A while back, I proposed an idea for RinkChat Tokens. It would be vaguely like the token game played at some of the RinkUnions and might be described as a currency for RinkChat (or perhaps RinkWorks at large) where tokens are earned for participation in the site and can be spent or traded. Here is that discussion, although be aware that it is slightly out of date now with respect to where I am with the idea. It also contains some interesting feedback, both positive and negative, from others who were around at the time.

This document is a more thorough outlining of the idea and a call for further discussion. Contribute your thoughts in the comments section at the end of this page.

At this point, I have basically decided I want to try some form of this idea. Why? (1) I think if done right, it will be fun; (2) I think it'll encourage different kinds of participation in RinkChat, keeping things interesting; (3) It will motivate me to *create* a few new ways to participate in the site (see below); and (4) I'm bored with the status quo. There are other potential upsides, but these are the main ones for me, with reason #1 outweighing all the others put together. There are potential downsides too, which I will try to ennumerate and consider below, but I also see this as a no-risk venture: if it doesn't work out, it's easy enough to stop doing it.

But although I've decided I want to try this in some form, I have *not* decided on virtually any of the details, and that is where I am particularly asking for feedback and ideas. This won't work if I just sit back and impose this on people, and I don't want to do that anyway. I want this to be something fun for most people and unpleasant for no one. So let's try to work out how it can be done best.

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What Are Tokens?

Points earned for participation in RinkChat and presumably also the forum and other communal areas of RinkWorks. They can be spent or traded.

A possibility: The system could keep track of not just how many tokens you *have* but how many you have ever *earned*. The former figure would be how many tokens you have to spent or trade. The latter figure would be of less practical use, probably, but a few uses are described later on.

How Do You Earn Tokens?

The system itself would automatically award tokens when it observes activity on the site. What kind of activity? There is essentially no limit to the possibilities, but I'm mostly interested on focusing on the communal part of the site. Here are some ideas I've thought of. Please contribute any ideas of your own.

• The main one would be simply for hanging out in RinkChat and participating there. You would get a small number of tokens simply for being present and active in RinkChat. I've thought a lot about how I might do this in such a way as to discourage (1) merely idling in RinkChat, so the system would observe you as being present; (2) typing in garbage, so the system sees you "talking"; (3) typing more lines than necessary, so the system might think you're saying more than you are; (4) idling, but popping back in every hour or so just to say one or two things, so the system thinks you're active for all that time.

  I actually think I've figured out a way to devise an automated system that accounts for ALL of these things. I won't go into detail, but let's suppose my algorithm works, and it unfailingly recognizes genuine participation in RinkChat. You'd get some small amount of tokens (say, 1-2 or maybe 1-3: not a lot of differentation, in any case) just for that.

• Tokens would certainly be awarded for forum posts or comments posted in any of the comments areas on the site. If your post is deleted, the tokens are probably taken back.

• Earn a token for answering the Reader Poll.

• I could set up an automated submission form for submitting BlitzBot questions, BuzzBot questions, TitleBot words, MatchBot cards, and so on. Each such submission would be worth some comparable amount of tokens (that is, a BlitzBot question, with answers, should probably count more than a MatchBot adjective would).

  I like this idea because it (1) allows all users an easy way to earn tokens if they want to; (2) anybody can do it; and (3) tangibly contributes to the community in a way everybody benefits from.

• You could also earn by submitting to the other parts of the site: Computer Stupidities, Things People Said, Book-A-Minute, Movie-A-Minute, Really Bad Jokes. Less conventionally: submit a name template to the Fantasy Name Generator.

• I would almost certainly be motivated to run RinkWorks Contests more frequently and award tokens for EVERY entry, plus additional tokens for the winners. I always want to run more of those contests, but they never seem to wind up as a priority. But the novelty of a new token system would certainly motivate me to run more contests so I could make use of it.

• Earn tokens for having a RinkAlbum picture. This could be a one-time payment of tokens, or a smaller amount that you earn for every week/month you have a picture there.

• Tokens would be earned for playing bot games (solitaire games would probably not count). Extra tokens would be awarded to the winners. UBT tournament games would count (a lot) extra.

• Earn tokens for playing Monster Arena or the Site Market Game. I'm less sure about awarding tokens for playing stuff like Adventure Games Live or Enchanted Forest, as those are solo activities, but I'm open for arguments to the contrary.

• A larger number of tokens would be awarded for more time-consuming contributions: (1) submitting a RinkWorks Graffiti entry; (2) creating an ad banner for some RinkWorks feature; (3) submitting a RinkWorks Comic; (4) writing a new bot; (5) writing an AGL game, either a "main" game or an extras game; (6) add a feature to RookChat.

