Player/Server Karma Idea

[Tropican8]

So I was thinking. There are around 250 BZFlag servers. There's only about 100 players online at any given time.

Other than a set group of servers, it is rare that any gain enough exposure to actually accumulate a fanbase.

If a player "seeds" a server, he should be rewarded. It can usually take up to 15 minutes before a second or third player arrives, and no matter how good the map is, things will be boring.

Eventually 4 people come, then 5, and eventually the server's on the front page. If it is decent will attract a good number of people.

However, there is no way of rewarding the player who effectively promoted the server.

In walks the Karma idea.

Depending on how long the seed sat there, he is given a certain amount of Karma.

Once the server amasses a certain number of people, a /say message is generated thanking the seed for attracting attention to the server.

The Karma amounts for each callsign are uploaded to a webserver at a certain interval, where it is added to however much he already had (from other servers running the plugin, or previous sessions on the current). The information is then parsed and available on a webpage.

Furthermore, the amount of Karma players generated at each server is also displayed, effectively ranking every server running the plugin.

Players I guess could then somehow put their Karma and their favorite server's Karma in their signature or something so its visible to all, even those who might not know about the actual website that displays the full rankings.

[WarPig]

i guess that is a cool idea!! also, if a player is regularly boosting the popularity of the server, he/she could gain some kind of cop, admin status.

nice idea

[A Meteorite]

Although this is a good idea, it's open to so many possibilities of abuse. I think karma should also be available for other things, not just for people who seed a server. This can include if the person has been punished (mute, kick, ban, etc), how many times he/she triggers the filters, and more...

I'll be keeping it in mind...

[meeba]

There ought to be a way for players to give servers karma. Vote yea or nay for a server. Rank the servers by some combination of users and karma.

Just my thoughts on a karma system. However, I do like what Tropican has posted.

[Tanner]

There ought to be a way for players to give servers karma. Vote yea or nay for a server. Rank the servers by some combination of users and karma.

Just my thoughts on a karma system. However, I do like what Tropican has posted.

The karma would have to change when the map changes.

Seems like a nice idea...

-Tanner

[Triumph of the Soul]

Observers should be exempt from the Karma rule. If they are not, we will have a bunch of people joining as observer and staying for days while not contributing a lot to the BZFlag gameplay. People could also join a server in BZAdmin and go play on other servers. We might as well load up servers with bots to boost their position on the list. We should use the privilage of playing on good maps as an incentive to play, not how long some obscure player has been camped out on a sub-par map.

Or another idea, somewhat related:

We could have observers not count as actual players on a map, or at least have them excluded when figuring list server positions.