By default, there isn't much of an incentive to do that for members who aren't very talkative.

And naturally, there's also the collecting factor... for achievements, trophies and awards.

Trophies show next to your username in posts. Only one member can hold a certain trophy at any given time - that's recognition for being on top in a certain aspect of the community.

Splunge · Wed, 28th Dec '11, 4:13pm

I'm no longer a newbie! Finally!!

Silvery · Thu, 29th Dec '11, 12:40am

Won't it just encourage spam?

Sat, 24th Dec '11, 2:54am	#1
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	vBActivity You've probably noticed the extra information below your avatars in posts by now, so a bit of explanation is in order. I've installed a forum modification designed to allow members to keep track of their activity, and be rewarded for it. We'll be giving points for many different actions - Posting, Starting threads, Voting, Referrals... Furthermore, you will get rewarded for creating content which is popular. You'll gain points for every post in a thread you created, points for high thread ratings, for having a good reputation and more! In essence, this modification is very similar to various in-game achievements made popular in the last few years, the only difference being it applies to our forum and your actions within the community. This modification is fairly complex and comes with a wide range of settings so don't be surprised if things get switched around quite a bit over the next few days and weeks during the initial implementation stages. As I'm sure you'll have many questions about this, don't be afraid to ask. Edit: I see we're having some teething troubles with the past activity not properly showing... I'm looking into this; hopefully we'll have it fixed soon.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page! Last edited by Taluntain; Sat, 24th Dec '11 at 3:05pm.

Sat, 24th Dec '11, 8:58pm	#7
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	You can't tick the boxes at all? Or you tick and hit Save, but it doesn't save? Which browser are you using? And yes, they simply disable your receiving a notification about a new achievement etc. on top of the forum pages.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Sat, 24th Dec '11, 11:08pm	#9
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	Do you have another browser you could try this in by any chance? Or just anywhere else that isn't on Opera...
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Sun, 25th Dec '11, 2:11am	#11
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	Looks like a bug then... I'll report it.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Mon, 26th Dec '11, 12:08am	#13
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	Long story but it took a lot of fiddling with the server to get this mod to work properly. It's now running the point update properly and the first 2500 members should have their points displaying properly. The rest will be done in a few hours. Then I'll need to run an achievement rebuild (which will also last a few hours) and THEN we should finally be all set. Getting big boards outfitted with new functions such as this one doesn't always go smoothly I'm afraid.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

		Sorcerer's Place Home \| Chatrooms \| BoM Rules & FAQ Sorcerer's Place Stores: Games, Books, DVDs, Merchandise (buying via these links & our affiliated stores below helps support the site - thanks!)
Have you liked us yet?

Sat, 24th Dec '11, 8:51am	#2
Harbourboy SPS Account Holder Take thy form from off my door! Join Date: May 2003 Location: North Harbour Posts: 13,220 Like: 53 Liked 11 Times in 10 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 28,186 Level: 45 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 71.74% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 13.64% Achievements Awards	Awesome. I think. Actually, I don't really understand. Maybe that's why I have zero points.

Sat, 24th Dec '11, 12:24pm	#3
8people SPS Account Holder 8 is just another way of looking at infinite Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Chirofen Posts: 7,140 Blog Entries: 252 Like: 63 Liked 17 Times in 15 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 19,563 Level: 39 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 44.42% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 2.11% Achievements	Looks interesting, first thing I noticed was having 19 notifications and thinking something had gone horribly wrong

Sat, 24th Dec '11, 2:15pm	#4
Erod Gems: 14/31 Latest gem: Chrysoberyl Eastend Arrows Champion! Flying Plane Champion! X-Training Champion! Mordor Mountain Madness Champion! City Jumper: New York Champion! Big Uglies Champion! Join Date: May 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 650 Like: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 1,836 Level: 14 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 30.22% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 5.96% Achievements	Is there a way to disable this, or at least to remove the achievements post element? Also the activity notification settings do not seem to work.

Sat, 24th Dec '11, 9:59pm	#8
Erod Gems: 14/31 Latest gem: Chrysoberyl Eastend Arrows Champion! Flying Plane Champion! X-Training Champion! Mordor Mountain Madness Champion! City Jumper: New York Champion! Big Uglies Champion! Join Date: May 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 650 Like: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 1,836 Level: 14 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 30.22% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 5.96% Achievements	I can tick them, but after saving they are empty again (and I received notifications after doing this so it is not just a cosmetic problem). Other Activity settings seem to work fine. Opera as the web browser.

Sun, 25th Dec '11, 12:17am	#10
Erod Gems: 14/31 Latest gem: Chrysoberyl Eastend Arrows Champion! Flying Plane Champion! X-Training Champion! Mordor Mountain Madness Champion! City Jumper: New York Champion! Big Uglies Champion! Join Date: May 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 650 Like: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 1,836 Level: 14 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 30.22% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 5.96% Achievements	Same issue with Firefox 3.6 and rekonq 0.6.1. That is also all the browsers that I can currently test it with.

