How Do You Feel About Thread Rewards?

[Sieglinde P. Krantz]

After talking with a few folks on the matter, I wanted to reach out to the community and see how the majority of the site feels in terms of how we handle TP rewards on site! One proposed change is to make TP rewarded on a per-post basis, instead of on a per-paragraph basis, like how it is now. Numbers are unfortunately something that goes unknown on the matter, but something that will be talked about if the community likes said idea. If additional ideas are to be had? Please leave them down below! Similarly, please don't hesitate to comment additional thoughts or concerns otherwise, with either the proposed idea, our current TP system, or thoughts on potential changes!

[Akio Naito]

Overwhelmingly in favor of per-post rewards, worth a potential secret third thing being some form of rewards for good RP/writing.

[Ruhe Krieger]

I'm vastly in favor of per post rewards as opposed to per paragraph, as it incentivizes writing more. I'd rather have a system where we have a tracker or something that gives you TP per post as opposed for a post of a minimum length or something along that line. I've been on numerous servers that utilize such a mechanic. Other than that? I wouldn't say I dislike our current system so much that it's a definite needed change. Regardless.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

From my perspective, both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. However, I believe that TP/post is ultimately superior as it limits the use of repetitive sentences and needlessly-complex paragraphs that don't add much substance. Moreover, unlike TP/paragraph, it prevents users from feeling as though they are not writing for fun, but rather to get greater rewards, which in turn sometimes causes threads to feel more exhausting than anything else.

With that being said, I do also believe that there should indeed be something to reward good writing. I'm not quite sure of how the quality of such writing could be defined just yet, but in so doing, the option to continue writing bigger posts will be there for those who wish to do so.

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

While I understand the appeal of just making a post and being rewarded X amount, I am admittedly fond of the idea that with per paragraph, if I feel inclined to write a lot, I'm rewarded as such. But I can also appreciate the idea of relaxing the "need", that some feel, to post many paragraphs to get a moderate reward. But personally, I think an alternate method to paragraph and post should be considered. If I had to take a stab, I'd actually fuse them. Up to 5-6 paragraphs it's X value for every post. As long as it contributes to whatever story is being told. After that if you do more, then maybe every 1 or 2 paragraphs you get bonus TP. A reward for those who want or just do write a lot and put in the extra effort. While having a baseline to allow for a reduced "need" to post on everyone given not all posts need large and many paragraphs to respond to.

Another thought that came to mind, perhaps you leave it up to the players to decide if when starting a thread, they will want to be graded in either a per post or a per paragraph manner. Folks that write a lot can still benefit while the opportunity is available to those who don't want to feel like they must post a great deal of paragraphs just to be rewarded adequately. Additionally, we could consider simply increasing the base rewards to acceptable levels across the various thread types so that folks can feel like they are gaining adequate TP despite smaller posts. I'll admit I'm not certain how much would be good in this case but it's a possibility that we could try out.

Honestly, and this may be a little out there but if the goal is to focus on quality writing and rewarding those whose quality is high, regardless of post size, we could always try a sort of competition or community event? My thought being this, every month we host a "Writer of the Month" award. The community can put up candidates in a thread for the month. And until the last week so long as they don't rescind their candidate they get put on a list. For the last week of said month the community as a whole votes on who was the best writer by looking through the threads listed in the candidate thread and reading what sounds interesting. Once all the votes are tallied the mods count them up and whoever are the top three gain TP rewards. Give some solid number like idk, 500 for first, 400 for second, and 300 for third. And then depending on the month we can maybe flavor the candidate thread by saying who wrote "x" thing best this month, like combat. Who wrote most emotional impact this month. Things like that. It's not a direct "change the system" that the opening is asking about but I think it could be a supporting system that both allows for more community connection and interaction, while also rewarding those who write well as determined by the community.