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I like this idea. I remember being around during the old points system and was highly disappointed when it was removed. I've seen it in other shops and having a point system was almost always a good addition and helped the shop receive more activity. I believe that by doing this it doesn't just make the current people happy, but it will encourage future rpers to join and not just ditch role-plays or coupling.

With a prize in mind, people will actually finish their role-plays, meaning less to sort through when looking for your own role-play and also encouraging people to want to participate more.

I definitely like this idea. I find myself disappearing from Gaia FAR more frequently than I'd like, and maybe this could remind me to keep checking in and participating more frequently ^^

I agree, I don't think everyone realizes just how much work the points system was. I was good friends with PLE, whose sole job pretty much was updating the points, and it utterly stressed her out. She tended to update every week or two weeks, and that drowned her-- I can't imagine only doing it monthly. I know other shops like Soq do it with one worker, but...well, we aren't Soq, and besides which they only update monthly for stats, not anything else.

To make a whole cash in system would...I'm sorry, but to me that's just too much. That's a lot for anyone to keep track of, and honestly as much as I trust you Jinx, I would only feel comfortable leaving something like that in staff hands. It's not that we're better or more competent or whatever, but we're ultimately accountable for everything that happens in the shop, and that would include this. Any miscommunication could potentially screw up the system and leave people unhappy. And as you said, if you disappeared, we would have to take care of it. We don't have time for that, on top of monitoring the points system and creating a system and clearing up questions about the system and doing all the free things people would get--you guys DO RP a lot, that would add up to a lot of points. xD And to be honest, on a personal level, I never found motivation in the points system, even when I was having to join poll guilds to get gold for basic semi-customs. I don't remember anyone being active JUST to get points; it was a bonus, not a motivator.

That said, I wouldn't be totally against a very minor version of this, but I do mean minor and staff run. I'd be willing to set up a thread to get birthday credit again and maybe points earned from events and stuff (not based on activity, but perhaps the runner up prize is X number of points, not another fox). The number of points would directly equal gold--for example, 1k points is 1k gold, and can be used as 'currency' for customs/custom mod items (probably not for anything else, since premade mods and tattoos and breedings and flatsales are cheap). This is the old system, but simplified, so you won't get activity credit, just prize credit. I know that's not the same, but it's a compromise, and would bring back as much of the credit system as we can afford to spend time on.

EDIT: I forgot to say: Rea and other staff can outvote me on this minor points system thing too, it's just a suggestion I threw out there, not a guarantee~

I'll clear it up for Rea-when she talks about thread activity, she isn't referring to the old points system. That was all RP/birthday/prize based. She means Jinx's proposed system, where your activity in-thread would count. :3

I thought about making it so that once you finish an RP someone has to submit something in the points thread in order to get the points. I only didn't bring it up in my main post because I wasn't sure if people would remember to post finished stuff. I work as a cashier in a downtown area, I get a bellyful of people bitching at me for things that they didn't do properly, and I'd rather not see that get brought here just cause someone didn't read all the rules or forgot to post their finished RP to get the points. If people do remember to post though, I can see it making things a lot easier.

I agree, thread activity can be overwhelming to sort through. It would be one thing to say, "Just check XX number of days for all people who posted," but then there's what counts as active and not all people post in thread every day. I don't think I've done more than a dozen posts this whole week... It was just an idea that was in the list and I figured I'd toss it out anyway just to say I did.

There's ways to cut down on a potential flood of RPs. In the system I got my ideas from points were given for A) starting an RP and B) the number of pages the RP reached. If the points for starting an RP are minimal or even taken out, it would encourage longer RPs. There could be a limit of only accepting XX number of RPs per month, to keep people from trying to speed post a bunch of one-liner pages. By the same token that means with only so many finished RPs allowed to go up for points people will take time on their others. It might also make for better plots, since it's very hard to make page after page when you're "winging it".

So, to kinda sum it up

● Points can be earned via finished RPs, birthdays, and possibly through certain events to keep it simple.
● To earn points with RPs the RP must be finished. You can only earn points with an RP once, i.e. If you reopen the RP and add to it you can't resubmit it if it's already been counted. Yush's idea of posting finished stuff can keep track of that.
● Points are based on how many pages the RP achieves.
● Possibly limit how many RPs you can submit for one month.

That being said, I'd like to add some things. I don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but the staff have a points system. I'm not saying that you don't earn them or anything like that, but...

It's not the customs or anything like that, cause goodness knows that we bribe so much that we probably gain more foxes than staff do in a month. It's the breedings that make me want this to work. If we have foxes that we want to have babies, like really, really want, we have to wait for a breeding and pray we get lucky. That can take awhile, since I've heard that there are some oldies out there that had to try A LOT before they got lucky. Even if the prize for breeding is like waaaaaaaay up there on the list, it's still something that we can work towards just in case that one, special couple lost one too many breedings. It's hitting me particularly hard, having not won anything from this month's breedings and seeing a staff breeding posted in the thread. AGAIN, not saying that you don't earn these things. But it would be nice if we could have the same chance too.

I am also aware that it would take more than just, "Oh, it's the end of the month. Well, let me look and see what needs to be tallied." I fully expected that it would need to be watched on at least a weekly basis, given the speed of things here, but that the points only become available to you on a monthly basis.

I don't have any plans to disappear in the near future, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. The role I had in mind for myself was more of a points counter. I can even do a monthly summary to either post in the thread or PM to staff do they can double-check it. Just to be clear, I'm not begging for staff to give me this job. I'm just trying to let it be known that I did take into account how much work this potentially would be. I am willing to work around limits and "you can only do this" set by staff, because I don't want to see more drama set on you guys either. Rather than wanting this and expecting you to get it done, I'm willing to work to help make this work.

EDIT: Meh, I took this down because while it explained my POV, it was probably going to make people upset since I wrote it in a rush at 1:30 AM, lol.