Community Champions

tinythinker · April 2016

Just a quick thought. Last year ZOS introduced Community Ambassadors, defined thus:

This program is a way to recognize those that have positively contributed to the ESOTU community, and made it a better place overall through constructive and enthusiastic participation. Community Ambassadors are players recognized for being helpful, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about ESOTU, and typically go above and beyond to ensure the community is a welcoming place for everyone. They can be a go-to source for new players looking for help or advice, and is someone you can trust.

Our Community Ambassadors will be recognizable via a unique forum title and avatar, and will support the Community Team by suggesting ideas to strengthen and grow the community. Community Ambassadors will not have special access to communicate with the developers directly, and their game feedback will have the same weight as everyone else. Community Ambassadors will also not have tools to action other community members, and are not forum moderators.

They basically get a special forum avatar and are supposed to be helpful exemplars on the forum.

Champions would be more like Employee of the Month, but maybe instead it could be awarded bimonthly or quarterly instead. To recognize a player who has gone above and beyond in a particular act to benefit the community in some way. No forum badge or avatar, no lasting status, just a one-off "Thanks!" from ZOS, maybe with some little prize like a Crown pack or ESO mug or something (like the giveaway items on ESO Live).

What's a little more work for the Community Management staff, right?

Uriel_Nocturne · April 2016

I want an ESO mug...

Zeni, help me by enabling me and my coffee addiction with a shiny new ESO mug.

Please?

lol

Fuzzywuzzy196 · April 2016

I think this sounds like a great idea!

tinythinker · April 2016

But what would they put on the mug? "I hate Morndas"?

Nestor · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

But what would they put on the mug? "I hate Morndas"?

They already have

http://store.bethsoft.com/i-hate-morndas-mug.html

tinythinker · April 2016

Nestor wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

But what would they put on the mug? "I hate Morndas"?

They already have

http://store.bethsoft.com/i-hate-morndas-mug.html

So the Community Champion system is set to go then...

Thrasher91604 · April 2016

I think more resources devoted to bug fixing and testing would be better spent, rather than this warm and fuzzy stuff.

tinythinker · April 2016

Thrasher91604 wrote: »

I think more resources devoted to bug fixing and testing would be better spent, rather than this warm and fuzzy stuff.

Sure, we should put the Community Management Team right on that. Sending out a mug every month or two takes valuable time employees like Gina and Jessica could be using to fix the code.

Recremen · April 2016

If I post the most in a month and also score top thread in the 6 inner forums, does it double my Rhetoric score and give me extra health to withstand the flamewars? Or is that Forum Emperor? I'm so lost, they need a forum tutorial or something. Also, if this is a thing, does anyone have a good Forum Emp build? I'm thinking of specializing in polls with something like 50% in thread necro, but idk, that might be more for the early 2015 meta.

Gidorick · April 2016

So you're asking a small, ultimately meaningless, gesture that serves no purpose other than to boost the egos of those mentioned that will inevitably lead to people pandering to ZOS' whims and opinions in a sycophantic contest vying for ZOS approval like a dog salivating a the heels of their master hoping for scraps of fat and gristle to fall from the table?

If so, add +1 to the agree button! Why not? doesn't hurt anyone and encourages people to be "helpful" on the forums.

I still think a "Community Ambassador/Champion" in-game tabard would be pretty kickarse.

tinythinker · April 2016

Recremen wrote: »

If I post the most in a month and also score top thread in the 6 inner forums, does it double my Rhetoric score and give me extra health to withstand the flamewars? Or is that Forum Emperor? I'm so lost, they need a forum tutorial or something. Also, if this is a thing, does anyone have a good Forum Emp build? I'm thinking of specializing in polls with something like 50% in thread necro, but idk, that might be more for the early 2015 meta.

Sorry, I sometimes have trouble discerning casual trolling from a genuine misunderstandings that prompt joking/teasing. Could you clarify which this is? You went to a lot of trouble to be clever, I'm just not sure whether the correct response is to take grimace in offense or smirk in good humor. I tried doing both at once and developed a muscle cramp in my jaw.

