Blamph
District 13
- Joined
- May 28, 2012
- Messages
- 814
- Reaction score
- 5,107
Hey there everyone! I've posted about this topic a few times on the boards, and have mentioned it to friends, staff, and the likes multiple times in the past year and a half. This might turn out to be a long post, you don't have to agree with what I'll say, and there won't be a TL;DR on it, because its something I think the general community would want.
As the title says, I think it's time for a new Leaderboard System Revamp. Does this mean that the stats should be reset? In a way, yes.
So there has only ever been officially one leaderboard reset, back in June 2012 when MCSG V1 was released. The beta leaderboards were never saved, and everyone who participated understood what would happen to their previous stats because everyone was warned in game and on the forums of preeminent reset. Now, I know for a fact that I can't be the only one who was intrigued with MCSG in the very beginning when I came across the server, mostly because of the detailed leaderboards that were on site. I was new to Minecraft, but already addicted because I had the motivation and desire to claim one of the top spots. While there were no rewards for anyone who reached the top, those of us who has ever done it at any time in the past two years felt like the fact that we were able to even see our names there period was enough of a reward for us.
As time went on, it became tougher and much more time consuming to reach one of the top spots, and even top 100-250. In fact, you'd have to put in 4-6 hours a day to do so these days if you EVER want to see your name up there with those guys who might have been playing a year or so longer than you. I don't know about you guys, but that's downright harsh. It almost makes the leaderboard ranking system irrelevant, because there's hardly an incentive worthy enough to dedicate SO much time into it. Players need incentive to play a game, and these days there isn't much of one to play more than a few matches a day other than spending time with friends. Yeah, there are clans, and that's great fun if you're into being a team player, but even that doesn't have an MCG backed ranking/organized system of any sort anymore. There's little incentive given these days for the players who actually prefer to play in a solo environment, as opposed to playing with a clan.
Overall, players need an incentive to play on a server. For a lot of people, the leaderboards were and I suppose to a smaller degree, still are a way for them to compete. A new system needs to take form soon, and here's what I propose:
1. The Old Leaderboards
Generally the first question that comes up when the talks of a leaderboard reset of any sort comes along is what will happen with the old leaderboards. The answer that I've came up with is simple: Nothing.
Instead of deleting them completely, keep them in a sort of trophy case. Not an actual trophy case, but keep the old ranked players stats and the likes in a separate area on site for players to look at to see who the old top ranked players were. Those guys all get their glory, and are shown forever in the archive books, so-to-say. Not only this, but give the top 100 or so players a title on the forums, and a symbol of some sort in games in front of their names (this is done on the overcast network). Just like how Platinum donators are allowed to summon their pets in the hub through the egg. These players can choose whether to display their medal/symbol of past leaderboard achievements through an item in the hub.
Doing both of these should be enough to keep the guys who dedicated the most time to the servers happy. This WILL disappoint people who aren't included. But that's life. Said players weren't getting anything by being any lower on the leaderboards previously, and they are getting nothing now. Scratch that, they are getting something now: a refreshing and new chance to get to the rank that was once so difficult and time consuming to get to before.
2. The New System
The new system is simple. Instead of the leaderboards going on for an unset amount of time with no incentives or rewards given to those who make it into the top %, there are three leaderboards each taking in the stats of every player for a certain duration of time.
First, you have the Weekly Leaderboards. These are reset every Sunday at 12 AM. The top 10 or 25 players are each given a medal/title/symbol (whichever the uppers find more feasible), to show off in game. I don't think the top 3 players should get any different type of reward, as these are small duration leaderboards.
Next, you have the Monthly Leaderboards. These are reset at 12 AM on the 1st of each monthly. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place victors of these leaderboards will each be awarded with a custom medal/title/symbol that can follow the theme of whichever month that they achieved their impressive ranking in. The top 50-100 players of said month will also receive an M/T/S (medal/title/symbol) reward, just not quite as spiffy as those top players got! This can be built even more on, whether through the forums, or even custom items to show off in the hub, etc. I'm just trying to give out a basis for the rewards.
Lastly, you have the Yearly Leaderboards. The resets are at 12 AM on January 1st. The top 250-500 players will get an M/T/S reward, but the top 10-25 will get flashier ones. The top 1-3 will get really nice ones, and eternal glory! Yeahhhhh!
Edit: Thank you Alpha for reminding me. There would also be an "eternal" leaderboard of sorts. One that is never reset after this new system is put in. Unfortunately, with what I recall when speaking to a certain developer, if a new system was to be put in place, the leaderboards would have to be reset completely. So the old ones would have to be archived. Have an all time leaderboard is nice to just gauge the all time leaders and the likes.
3. A Room For Improvement?
Now, there is a lot of room for improvement in the reward category, as I'm not 100% sure what can actually be done. But I've spoken to many players who have all supported the system, and the fact that something needs to be done about the old one. There doesn't even need to be rewards given for the 3 part leaderboards if they aren't possible to give out. Just seeing a new system would be reward enough. Having archived months/old leaderboards would be fantastic. I'm putting no detail into a regional leaderboard setup, though it would be nice to see one again. I don't recall why they were all merged, but it's silly to have them together if the US players aren't actually playing against the EU players. It doesn't really matter though if this new system is in place, as its reward based. And the rewards might be obsolete after a while if they were given to the 3 big regions separately. That's to be debated though.
