Forum:Wiki Achievements

Hi, I'm Paweł from Wikia Gaming team. As you may have noticed on other wikis, such as Red Dead Wiki or SWTOR Wiki, Wikia has recently introduced an Achievement extension.

The goal of achievements is to help encourage people to make more edits and contribute to the wiki. They also help brand new people get a feel for what they can do on the wiki by showing them various challenges. Awards are only available for logged-in users, so they’ll help encourage people to log in when they’re making edits. You can see an achievement leaderboard here. Badges that you've earned and a list of the challenges that are available for you will also show up on your user page. Admins are able to customize the names and pictures used in the achievement awards so that they fit a given community.

Your wiki has been chosen by Wikia as one of the few wikis we would like to enable achievements on. Would you mind this extension being activated? Ausir(talk) 01:03, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Comments
I dont see why not, sounds like a good idea. we too are about to enact an awards system of our own with the same intent. Lets see what others think.  Talk 01:10, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I wouldn't mind either. It'll probably attract a few edit whores, but their work can easily be undone. It would be nice to have a persistent award system that users can check up on at anytime. Darkman 4 01:19, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, there's bound to be some achievement boosting, but it won't be that much of a problem on a wiki with many active admins, like CoD, where any such users can be quickly blocked. Ausir(talk) 01:23, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Good point. A long block should dissuade most from trying it. I'm guessing that's how the other wikis that have achievements have handled it, which is fine with me. Darkman 4 01:25, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Per Whiskey. This will probably bring more interest to the wiki.  Happy Boy T M   E 01:24, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I think it's a good idea. I'd love to have a new feature such as this, I think It'd be a fun thing that would attract more attention. Shotrocket6 01:25, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

If we were to go through with this, would we also enact the Medal System? Sac tage  Talk  Editcount Contribs 01:27, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

This sounds a lot like the ranking system we had to scrap long ago. Rambo362  01:36, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * There are some similarities, but the achievement system is much more flexible and customizable than the old ranking one. Ausir(talk) 01:41, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I'm liking this idea, it would bring some liveliness to the place and it also makes editting more fun, giving you goals and what not. (Though boosting will make it unfun, but that shouldn't be a problem with out admins.) 01:51, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I am also in full support. It sounds like a great idea.

Sounds excellent.nlmgr 02:55, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * Would there be any other changes if this "Wiki Achievements" were to be implemented? And will the "Wiki Achievements" affect anything else while they are in use? --CodExpert 02:58, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * No! That would make old users such as Darkman4 start over, and I don't feel like starting over. I would just quit alltogether, in fact. It would just bring about more chaos with people being whores and uploading images, and making idiotic edits and making a bunch of small edits instead of one big one. I like the CoD Wiki the way it is, and I don't like change. TheManOfIron (Talk)