The tone of the forums has been heading into some highly reactive and unkind territory lately, so perhaps it is best to relax my jaw and smile whatever your intent, presuming it to have kind and generous intent with witty humor mixed in.

By way of clarification, I am not talking about a forum champion, although an extraordinarily kind and exceptionally helpful act here could qualify. Instead, I was simply thinking of players who help improve the game experience in some particularly compelling way. Maybe through a great guide, or a wonderful piece of art, or routine acts of kindness, or some other form worthy of recognition. My intent is to reward the many great players of the ESO community who put in time and effort to give others something special and to encourage others to do the same.

tinythinker · April 2016

Gidorick wrote: »

So you're asking a small, ultimately meaningless, gesture that serves no purpose other than to boost the egos of those mentioned that will inevitably lead to people pandering to ZOS' whims and opinions in a sycophantic contest vying for ZOS approval like a dog salivating a the heels of their master hoping for scraps of fat and gristle to fall from the table?

If so, add +1 to the agree button! Why not? doesn't hurt anyone and encourages people to be "helpful" on the forums.

I still think a "Community Ambassador/Champion" in-game tabard would be pretty kickarse.

So if you do something that stands out in some way and makes the ESO community better you are shamelessly selling yourself out to ZOS? It isn't possible for people to make meaningful contributions or to celebrate those contributions except through the lens of greed and insincerity?

I just figured it would be a nice way for ZOS to recognize the value of its community members and to showcase the efforts of players who create something amazing or act in a way that is laudable. Perhaps I am just naive about the potential for corruption and abuse with such a system, and unaware of how far people will debase themselves for a brief mention on the forums/ESO Live and a coffee mug.

Gidorick · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

So you're asking a small, ultimately meaningless, gesture that serves no purpose other than to boost the egos of those mentioned that will inevitably lead to people pandering to ZOS' whims and opinions in a sycophantic contest vying for ZOS approval like a dog salivating a the heels of their master hoping for scraps of fat and gristle to fall from the table?

If so, add +1 to the agree button! Why not? doesn't hurt anyone and encourages people to be "helpful" on the forums.

I still think a "Community Ambassador/Champion" in-game tabard would be pretty kickarse.

So if you do something that stands out in some way and makes the ESO community better you are shamelessly selling yourself out to ZOS? It isn't possible for people to make meaningful contributions or to celebrate those contributions except through the lens of greed and insincerity?

I just figured it would be a nice way for ZOS to recognize the value of its community members and to showcase the efforts of players who create something amazing or act in a way that is laudable. Perhaps I am just naive about the potential for corruption and abuse with such a system, and unaware of how far people will debase themselves for a brief mention on the forums/ESO Live and a coffee mug.

Never underestimate the power of tokens of approval. If you reward a group of people for a certain thing... there will be those that seek out that reward... and that can be counterproductive.

And I really DO agree with the idea. Showing members of the community that you appreciate them goes a LOOOONG way to building loyalty.

In fact, I would even expand it to include ZOS highlighting questions and the best answers from the forum.... this way ZOS is highlighting a helpful community member and featuring a question that others may have but have never bothered to ask.

tinythinker · April 2016

Gidorick wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

So you're asking a small, ultimately meaningless, gesture that serves no purpose other than to boost the egos of those mentioned that will inevitably lead to people pandering to ZOS' whims and opinions in a sycophantic contest vying for ZOS approval like a dog salivating a the heels of their master hoping for scraps of fat and gristle to fall from the table?

If so, add +1 to the agree button! Why not? doesn't hurt anyone and encourages people to be "helpful" on the forums.

I still think a "Community Ambassador/Champion" in-game tabard would be pretty kickarse.

