The point of Stars!??

Radiance

Due to Connection issues during this past New Life event, I've been spending a lot more time on the forums just moping around and couldn't help but notice the hierarchal Star system... I've been playing off and on since Beta, scanned occasionally for Natch Potes/Updates but never spent much time here until now! IDK whether to be impressed or concerned but the amount of time spent in Game then on the Forums must be Ungodly when you've personally created over hundreds of unique threads and posted thousands of comments. Before now, I usually only ever came here to Complain when something was broken... so I guess my question is just... Why!? How do you have infinitely more posts than I will ever have despite having been a part of the community for only a fraction of the time I have been lol... and it's not jealousy, it really is blatant concern... Any time I see a commenter with 10+ Stars, I tend to shy away in attempt to avoid some melodramatic Quote-Chain argument that serves no purpose (like this post) other than just to add more BLAH comments to increase their hierarchal standing... Which could be argued that is my soul purpose of creating this thread... But it's not... IDC because this hierarchal system has no value in the real world outside of Credibility among the ESO Forum community... Did I just answer my own Question? Does more comments of little substance mean more credibility!?!

IDK but I need hobbies outside of Playing this game and constantly talking about the game I constantly play... But that's just me! I guess the point of this post is to ask that people stop making Filler comments (like this post) with no reasoning or substance behind it other than just to build upon their Soapbox Platform because I gotta say, I really could have done without all those "Lols" and single word comments... Just saying.

pauli133

Wait.

Hold on.

You're telling me that other people use the internet differently than you do?

This is serious.

I_killed_Vivec

Stars are like CP... just play the game and they happen, concentrate on them and you will be disappointed.

casparian

w

Waffennacht

You get forum armor, requires 8 stars to wear.

DieAlteHexe

I wish they were snowflakes! Then I could be a special snowflake!

Radiance

Should have known I'd only create a breeding ground for that which I detest most!!! LOL I understand now...

Stars = Trolls...

Tryxus

If you get 10 stars, you get access to a hidden section of the forums where there's lots of Lusty Argonian Maids, Skooma, Hist Sap and special stand-up comedy performances by Haskill

VaranisArano

You get your stars according to the number of forum points you have. Those come from comments, badges, answers, agrees, insightfuls, and awesomes. Link explaining this is more detail: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/62438/forum-badges-stars-and-achievements-and-how-to-get-them/p1

So you can get more stars just by posting a bunch of stupid stuff on the forums, but its going to take you a lot longer than if you post thoughtful stuff on the forums that people agree with, think is insightful, or think is awesome.

Generally speaking, since joining the forums in September, I've gotten my stars by:
A. Helping new players figure out builds
B. Talking about PVE tanking
C. Talking about PVE group dungeons
D. Arguing about PVP (I love PVP, but we do argue a lot about PVP)
E. Arguing on various dead horse threads about the merits of dead horse ideas (Every so often, I'm like, "didn't we have this thread a month ago?" - check discussion history - "Yep, there it is!"
F. Complaining about stuff ZOS does that I don't like

I try to put some time and effort into explaining whatever it is I'm posting and, by and large, that's worked out for me.

DieAlteHexe

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

Should have known I'd only create a breeding ground for that which I detest most!!! LOL I understand now...

Stars = Trolls...

Oh aye...that must be the answer.

It's a participation thing. Some of us have been here for years so there's no need to be concerned.

Rosveen

If you think I'm credible just because I have a bunch of stars, you're in for a disappointment.

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

Why!? How do you have infinitely more posts than I will ever have despite having been a part of the community for only a fraction of the time I have been lol...

You've been here for almost 4 years and your profile shows only 115 posts. That's not exactly what I'd call an active forumite. If you hang around here and post just a couple times a week - so not spammy at all - you accumulate a lot of points without even trying. That's what many of us did.

Robo_Hobo

I'm mostly on the forums on the mobile site so I don't see the stars regardless :P

Wreuntzylla

Waffennacht wrote: »

You get forum armor, requires 8 stars to wear.

Ugh, had I known, I would have taken posting seriously!

rhapsodious

Either get really good at [snip]posting or post genuinely helpful content to get a lot of forum stars. Usually you can tell who did what.

I like answering questions and finding the latest minor thing people are outraged by while I'm trying to mull over a problem at work.

[Edited to remove profanity]

Rohamad_Ali

You are missing the point of forums completely . This where a lot of us make friends and talk about all aspects of the game . Post testing results and give positive feedback for the Devs to understand game issues . I've met so many people Ingame thanks to the forums and they have improved my Ingame experience immensely . Try to think of positive ways to use the forums and do not be concerned with stars . Stars are like a finger pointing to the heavens , If you stare at the finger you miss all the glory above .