Personally I'd like Chiafriend's Medal system to be used on our wiki ands evervbody has seen what they look like. Chiafriend has put in hours of time and dedication in to making this system and I would not want to see his hard work go down the drain. I went to the Red Dead wiki looked around then left, didnt do any editing and got 10 points for that. Strange system to say the least. On top of that I got welcomed. Anyway, bottom line is, I want Chiafriend's system to be put in place. The wikis Awards commitee will be better suited to see who deserves what award.  Talk 03:11, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * Yeah, Chia's awards system is great. Maybe we could use both? [[File:20755-Clipart-Illustration-Of-A-Happy-Boy-In-Uniform-Holding-A-Basketball-On-His-Hip.jpg|25px|link=User:Happy Boy/Special:Contributions/Happy_Boy]] Happy Boy T M   E 03:17, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * They're not mutually exclusive. One is automatically awarded for certain things as an encouragement mainly for new users, while the other is a reward from the community itself. Ausir(talk) 03:19, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yah, maybe we could use both. 20PX_SIG.gif  Talk 03:22, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * As for getting an achievement for not doing anything, the very first achievement is just for visiting the wiki for the first time - its goal is to show users that there is such a thing as achievements on the wiki and to encourage them to contribute. Ausir(talk) 03:23, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * I can attest to the intro achievement being effective. On the RDR Wiki, I originally went over there to talk about a user from there that was bringing trouble here. However, once I was done, I stayed for a bit and added some categories to get the achievements for them, even though I don't own any of the RDR games. Darkman 4 04:12, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * I can attest to the intro achievement being effective. On the RDR Wiki, I originally went over there to talk about a user from there that was bringing trouble here. However, once I was done, I stayed for a bit and added some categories to get the achievements for them, even though I don't own any of the RDR games. Darkman 4 04:12, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Chia's awards are given by fellow users and the system that Ausir proposed is an automatic system.  Happy Boy T M   E 03:26, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * What the heck am I saying? :/ [[File:20755-Clipart-Illustration-Of-A-Happy-Boy-In-Uniform-Holding-A-Basketball-On-His-Hip.jpg|25px|link=User:Happy Boy/Special:Contributions/Happy_Boy]] Happy Boy T M   E 03:28, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the medals would be awarded for things that the automatic achievement system couldn't measure, like exceptionally dealing with vandals or "good conduct". So they would complement each other nicely, I think. Ausir(talk) 03:35, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * If we implement this now, what happens to the users that are already here? [[File:20755-Clipart-Illustration-Of-A-Happy-Boy-In-Uniform-Holding-A-Basketball-On-His-Hip.jpg|25px|link=User:Happy Boy/Special:Contributions/Happy_Boy]]<font style="background:green"> Happy Boy T M   E 03:53, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * If we implement this now, what happens to the users that are already here? [[File:20755-Clipart-Illustration-Of-A-Happy-Boy-In-Uniform-Holding-A-Basketball-On-His-Hip.jpg|25px|link=User:Happy Boy/Special:Contributions/Happy_Boy]]<font style="background:green"> Happy Boy T M   E 03:53, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * I think they automatically get the achievements. 8-bit_price_r.jpg<font style="background:silver"> Poketape Talk 8-bit_price.jpg 03:58, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Achievements are awarded only for new edits after the activation, not for any past ones, unfortunately. Ausir(talk) 10:02, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

This might as well replace the medal system. <font style="background:silver"> Poketape Talk  03:58, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Like Austir said, we could still keep the medals for things that would be difficult to track with a program, like how long you've been here and anti-vandal work. Darkman 4 04:02, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Per Darkman. [[File:20755-Clipart-Illustration-Of-A-Happy-Boy-In-Uniform-Holding-A-Basketball-On-His-Hip.jpg|25px|link=User:Happy Boy/Special:Contributions/Happy_Boy]]<font style="background:green"> Happy Boy T M   E 04:04, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * Yeah this would be cool. It would simply supplement the existing medal system, not replace it. I'll support it. I also support blocks for achievement boosters. 11:42, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I don't support this. I find it unneeded. Also, on the Red Dead wiki, I just found it annoying having a little thing popping down over the page every time you get an achievement. This system will basically replace Chiafriend's medal system, and I don't think we should do that. Chia has put a lot of hard work into that system, and we shouldn't just throw it away.
 * If you don't like the popups, you can always turn them off in your preferences. And this will not replace the community-awarded medal system, but complement it. Ausir(talk) 20:32, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I have a Question. Do we automatically get the achievements that we should already have, like the join the wiki one?14:51, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * Hmm, read the line after Poketape says "I think they automatically get achievements." MarathonPro.png  Munchable901 |TaLk?  SleightPro.png 14:54, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Sounds interesting, I support this. Bleep-bloop!  Munchable901 |TaLk?   15:14, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I think it's a bad idea on this wiki. As we all know, we've emerged recently from many conflicts and arguments and "edit boosters" and people who blog too much. Getting points for blogging editing will give the wrong idea to many users and they may catch editcountitis even. I've seen this happen on other wikis that are in a similar situation and it hasn't gone down well. Many users do loads of minor edits or excessively blog. We can't go back into another situation like the previous one we had. I disagree for such an achievment system, this wiki isn't ready for it. -- <font face="Tahoma">Tigernose    <font face="Aharoni">Chat   •  <font face="Aharoni">Edits   22:39, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually, by mistake I copypasted an old version of the achievement list - in the current one, there is only one achievement for the first blog post, the rest of the blog track is gone, to prevent people from blog-spamming. Ausir(talk) 23:02, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * That's good, but you have to realise that some users here do edit-boost. I can't tell the future, but I think it'll be a little risky. I think we should go ahead with it, then if it goes wrong, pull out. -- <font face="Tahoma">Tigernose  Throwing_knife.png  <font face="Aharoni">Chat   •  <font face="Aharoni">Edits   23:44, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