So if you do something that stands out in some way and makes the ESO community better you are shamelessly selling yourself out to ZOS? It isn't possible for people to make meaningful contributions or to celebrate those contributions except through the lens of greed and insincerity?

I just figured it would be a nice way for ZOS to recognize the value of its community members and to showcase the efforts of players who create something amazing or act in a way that is laudable. Perhaps I am just naive about the potential for corruption and abuse with such a system, and unaware of how far people will debase themselves for a brief mention on the forums/ESO Live and a coffee mug.

Never underestimate the power of tokens of approval. If you reward a group of people for a certain thing... there will be those that seek out that reward... and that can be counterproductive.

And I really DO agree with the idea. Showing members of the community that you appreciate them goes a LOOOONG way to building loyalty.

In fact, I would even expand it to include ZOS highlighting questions and the best answers from the forum.... this way ZOS is highlighting a helpful community member and featuring a question that others may have but have never bothered to ask.

If the only way to get a token is to spend a lot of time making a great guide, or building a guild that fills a real need, or producing a fantastic piece of artwork, or consistently being (or acting) kind and offering genuine help and support to other players, or similar activities, then, well, the fakers who are dying for a mug and a pat on the head are still doing something beneficial and worthwhile, aren't they? I doubt many fakers would be able to go the distance and really pull it off, but if they did, I wouldn't mind if being polite, helpful and friendly broke out all over the forums, Reddit, in-game, etc.

Gidorick · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

So you're asking a small, ultimately meaningless, gesture that serves no purpose other than to boost the egos of those mentioned that will inevitably lead to people pandering to ZOS' whims and opinions in a sycophantic contest vying for ZOS approval like a dog salivating a the heels of their master hoping for scraps of fat and gristle to fall from the table?

If so, add +1 to the agree button! Why not? doesn't hurt anyone and encourages people to be "helpful" on the forums.

I still think a "Community Ambassador/Champion" in-game tabard would be pretty kickarse.

So if you do something that stands out in some way and makes the ESO community better you are shamelessly selling yourself out to ZOS? It isn't possible for people to make meaningful contributions or to celebrate those contributions except through the lens of greed and insincerity?

I just figured it would be a nice way for ZOS to recognize the value of its community members and to showcase the efforts of players who create something amazing or act in a way that is laudable. Perhaps I am just naive about the potential for corruption and abuse with such a system, and unaware of how far people will debase themselves for a brief mention on the forums/ESO Live and a coffee mug.

Never underestimate the power of tokens of approval. If you reward a group of people for a certain thing... there will be those that seek out that reward... and that can be counterproductive.

And I really DO agree with the idea. Showing members of the community that you appreciate them goes a LOOOONG way to building loyalty.

In fact, I would even expand it to include ZOS highlighting questions and the best answers from the forum.... this way ZOS is highlighting a helpful community member and featuring a question that others may have but have never bothered to ask.

If the only way to get a token is to spend a lot of time making a great guide, or building a guild that fills a real need, or producing a fantastic piece of artwork, or consistently being (or acting) kind and offering genuine help and support to other players, or similar activities, then, well, the fakers who are dying for a mug and a pat on the head are still doing something beneficial and worthwhile, aren't they? I doubt many fakers would be able to go the distance and really pull it off, but if they did, I wouldn't mind if being polite, helpful and friendly broke out all over the forums, Reddit, in-game, etc.

LOL! I love that perspective. I agree that if it gets ONE troll to turn to a helpful and kind poster then it would be worth it.

ZOS_GinaBruno · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

Thrasher91604 wrote: »

I think more resources devoted to bug fixing and testing would be better spent, rather than this warm and fuzzy stuff.

Sure, we should put the Community Management Team right on that. Sending out a mug every month or two takes valuable time employees like Gina and Jessica could be using to fix the code.

Yeah, you don't want me touching code.

Interesting idea, @tinythinker. Food for thought: how would the Champion be chosen? Would there be some sort of nomination process, or would it be someone we happen to stumble across during our forum browsing? Or something else?

rotaugen454 · April 2016

So much bitterness. I bet a lot of you are fun at parties...