  Not everyone can do all these things; however, contributions of this magnitude should probably be recognized and rewarded. And I feel like everyone can do *something* of this magnitude if they choose to -- even if there isn't already a precedent for the kind of contribution someone might be suited for (for example, if someone were to actually compose the "RinkChat Musical" that several people have threatened to do over the years).

• I would absolutely want to have special bonus periods when certain activities counted more than the usual amount of tokens. For example, one week I might want to offer triple rewards for BlitzBot questions. For some special occasion in RinkChat, extra tokens just for being there for it. This may encourage participation more than if the rewards were always the same.

What Could You Do With Tokens?

I'm sure there is a huge array of possibilities here, too, but I have fewer ideas than I'd like. If you have any ideas for this, definitely post a comment at the end of this page.

But generally, you could spend or trade your tokens, or you could simply try to accrue as many as you can -- whatever you want.

Below are the ideas I have so far for using tokens. I also have an idea for how to revamp the op system, but that is described in the section after this one.

• Tokens could be offered as bounties for services. I could set up a forum-like "requests" area, where people could post a request that some particular thing be done: for example, if someone would write a particular bot game, or illustrate a particular LaZorra typo, or Photoshop Dave's head onto Britney Spears. When you post your request, you put down the amount of tokens you'd be willing to offer for that service. When someone fulfills the request, you give that person those tokens. (This could be done on the honors system, or with an "escrow" feature I could build; either way.)

  Additionally, other users ought to be able to look at someone else's request and promise an additional amount of tokens. Basically, "Hey, I like that idea. If someone does it, I'll pitch in an additional X tokens."

  I think it should probably be a rule that this "requests" section would have to be only for things that pertain to the site itself. The token system shouldn't be involved in anything we ask of, or do for, each other as *friends*.

• Conversely, you could give tokens to somebody as a thank-you for something they already did. Again, it should be something pertaining to the site. But let's say someone made a Graffiti that you particularly enjoyed; you could offer some tokens, if you so chose.

• For a one-time fee, you could make it so your RinkChat username never expires from inactivity. (This would be what the /perm command does.)

• Some purely surface rewards could be purchased. I don't know what all these might be, but they might be things like allowing one to have an avatar in one's RinkChat profile, getting a username of a different color, etc. Actually, both of these thoughts pose technical problems for me, as then the RookChat code base would need modification, but never mind. This kind of thing might be doable and fun. Ideas welcome.

• Access to hidden areas of the site could be purchased. I admit that I am not necessarily enamored of this idea, as it seems like something I'd prefer to have more direct control over, rather than relinquishing to an automated system. But maybe some areas are more suited to this than others. For example, the RinkWorks Museum seems like a better place to sell access to via tokens than some of the others. Still, I'm leaning towards not making this part of the token system at the moment. Arguments on both sides welcome.

• Most token uses would be with the tokens you *have*, but the system could also keep track of how many you have ever earned (earned by the system, not received from other users). But one purely "for fun" use for this "earned tokens" figure would be if I invented a silly ranking system, wherein people could work their way up a hierarchy of made-up "ranks." For example, you start out as lowly "Cannon Fodder," but after you've earned X amount of tokens, you are promoted to, I dunno, "Cute Little Robot" or something, and eventually you work up to "Pirate Captain" or "Drunken Master" and so on. I dunno. Of course the specific ranks would be kept secret until someone earns them, as that would be part of the fun. Again, these ranks would have no practical application. They would simply be for fun and possibly a little extra incentive for earning tokens.

The Op System

One of the things I'm interested in trying out with a token system is tying it to the op system in RinkChat. Like everything else here, this is open for debate. If nobody wants to do this, I'm not going to force it. But I *would* like us to give some serious thought to it. And if we try it out and it doesn't work, we can always revert to the current system.

The reasons why I am interested in changing the op system: (1) I don't like how the current system -- me designating ops whenever I happen to think of it, via non-transparent criteria -- creates the perception of an insider's club. I don't think most of you feel that way. But there are, and have been, people that do, and they have a point. If I gave the burden of these decisions up in favor of a transparent system, this would be self-evidently more fair. (2) The people in charge of overseeing the chat room ought to be the people most invested in the community. Admittedly, this is a big part (though not the only part) of how I make op decisions now, but tying the op system to the token system would, at least in theory, do a better job of it.

There are a lot of different ways this could work, but this is what I'm currently thinking so far:

• Basically, all existing ops are stripped. (Actually, they'd probably remain for a transition period, but never mind.) When you have earned a certain amount of tokens, you can "buy" yourself an op status of the lowest priority.

  This amount of tokens would probably be (1) large enough that you really do have to be truly active on the site, but (2) small enough that you don't have to do anything exhaustive or ambitious or indeed any *particular* thing. I mean, if you're on RinkChat for at few hours most days, you really ought to be an op, even if you earn tokens in no other way.