So would every current user be awarded the "getting started" award? Other than that, I think this is a great idea. User:Beastly20 03:58, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

Achievement list and name ideas
These need military-sounding names and appropriate images:

Not in a track:


 * Welcome to the Wiki - for joining the wiki
 * Introduction - editing your user page for the first time
 * Stopping By to Say Hi - leaving someone a message on their talk page
 * Caffeinated - for making 100 edits on pages in a single day
 * Something to Say - writing 1 blog post

Edit track:


 * Making a Difference - 1 mainspace edit
 * Just the Beginning - 5 edits
 * Making Your Mark - 10 edits
 * Friend of the Wiki - 25 edits
 * Collaborator - 50 edits
 * Wiki Builder - 100
 * Wiki Leader - 250
 * Wiki Expert - 500

Pictures track:


 * Snapshot - adding 1 picture to an article
 * Paparazzi - 5 pictures
 * Illustrator - 10 pictures
 * Collector - 25 pictures
 * Art Lover - 50 pictures
 * Decorator - 100 pictures
 * Designer - 250 pictures
 * Curator - 500 pictures

Categories track:


 * Make a Connection - adding 1 article page to a category
 * Trail Blazer - 5 pages
 * Explorer - 10 pages
 * Tour Guide - 25 pages
 * Navigator - 50 pages
 * Bridge Builder - 100 pages
 * Wiki Planner - 250 pages

Blog comment track:


 * Opinionator - writing a comment on 3 different blog posts
 * And One More Thing - writing a comment on 10 different blog posts

Wiki love track:


 * Key to the Wiki! - Contribute to the wiki every day for 5 days in a row
 * Two Weeks of Wiki - Contribute to the wiki every day for 14 days
 * Devoted - Contribute to the wiki every day for 30 days
 * Dedicated - Contribute to the wiki every day for 60 days
 * Addicted - Contribute to the wiki every day for 100 days
 * A Wiki Life - 200 days
 * Wiki Hero! - 365 days

Any good ideas? Ausir(talk) 03:46, July 28, 2010 (UTC)




 * Should the edit track include higher edit amounts? [[File:20755-Clipart-Illustration-Of-A-Happy-Boy-In-Uniform-Holding-A-Basketball-On-His-Hip.jpg|25px|link=User:Happy Boy/Special:Contributions/Happy_Boy]]<font style="background:green"> Happy Boy T M   E 03:56, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * FNG should be fore joinin the wiki!!!!!!!!!!
 * OHEMGEE! I just thought that there should be like, this award for contributing to a bunch of pages with weapon caegoryies called "weapun expert" or seomthine
 * That would be impossible to track. Darkman 4 04:09, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, you can set up new achievements for individual categories (not subcategories, though). Ausir(talk) 10:03, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * NO ACHIEVEMENTS FOR BLOGGING. PLEASE. Can we make more awards ourselves? 11:42, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * How about "Wikian of the Month" too? 13:44, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * For the "Introduction" Achievement, should it be "edit someone else's talk page not yours? MarathonPro.png  Munchable901 |TaLk?  SleightPro.png 14:41, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Never mind that. As for Military-sounding names, what should we name them? I think the welcome is like "Welcome Recruit" or something. MarathonPro.png  Munchable901 |TaLk?  SleightPro.png 14:49, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * For the "Introduction" Achievement, should it be "edit someone else's talk page not yours? MarathonPro.png  Munchable901 |TaLk?  SleightPro.png 14:41, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Never mind that. As for Military-sounding names, what should we name them? I think the welcome is like "Welcome Recruit" or something. MarathonPro.png  Munchable901 |TaLk?  SleightPro.png 14:49, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I have an idea for award names:

Not in a track:


 * Joining the fight - for joining the wiki
 * FNG - editing your user page for the first time
 * Radio Op - leaving someone a message on their talk page
 * Fully loaded - for making 100 edits on pages in a single day
 * War journal - writing 1 blog post

Edit track:


 * Training - 1 mainspace edit
 * The first fight - 5 edits
 * Changing history - 10 edits
 * Finished training - 25 edits
 * Promotion - 50 edits
 * Marksmain n - 100
 * SSDD - 250
 * Warfighter - 500

Pictures track:


 * Camera Operator I - adding 1 picture to an article
 * Camera Operator II - 5 pictures
 * Camera Operator III - 10 pictures
 * Camera Operator IV - 25 pictures
 * Camera Operator V - 50 pictures
 * Camera Operator VI - 100 pictures
 * Camera Operator VII - 250 pictures
 * Camera Operator VIII - 500 pictures

Categories track:


 * Making contact - adding 1 article page to a category
 * Finding a trail - 5 pages
 * Scout - 10 pages
 * Spotter - 25 pages
 * Overwatch - 50 pages
 * Runner - 100 pages
 * Lead the way - 250 pages

Blog comment track:


 * Battleplan I - writing a comment on 3 different blog posts
 * Battleplan II- writing a comment on 10 different blog posts

Wiki love track:


 * Newbie - Contribute to the wiki every day for 5 days in a row
 * Replacement - Contribute to the wiki every day for 14 days
 * Rookie - Contribute to the wiki every day for 30 days
 * Purple Heart - Contribute to the wiki every day for 60 days
 * Medal of Honor - Contribute to the wiki every day for 100 days
 * Veteran - 200 days
 * Prestige - 365 days

Just some ideas. --CodExpert 20:51, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Very Nice CE, very nice! <font color="Green"> Talk 20:54, July 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * Well, I think some more unique names for the picture track would be better than just 8 levels of Camera Operator. :) Aside from that, nice. Ausir(talk) 21:13, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * It's rather hard thinking of something like that. :P And thank you. --CodExpert 21:18, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Examples
look at the resistance,Dead Rising, or naughty bear wiki, those are the achievments.  ŖЁĠÍ§Ť3ŔẼĎ ₵ΘИ†®|฿ŪŢÖṜ  Hi   04:09, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Concern - say I've got 500 mainspace edits. Then achievements are activated and one achievment is: Get 500 Mainspace Edits. Would I unlock it immediately, or would I have to make an additional number of edits?
 * You'd have to make additional edits. Edits before activation of this extension won't be counted. Ausir(talk) 21:14, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

I don't like the sound of that - that means that people will not exactly be rewarded for any past actions at all. Can edits before activation be counted?
 * Not really, the extension tracks new edits that are made after it's on, but it can't count past edits (especially since it would have to differentiate between past edits that added images, categories, etc. to the wiki, which would be hard to do). The previously active users can still be awarded the community-given medals for their pre-achievement activity, though. Ausir(talk) 22:16, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Stupid question. If a users edit is undone by a different user, will the original users edit still count or is it erased from his edit count? <font color="Green"> Talk 22:53, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * It will still count. Still, if the edit was vandalism or something like that, the user will likely be blocked anyways. Ausir(talk) 23:03, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

The title tracks are nice, but...
...please don't mention anything about blogs. I admire how the achievements are spread across different areas of the wiki that need improvement. I believe that bad edits can be easily reverted and we should always remember to assume good faith, and that this can co-exist with our current medal system. Blogs, however, have a very bad history on CODWiki, and I think handing out achievement points for something that is currently seen as primarily a social activity is not in the interests of the wiki. Though there are only two achievements for blog commenting, I'd rather not see it in the list, as our bloggers don't use them for what they are thematically intended to be. This also compounds with the Edit track: if it's based off the number on our userpages, it's a terrible indication of involvement in the wiki, as many users can accumulate thousands of edits without making any contributions to the wiki, simply by living on blogs. --Scottie theNerd 06:50, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