Just to remind (some) folks, there are the devs working on code, and community reps working on the community.

tinythinker · April 2016

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Thrasher91604 wrote: »

I think more resources devoted to bug fixing and testing would be better spent, rather than this warm and fuzzy stuff.

Sure, we should put the Community Management Team right on that. Sending out a mug every month or two takes valuable time employees like Gina and Jessica could be using to fix the code.

Yeah, you don't want me touching code.

Interesting idea, @tinythinker. Food for thought: how would the Champion be chosen? Would there be some sort of nomination process, or would it be someone we happen to stumble across during our forum browsing? Or something else?

Well, people already submit art to you or you find it somehow for ESO Live. People already make great videos that you guys end up tweeting out. And so on. So, you've already got a line on things to start with. Of course, players could always send you messages to point out player activity that is worth looking at, which would make it that much easier for you to share with the broader ESO community and the public whether or not a particular thing is chosen for recognition.

I tried to give broad criteria so that people who don't make detailed guides or run guilds can still be considered, hence my mentioning of things like artwork, so really it can be anything. Funny videos. Amazing fan-fiction that people should be reading. A super friendly stream that answers lots of players from new players and those considering joining ESO. A fabulously elaborate role-play event that took lots of planning to pull off. It just has to be something that takes some effort and somehow enriches the community, so it's just whatever talent and interest players who want to contribute happen to have. If Eloa goes out of her way to be nice to one person and they nominate her with some story of what she did, for example, great, but she may not get the prize. If she gets nominated on and off over a month or more for being a real menche in-game, she would have much greater consideration.

And since it would involve some really small prize, if you have two or three great candidates for a particular time period (whether it's once a month, once every two months, once every three months, etc), you could even have more than one featured. I guess the idea isn't to put certain players on a pedestal of glory and honor but just to try to catch people doing something right that makes being a part of ESO better and giving them a shout out.

That said, if "Champion" is too strong or dramatic some other title would work just as well. Maybe "Community Contributor". I guess it depends. Maybe there could be some less spectacular title for the monthly (or bimonthly, or trimonthly) awards and then each year during anniversary week someone from that list of Contributors from the previous 12 months could be chosen for the title of Community Champion or Hero or some such in a random drawing and get a more substantial reward. In that scheme to make it fair you could only be recognized once per year for being a Contributor and if you've received the annual Champion/Hero title you are retired from all future consideration. If you've been featured in a previous year as a Contributor you can get it again in a different year but you would have to branch out and do something new and something different rather than just the same (kind of) thing that got you noticed before.

Well, that's one way to do it anyway.

Thrasher91604 · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

Thrasher91604 wrote: »

I think more resources devoted to bug fixing and testing would be better spent, rather than this warm and fuzzy stuff.

Sure, we should put the Community Management Team right on that. Sending out a mug every month or two takes valuable time employees like Gina and Jessica could be using to fix the code.

Well that's an incredibly stupid idea. I'd rather they spend more time answering questions about bugs and plans for fixing them rather than this fluff. They seem to have their hands full already based on the many unanswered posts.

tinythinker · April 2016

Thrasher91604 wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Thrasher91604 wrote: »

I think more resources devoted to bug fixing and testing would be better spent, rather than this warm and fuzzy stuff.

Sure, we should put the Community Management Team right on that. Sending out a mug every month or two takes valuable time employees like Gina and Jessica could be using to fix the code.

Well that's an incredibly stupid idea. I'd rather they spend more time answering questions about bugs and plans for fixing them rather than this fluff. They seem to have their hands full already based on the many unanswered posts.

Fair enough. I don't claim my ideas are good, only that they are mine. Others such as yourself and whoever else cares to comment can figure out how good or bad the idea is

I can appreciate your frustration, I just felt like there might be a way to highlight the efforts of players who aren't necessarily popular forum posters, streamers, etc, but I don't expect everyone to like the concept or feel that it's worth pursuing.