Sun, 25th Dec '11, 8:50pm	#12
Harbourboy SPS Account Holder Take thy form from off my door! Join Date: May 2003 Location: North Harbour Posts: 13,220 Like: 53 Liked 11 Times in 10 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 28,186 Level: 45 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 71.74% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 13.64% Achievements Awards	Woo, I've got 4 points now!

Mon, 26th Dec '11, 1:56am	#14
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	Erod, the issue you reported has been fixed.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Mon, 26th Dec '11, 2:44am	#15
T2Bruno SPS Account Holder The only source of knowledge is experience Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Chicago -- far west suburbs. Posts: 9,314 Like: 19 Liked 78 Times in 59 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 22,263 Level: 41 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 57.73% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 35.32% Monthly Activity 39.83% Achievements Awards	I haven't been called "fresh meat" in ... well ... almost as long as Splunge.
	__________________ “I have little patience with scientists who take a board of wood, look for its thinnest part, and drill a great number of holes where drilling is easy.”

Mon, 26th Dec '11, 4:03am	#16
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/vbac...o=leaderboards Mmmm, pies!
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Mon, 26th Dec '11, 7:54pm	#17
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	OK, we're up to date on everything! Now for some tweaking...
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Mon, 26th Dec '11, 8:21pm	#18
Harbourboy SPS Account Holder Take thy form from off my door! Join Date: May 2003 Location: North Harbour Posts: 13,220 Like: 53 Liked 11 Times in 10 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 28,186 Level: 45 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 71.74% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 13.64% Achievements Awards	Woohoo 45 points now.

Mon, 26th Dec '11, 9:02pm	#19
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	That's your level actually, the points are above that.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Tue, 27th Dec '11, 9:11pm	#20
henkie SPS Account Holder Hammertime Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,146 Like: 2 Liked 15 Times in 15 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 2,704 Level: 16 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 95.75% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 9.8% Achievements Awards	So will we be able to hide the picture achievements in the future? Because they add a lot of extra vertical space to each post. Actually, can we do the same for the mood thing?
	__________________ “The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”

Tue, 27th Dec '11, 9:17pm	#21
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	I'm probably going to limit it to 5 latest achievements so it'll take less space, but it's not currently possible to hide achievements completely (not without being exempted from vBActivity altogether, which will become an SPS feature). Mood will probably be removed until there's a fix in place to make it work for all users.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Tue, 27th Dec '11, 11:25pm	#22
Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not that nice Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Co. Durham, UK Posts: 3,100 Blog Entries: 30 Like: 33 Liked 52 Times in 30 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 9,181 Level: 28 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 76.11% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 50.21% Monthly Activity 52.8% Achievements	What is the point of this? Not being funny, just want to know
	__________________ Oh for the Love of God...sigh Firstly it's BlackBerry - My last facepalm from Kitrax. Love you buddy

Wed, 28th Dec '11, 12:39am	#23
Taluntain SPS Account Holder Founder Resident Alpha and Omega Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Cori Celesti Posts: 20,794 Blog Entries: 13 Like: 154 Liked 120 Times in 78 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 53,142 Level: 58 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 49% Daily Activity 211.31% Weekly Activity 31.06% Monthly Activity 64.09% Achievements Awards	What's the point of achievements in games? To give you a sense of accomplishment in a certain aspect - and to encourage and motivate you. Of course introducing a feature like this to a board where the majority of still active members already have a bucketful of achievements doesn't serve that much of a purpose for them, but for any new users it just might give them that extra bit of encouragement to post. By default, there isn't much of an incentive to do that for members who aren't very talkative. And naturally, there's also the collecting factor... for achievements, trophies and awards. Trophies show next to your username in posts. Only one member can hold a certain trophy at any given time - that's recognition for being on top in a certain aspect of the community.
	__________________ Help Support Sorcerer's Place! Join the Sorcerer's Place page!

Wed, 28th Dec '11, 4:13pm	#24
Splunge SPS Account Holder Bhaal’s financial advisor Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: In hiding after Bhaal became Lord of Murder when I had him put everything into subprime mortgages. Posts: 6,545 Like: 13 Liked 57 Times in 38 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 15,912 Level: 36 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 23.01% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 1.28% Monthly Activity 69.38% Achievements Awards	I'm no longer a newbie! Finally!!
	__________________ I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. - Steven Wright

Thu, 29th Dec '11, 12:40am	#25
Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not that nice Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Co. Durham, UK Posts: 3,100 Blog Entries: 30 Like: 33 Liked 52 Times in 30 Posts vBActivity - Stats XP: 9,181 Level: 28 vBActivity - Bars Level Completion: 76.11% Daily Activity 2.98% Weekly Activity 50.21% Monthly Activity 52.8% Achievements	Won't it just encourage spam?
	__________________ Oh for the Love of God...sigh Firstly it's BlackBerry - My last facepalm from Kitrax. Love you buddy