• Once you've purchased the op status, you need to spend an additional (much smaller) amount per month to *keep* it. Thus, if you bought op status a year ago and haven't been seen since, you get demoted. (I tend to do this now anyway.) Possibly this additional amount -- dues, let's call it -- has to come from tokens earned, rather than tokens given to you.

  Or maybe you don't *pay* the dues at all, you simply have to earn some small amount of tokens per month to keep your ophood. And probably if you fail to meet that threshold for some particular month, it's okay: your demotion is only temporary. It's only if you miss for several months in a row (which would indicate you're either not around any more, or not active enough to continue being an op) that the demotion becomes permanent (or until you earn enough to buy it again).

  This "dues" amount would, as I say, be very small. It should be small enough that an op who has become only semi-active and/or takes a vacation during the month will still have WAY MORE than enough to keep ophood. This measure would ONLY be to avoid having people become ops, leave forever, then suddenly come back and still have op powers when they're really not part of the community anymore.

• After buying the lowest priority of ophood, you could then, should you so choose, opt to save for a higher op priority. The next level would cost more. It might, though not necessarily, have a higher "dues" fee, too. Tiering the op system in this way would (1) ensure that the highest priority ops are the most active on the site, and (2) offer an additional incentive to contribute to the site even after ophood has been purchased. I don't know if there should be a maximum priority you can buy, or if the prices should increase exponentially (which would result in an *effective* maximum) or what.

• I'm still going to ban people who are actively disruptive, aggressive, continually rude, or whatever. We need not be concerned that a small throng of troublemakers chat regularly in a private room for a month, gain op status, and then wreak havoc in the main rooms because, hey, they're ops.

• Note that with ophood comes the ability to moderate the forums as well as the chat room itself, so there is that to consider too.

Concerns

I listed some of the benefits of such a system at the outset of this page. There are potential downsides, too, including some brought up by other Rinkies when I proposed the gist of the idea in RinkChat some time ago. I've done my best here to convey the essence of these concerns below:

• By keeping a "score" that approximately measures your level of participation in the RinkWorks community, we'd be establishing a hierarchy where there shouldn't be one.

  My response: I am in 100% agreement that the token system shouldn't ever be presented in such a way as try to attach a number on each person's worth to the community. This would be awful. However, I see the tokens more as a currency than a ranking system. If person X has more tokens than person Y, it *might* be because X contributed more than Y, but it might also be because Y just bought something, or X just fulfilled some request that a bunch of other people had offered token bounties on.

  The one exception to this is the "ranks for fun" idea above, which would be based on total tokens earned, rather than however many you happen to have at any particular time. I see that as more of a competitive game than a competition for status, but if others wouldn't see it that way, maybe that's a good reason not to do it. But I think the token system as a whole will not encourage such a hierarchy. Arguments on both sides welcome, as always.

• It seems too arbitrary to say that you're officially a Rinkie after you've said X lines in chat.

  My response: Much as my response to the above, I agree wholeheartedly that one's status as a Rinkie should not be tied to the token system in any way. You're a Rinkie if you come here regularly. Period. So I am open to thoughts and ideas about how to set up a token system that does not express or imply anything to the contrary.

  I can certainly see how automating the op system is a potentially scary thing. If the system itself is fooled into thinking a prolific contributor is a constructive contributor, or that a quiet contributor isn't contributing at all, we have a problem. But if we assume I can write some code that will do a pretty good job, my hope is that the result, however imperfect, will be an improvement on the current system, as the rules would be transparent to all and the same for everyone. Again, arguments to the contrary are welcome.

• It doesn't sound like fun to be always thinking, "I have to do more stuff if I want to earn more tokens," and having to save up to buy things.

  My response: This objection is inarguable. My whole thought is that this would be fun. Also that it would make other forms of contribution -- e.g., submitting bot game questions, etc -- more fun by setting up a system of rewards for doing them. But if you don't think you would enjoy that, then who am I to argue?

  Therefore, I think the system, however it is set up, should be something you don't have to pay a lot of attention to if you don't want to. If all you want to do is log in and chat with friends for a while every so often, you ought to be able to do just that. That, after all, is WAY more important than anything else I've talked about on this page.

  At the same time, I don't see a way to make it opt-in or opt-out. The various things you can spend tokens on will be meaningless if you could have them simply by opting out of the token system. For example, having ops that I designate AND ops that people purchase for themselves feels like the worst of both worlds.

  So, to those who think this might not be any fun at all, I would ask the same thing I'm asking everybody else. Let's get the discussion going about how we can make this token system the best it can be, and then let's give it a fair shot before we give up on it. This may not work. I'm not blind to that possibility. But I think the potential is that it could really benefit this place in all kinds of different little ways. I hope I'm right about that.

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Contribute your thoughts below.