Recremen · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

If I post the most in a month and also score top thread in the 6 inner forums, does it double my Rhetoric score and give me extra health to withstand the flamewars? Or is that Forum Emperor? I'm so lost, they need a forum tutorial or something. Also, if this is a thing, does anyone have a good Forum Emp build? I'm thinking of specializing in polls with something like 50% in thread necro, but idk, that might be more for the early 2015 meta.

Sorry, I sometimes have trouble discerning casual trolling from a genuine misunderstandings that prompt joking/teasing. Could you clarify which this is? You went to a lot of trouble to be clever, I'm just not sure whether the correct response is to take grimace in offense or smirk in good humor. I tried doing both at once and developed a muscle cramp in my jaw. The tone of the forums has been heading into some highly reactive and unkind territory lately, so perhaps it is best to relax my jaw and smile whatever your intent, presuming it to have kind and generous intent with witty humor mixed in.

By way of clarification, I am not talking about a forum champion, although an extraordinarily kind and exceptionally helpful act here could qualify. Instead, I was simply thinking of players who help improve the game experience in some particularly compelling way. Maybe through a great guide, or a wonderful piece of art, or routine acts of kindness, or some other form worthy of recognition. My intent is to reward the many great players of the ESO community who put in time and effort to give others something special and to encourage others to do the same.

Sorry for the confusion, I was only joking!! I like your idea a lot.

Bossdonut · April 2016

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Thrasher91604 wrote: »

I think more resources devoted to bug fixing and testing would be better spent, rather than this warm and fuzzy stuff.

Sure, we should put the Community Management Team right on that. Sending out a mug every month or two takes valuable time employees like Gina and Jessica could be using to fix the code.

Yeah, you don't want me touching code.

Interesting idea, @tinythinker. Food for thought: how would the Champion be chosen? Would there be some sort of nomination process, or would it be someone we happen to stumble across during our forum browsing? Or something else?

Purchasable in crown store.

Sordidfairytale · April 2016

Gidorick wrote: »

...

I still think a "Community Ambassador/Champion" in-game tabard would be pretty kickarse.

...

Asheron's Call had something ingame, though since they were unpaid volunteers there were some legal problems that forced them to retire the system.

http://asheron.wikia.com/wiki/Strathelar's_Order_of_Advocates

I LIKE the idea of the ambassadors (and champions), though I feel that they aren't doing enough on the forums, you do see several posts and questions that have previously been answered by the Official community and that's where these ambassadors should be concentrating their efforts IMO. To answer these questions on a semi official basis. To point the person asking the question in the proper direction. I don't see enough of that happening right now with the current ambassador system, so I don't know what adding more on that could accomplish.

Dev recognition of forum personalities does go a long way towards building and nurturing a community. I think Natch Potes is an excellent example of this. However you are going to get someone standing on the couch holding their bowl of cereal moaning favoritism because they didn't get recognized but yet someone else did or osmenthe. It's just going to happen.

As a previous unpaid moderator for an unofficial gaming forum, I do not envy the mods here one bit. Not one tiny bit. But I do appreciate them.

menedhyn · April 2016

This idea sounds interesting and with a bit more thought might work. I too was a moderator of a gaming forum many years back and so have nothing but respect for the work the moderators do here. You absolutely can not and will not please everyone, no matter how hard you try.

If nothing else, credit to the OP for trying to come up with a positive idea for the benefit of the community.

Gargath · April 2016

I like the idea that is closer to GuildWars2, where some best players are scouting maps with their respective champion icons, asking others if they are in need of any help. They are well recognized because they have not only special rank but an own icon so their movement is tracked on map.

hrothbern · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

Just a quick thought. Last year ZOS introduced Community Ambassadors, defined thus:

This program is a way to recognize those that have positively contributed to the ESOTU community, and made it a better place overall through constructive and enthusiastic participation. Community Ambassadors are players recognized for being helpful, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about ESOTU, and typically go above and beyond to ensure the community is a welcoming place for everyone. They can be a go-to source for new players looking for help or advice, and is someone you can trust.