Wreuntzylla

rhapsodious wrote: »

Either get really good at [snip]posting or post genuinely helpful content to get a lot of forum stars. Usually you can tell who did what.

I like answering questions and finding the latest minor thing people are outraged by while I'm trying to mull over a problem at work.

In fact, the absolute fastest way to level your stars is by shotgunning inane comments expressing a popular belief in response to a the OP faster than anyone else.

I have gotten the most agrees/insightfuls/awesomes from posts I made from my cell phone after a couple drinks... Makes me understand John Norman's plight with the Gor series.

[Edited for quote]

KochDerDamonen

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

Should have known I'd only walk into the den for that which I detest most!!! LOL I understand now...

No Stars = Trolls...

SirAndy

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

so I guess my question is just... Why!?

I'm a programmer and i spent a good 8/10/12 hours a day in front of a computer.
I have several forums i frequent and they're always open on my secondary/tertiary monitor.

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

but I need hobbies outside of Playing this game

Me too, that's why i bought a fixer upper old house that i'm renovating and still find time to take my old Porsche racecar to the track every other weekend.

Danikat

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

How do you have infinitely more posts than I will ever have despite having been a part of the community for only a fraction of the time I have been lol...

Do you actually check the date each person joined the forum, or are you assuming they've been here less time than you because they don't have the mangled display names from the beta? If it's the 2nd one then you need to rethink your assumptions, because a lot of people have simply changed it.

For example my join date is 8th January 2014, and when I first joined I had one of those default beta screen names. But it was 1/2 my email address (which is most of my real name) followed by a mess or jargon, so I changed it to this, which is the screen name I always use.

As for the stars, like other people said they just happen over time. I'm not actually sure exactly how they work, but I think it's a combination of your post count and the number of agree/insightful/awesome reactions you've got. So you don't need to do anything special to get them, they just show up as you keep posting.

Finally the reason some people post more than you will vary. In my case it's fairly simple: I like ESO and I want to talk about it and I like forums (if I'm killing time online I'm more likely to be on a forum than Facebook or whatever). I work full time and spend a lot of time away from home either working, visiting my family or travelling so there's a lot of time when I want to be playing ESO but can't and talking about it on the forum is a good substitute. Plus it helps me learn about the game in ways I wouldn't if I was just playing.

Prof_Bawbag

None. Doesn't stop some people from obsessing over them though. Like starting threads with the sole intention of getting those all unimportant stars. Hell, there is a small number of users on here that even ask for insightfuls. That's over 80% of their post history.

geonsocal

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

I've been spending a lot more time on the forums just moping around and couldn't help but notice the hierarchal Star system...

Before now, I usually only ever came here to Complain when something was broken...

my soul purpose of creating this thread...

IDK but I need hobbies outside of Playing this game and constantly talking about the game I constantly play...

it's okay OP...now that you've come to share your heartwarming story with us - it's:

Radiance

Danikat wrote: »

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

How do you have infinitely more posts than I will ever have despite having been a part of the community for only a fraction of the time I have been lol...

Do you actually check the date each person joined the forum, or are you assuming they've been here less time than you because they don't have the mangled display names from the beta? If it's the 2nd one then you need to rethink your assumptions,

Not, assuming, have checked dates of several 10+Stars out of curiosity having joined at a sometimes much later date with 5000+ posts lol... My only point was they couldn't possibly all be gems, not unlike this on itself...

I'm becoming a monster! lol

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

melodramatic Quote-Chain argument that serves no purpose

Samadhi

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

Due to Connection issues during this past New Life event, I've been spending a lot more time on the forums just moping around and couldn't help but notice the hierarchal Star system... ...

It is simply for appearance more than anything,
am into two rows of stars but that does nothing to stop me from being a forum troll
and does not give me any special position or privilege
nor grant any extra immunity or tolerance from the moderation staff when it comes to rules

If you are concerned about 'rank' then you probably ought to worry about Community Ambassadors having their special avatars

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

... IDK whether to be impressed or concerned but the amount of time spent in Game then on the Forums must be Ungodly when you've personally created over hundreds of unique threads and posted thousands of comments. ...

Neither,
we are just people communicating

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

... so I guess my question is just... Why!? How do you have infinitely more posts than I will ever have despite having been a part of the community for only a fraction of the time I have been lol... and it's not jealousy, it really is blatant concern... ...