That is a very good point indeed, and I strongly agree with Scottie. <font color="Green"> Talk 07:18, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * The edit track is for edits to articles only. As for the blog achievements, there are only 3 of these, I don't think it will be that much of a problem. By the way, have you guys thought of using blogs for news like we do at The Vault? This has definitely increased the number of "good" blog posts compared to crappy ones there. Ausir(talk) 10:27, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * I anticipated that the edit count would only consider mainspace. While there's not much we can do about it, I've been trying to raise awareness about overrating mainspace edits. While the spirit of the achievement is there (and as far as I'm concerned, I like the scheme), I feel that having a system that rewards solely on the quantity of edits rather than the quality will drive a division between editors who dedicate more time to write comprehensive contributions (or contribute elsewhere, such as the forum and talk pages), and those who will accumulate massive edit counts with minor changes (vandalism reverts, punctuation fixes, etc.).
 * Regarding news blogs, it was raised by the community not long ago, and in fact The Vault was used an example in that discussion. That idea is somewhat floundering, mainly due to the prevalence of social blogging and opposition to restricting blogs. --Scottie theNerd 11:48, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * Blogs at The Vault are not restricted in any way. Simply ones added to the News category appear in the news feed. Other blog posts can be as social as any of the ones here. As for overrating the edit count alone, I think that in this regard the system of medals awarded by the community will nicely complement the achievements. Ausir(talk) 13:08, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * ...which is why it is in my opinion that an automatic rewarding system such as this is not completely necessary. Aside from a select few, most of these achievements have something to do with edit count, which is what we have been trying to steer away from promoting. Achievements are exactly what they are; people want to achieve them. The system has no way of knowing how said achievements are obtained, but it rewards them anyway. The concept and idea are in good faith, but I am uncertain on how well it would be executed in a community such as ours. 13:46, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * Their main goal is to encourage people to register and people who wouldn't otherwise contribute to articles (or would do it to a lesser extent) to make worthy contributions. And I'm sure that the admins here will deal with achievement abuse just fine. Ausir(talk) 14:50, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * I hate to argue, but we honestly don't have much trouble with account creation here, and our community's size is likely to increase even further come this fall when Call of Duty: Black Ops releases. Additionally, I'd imagine the editors who currently sign up would have more interest in making quality contributions than ones that would join due to a rewards system. And as a comment, the current message when you visit a wiki for the first time appears to encourage earning more points rather than making quality contributions. 15:01, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't see a problem in giving this system a test run, and if it works out, keep it. If problems start to arise it is always possible to remove it (I hope).  15:10, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

"NO ACHIEVEMENTS FOR BLOGGING. PLEASE."

- Callofduty4, a bit up the page

Blogging has a horrible history on this wiki, and I'd rather we didn't have awards for spamming out dumb blogs that will annoy the crap out of a lot of us and start more flame wars than we need. I'm sorry, but I cannot agree with any blogging awards. 15:07, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

Comment - After a discussion on IRC I now realize that this achievements system really only creates distractions - something we do not need before the release of Black Ops. It encourages users making crappy edits for a badge, which is completely unnacceptable. Some of the awards even encourage blogging - something a lot of users do not want to see, because they become ground for flame wars, which are all too common with the new younger generation of users. I appreciate your help, Ausir, but I do not think such a system is as desireable here as it is on other wikis. 18:47, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

CoD4, you do not speak for everybody here. I support it. I mean, we can just ban any asshat that tries to edit whore. For me, reverting edits done just for achievement whoring is the same as undoing bad edits, which I do on a daily basis. Darkman 4 19:04, July 29, 2010 (UTC)


 * I know I'm not speaking for everyone here, and if it is implemented (which it probably will), I won't be whinging about it and I'm sure I'll come to like it. If we do see any asshats edit whoring, banhammer pl0x. Come to think of it, this could work out. It would be best if a set of "rules" are made if/when this is implemented, outlining that edit whoring and spamposting blogs isn't allowed.  23:20, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

How are we supposed to add 500 pictures? 19:06, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * By adding one at a time. :) Some of the achievements are obviously very much long-term. Ausir(talk) 22:36, July 29, 2010 (UTC)

Will the achivement system be able to be opted out of or individually disabled so that you not only don't get informed every time you receive an award but that the mass of medals seen at the bottom of your userpage is not visible to anyone—like the followed pages feature's ability to disappear? 00:46, July 30, 2010 (UTC)