Our Community Ambassadors will be recognizable via a unique forum title and avatar, and will support the Community Team by suggesting ideas to strengthen and grow the community. Community Ambassadors will not have special access to communicate with the developers directly, and their game feedback will have the same weight as everyone else. Community Ambassadors will also not have tools to action other community members, and are not forum moderators.

They basically get a special forum avatar and are supposed to be helpful exemplars on the forum.

Champions would be more like Employee of the Month, but maybe instead it could be awarded bimonthly or quarterly instead. To recognize a player who has gone above and beyond in a particular act to benefit the community in some way. No forum badge or avatar, no lasting status, just a one-off "Thanks!" from ZOS, maybe with some little prize like a Crown pack or ESO mug or something (like the giveaway items on ESO Live).

What's a little more work for the Community Management staff, right?

@tinythinker , I think this is in general a wonderfull suggestion

I favor as well that this reward mechanism should be embedded in the already set up Community Ambassadors system.

What I would like to add:

"you get what you reward !"
I see much value in it, if it is also publicly shown, here on the Forum, which posts were judged to contribute to Players helping and sharing knowledge to play the game better and more enjoyable.
This will hopefully move the general atmospere of the Forum a bit more in a constructive direction.

I think that small gadget gifts, to people contributing, are for that person a personal satisfaction for the good deed done. In real life such small gifts do work very well as a tangible token of acknowledgement and appreciation

For the direct encouraging postive effect on the Forum, I would favor to add an "informative" button, that only Community Ambassadors and devs/mods can push. The number of times this button was pushed shows up publicly at every post together with the "insightful", "agree" and "awesome".
It can ofc be seen as a kind of "soft lurk" of the devs, and in some cases this is nice if a bug or something else is described in an articulated way. But it will always be a mix of Community Ambassadors and ZOS employees.

Another minor suggestion, along the same lines, that I would favor, is that mods change "discussion threads" into "question threads" where the threads are really (often simple) questions and not aimed at a discussion.
This gives the OP the possibility to tag the posts that were really helpfull and could also help avoiding that a simple practical question is completely overgrown by some discussion that does not contribute to the OP's question.

The points gathered from the number of "informatives" and "questions answered" can then be used (weighted ?) to make an internal list up of forum members for the gadget gifts.

sirinsidiator · April 2016

Maybe you could also include addon authors into this pool of possible "Community Champions"?
We are an endangered species. There are not many left that will maintain popular addons. This may help bring some fresh blood to help take care of existing addons.

SantieClaws · April 2016

This one is all for the idea of many champions and it does no harm sometimes in making a community stronger to draw attention to some of the more useful and interesting participants.

However this one does not want any elves to win. Only khajiit are meant to have ears that point skywards!

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

sirinsidiator · April 2016

You should be careful with your words Santie. Otherwise you may get your tail caught in a door some day. Stealing the teeth of some human king I can accept, but trying to steal the glory from the superior Dunmer crosses a line.

SantieClaws · April 2016

By King Emerics false teeth! (which this one keeps safely in the bank with her naughty picture books)

Is it superior to have had all your fur burnt off and your eyes go the colour of a tail that has been caught in a door? You don't even have any nice big strong killing teeth. You are like weak grey kittens with an eye infection.

Khajiit are always the most beautiful and wise of all the people of Tamriel.

All champions should be khajiit.

Yours with her tail safely tucked away
Santie Claws

(hiding under a box where you can't find me now)

sirinsidiator · April 2016

Who would want to have hair all over their body? Sounds really unhygienic and uncomfortable.
Spouting big words and then hiding away is all you uncultured flea bitten cats amount to.

No Khajiit should be allowed to be called a Champion.