Lots of forum users for games tend to frequent the forums at times when they are unable to get into game
it is not uncommon for people to use the forums during slow periods on at work, when logging in to game would be more fun but not an option

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

...Any time I see a commenter with 10+ Stars, I tend to shy away in attempt to avoid some melodramatic Quote-Chain argument that serves no purpose (like this post) other than just to add more BLAH comments to increase their hierarchal standing... ...

Again, stars have no impact on 'standing' on the boards
a person with two full rows can be banned just as readily as a new poster
it is just that people with more stars tend to be more familiar with forum rules and etiquette

unless you, personally, are responding to people differently due to stars, then there is no reason to concern yourself with them

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

...Any time I see a commenter with 10+ Stars, I tend to shy away in attempt to avoid some melodramatic Quote-Chain argument that serves no purpose (like this post) other than just to add more BLAH comments to increase their hierarchal standing... Which could be argued that is my soul purpose of creating this thread... But it's not... IDC because this hierarchal system has no value in the real world outside of Credibility among the ESO Forum community... ...

If you don't care about where you stand in the star 'ranking'
is there any reason to presume that others do?

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

...Did I just answer my own Question? Does more comments of little substance mean more credibility!?!
...

You, as an individual, can choose to view stars as an indication of credibility, if you so choose
there is no one to think anything of it aside from your fellow community members

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

...IDK but I need hobbies outside of Playing this game and constantly talking about the game I constantly play... But that's just me! ...

Same here,
hence my trolling up your thread rather than concerning myself with anything game related while posting in it

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

...I guess the point of this post is to ask that people stop making Filler comments (like this post) with no reasoning or substance behind it other than just to build upon their Soapbox Platform because I gotta say, I really could have done without all those "Lols" and single word comments... Just saying.

I really miss my LOL rating on the forums
bunch of crybabies decided that having some sort of 'rating' system on posts was distasteful
so the ability to click LOL on a post was removed as people were using it to indicate when an individual's argument or position was comically poor
as well as when users posted content that was genuinely intended to be funny

that would have been more of a hierarchical rating system tied to community 'status' than the stars
because someone could have a full row of stars, but received a bunch of badges from posting ideas that the broader community disagreed with

Nestor

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

Any time I see a commenter with 10+ Stars, I tend to shy away in attempt to avoid some melodramatic Quote-Chain argument

I don't have any stars....

But if I did, I would have 15 of them (16?).

Anyway, on these boards I don't see a lot of spammers just trying to get their post count up. What I do see is a number of people who are either helpful or like to talk about the game, or both. This is one of the forums where you don't need to avoid high post count folks, as they tend to have the post count because they are the most helpful.

Radiance

Nestor wrote: »

ajdawson18ub17_ESO wrote: »

Any time I see a commenter with 10+ Stars, I tend to shy away in attempt to avoid some melodramatic Quote-Chain argument

on these boards I don't see a lot of spammers just trying to get their post count up. What I do see is a number of people who are either helpful or like to talk about the game, or both.

While I do agree there are some helpful individuals, there are many who are not at all lol... But I do appreciate your reassuring positivity!

Paulington

Thankfully on this board posts don't add a lot to your star count, it's all about the reactions you get.

Just try to be a positive and helpful member of the community and those stars will come. .

KimberlyannKitsuragi

No, uncle sheo handles the comedy

SirAndy

Nestor wrote: »

Anyway, on these boards I don't see a lot of spammers just trying to get their post count up.

Posting does very little for your "stars", it's the positive reactions you get to your posts that make up the bulk of your "Points", which in turn determine the number of stars you have.

Verbal_Earthworm

stars have 5 points

Radiance

Paulington wrote: »

Thankfully on this board posts don't add a lot to your star count, it's all about the reactions you get.

Just try to be a positive and helpful member of the community and those stars will come. .

LOL with these pep-talks encouraging me to keep trying for stars...

I'm emphasizing the pointlessness of the ranking system because the Stars do not reflect informational credibility or relevancy but really more Likability or just overall recognition accumulation from a multitude of posts... I'm not trying to get stars, this was just an observational post... I suppose my issue was misinterpreting their meaning initially...

SirAndy

SirAndy wrote: »

Posting does very little for your "stars", it's the positive reactions you get to your posts that make up the bulk of your "Points", which in turn determine the number of stars you have.

To be more specific, i currently have 14,362 points which can be broken down as follows:

Insightful = 1,986
Agree = 7,251
Awesome = 3,800
Total from positive reactions = 13,037

The remaining 1,325 points (14,362 - 13,037) come from the 42 forum badges i have accumulated, out of which only 8 are related to posting here.

So really, posting a lot won't get you any forum stars unless people react positively to your posts ...