Once something like this is done, you're giving incentive to a LOT of old time players to come back and give the servers a whirl again. I know of quite a players who dedicated so much time just because they wanted to earn a top spot. And once it became unrealistic to put 6 - 8 hours a day into the game so they could hopefully get to 2k or 3k wins, they quit. When new players join these servers, I can't even imagine what they think to themselves when they see the leaderboards. I can honestly say that if no system was in place or if there were already 100 players with 2k - 3k wins, I wouldn't have ever put as much time as I did into the game, and I'd be willing to bet that a lot of the top players now wouldn't either.
I could go on still, but I'd first like to hear everyone's opinion on if they back the system I thought out, or if they don't. Any opinions are welcomed, along with fresh ideas, etc. I'd love to see the communities take on it, competitive players or not.
As the title says, I think it's time for a new Leaderboard System Revamp. Does this mean that the stats should be reset? In a way, yes.
So there has only ever been officially one leaderboard reset, back in June 2012 when MCSG V1 was released. The beta leaderboards were never saved, and everyone who participated understood what would happen to their previous stats because everyone was warned in game and on the forums of preeminent reset. Now, I know for a fact that I can't be the only one who was intrigued with MCSG in the very beginning when I came across the server, mostly because of the detailed leaderboards that were on site. I was new to Minecraft, but already addicted because I had the motivation and desire to claim one of the top spots. While there were no rewards for anyone who reached the top, those of us who has ever done it at any time in the past two years felt like the fact that we were able to even see our names there period was enough of a reward for us.
As time went on, it became tougher and much more time consuming to reach one of the top spots, and even top 100-250. In fact, you'd have to put in 4-6 hours a day to do so these days if you EVER want to see your name up there with those guys who might have been playing a year or so longer than you. I don't know about you guys, but that's downright harsh. It almost makes the leaderboard ranking system irrelevant, because there's hardly an incentive worthy enough to dedicate SO much time into it. Players need incentive to play a game, and these days there isn't much of one to play more than a few matches a day other than spending time with friends. Yeah, there are clans, and that's great fun if you're into being a team player, but even that doesn't have an MCG backed ranking/organized system of any sort anymore. There's little incentive given these days for the players who actually prefer to play in a solo environment, as opposed to playing with a clan.
Overall, players need an incentive to play on a server. For a lot of people, the leaderboards were and I suppose to a smaller degree, still are a way for them to compete. A new system needs to take form soon, and here's what I propose:
1. The Old Leaderboards
Generally the first question that comes up when the talks of a leaderboard reset of any sort comes along is what will happen with the old leaderboards. The answer that I've came up with is simple: Nothing.
Instead of deleting them completely, keep them in a sort of trophy case. Not an actual trophy case, but keep the old ranked players stats and the likes in a separate area on site for players to look at to see who the old top ranked players were. Those guys all get their glory, and are shown forever in the archive books, so-to-say. Not only this, but give the top 100 or so players a title on the forums, and a symbol of some sort in games in front of their names (this is done on the overcast network). Just like how Platinum donators are allowed to summon their pets in the hub through the egg. These players can choose whether to display their medal/symbol of past leaderboard achievements through an item in the hub.
Doing both of these should be enough to keep the guys who dedicated the most time to the servers happy. This WILL disappoint people who aren't included. But that's life. Said players weren't getting anything by being any lower on the leaderboards previously, and they are getting nothing now. Scratch that, they are getting something now: a refreshing and new chance to get to the rank that was once so difficult and time consuming to get to before.
2. The New System
The new system is simple. Instead of the leaderboards going on for an unset amount of time with no incentives or rewards given to those who make it into the top %, there are three leaderboards each taking in the stats of every player for a certain duration of time.
First, you have the Weekly Leaderboards. These are reset every Sunday at 12 AM. The top 10 or 25 players are each given a medal/title/symbol (whichever the uppers find more feasible), to show off in game. I don't think the top 3 players should get any different type of reward, as these are small duration leaderboards.
Next, you have the Monthly Leaderboards. These are reset at 12 AM on the 1st of each monthly. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place victors of these leaderboards will each be awarded with a custom medal/title/symbol that can follow the theme of whichever month that they achieved their impressive ranking in. The top 50-100 players of said month will also receive an M/T/S (medal/title/symbol) reward, just not quite as spiffy as those top players got! This can be built even more on, whether through the forums, or even custom items to show off in the hub, etc. I'm just trying to give out a basis for the rewards.
Lastly, you have the Yearly Leaderboards. The resets are at 12 AM on January 1st. The top 250-500 players will get an M/T/S reward, but the top 10-25 will get flashier ones. The top 1-3 will get really nice ones, and eternal glory! Yeahhhhh!
Edit: Thank you Alpha for reminding me. There would also be an "eternal" leaderboard of sorts. One that is never reset after this new system is put in. Unfortunately, with what I recall when speaking to a certain developer, if a new system was to be put in place, the leaderboards would have to be reset completely. So the old ones would have to be archived. Have an all time leaderboard is nice to just gauge the all time leaders and the likes.
3. A Room For Improvement?
Now, there is a lot of room for improvement in the reward category, as I'm not 100% sure what can actually be done. But I've spoken to many players who have all supported the system, and the fact that something needs to be done about the old one. There doesn't even need to be rewards given for the 3 part leaderboards if they aren't possible to give out. Just seeing a new system would be reward enough. Having archived months/old leaderboards would be fantastic. I'm putting no detail into a regional leaderboard setup, though it would be nice to see one again. I don't recall why they were all merged, but it's silly to have them together if the US players aren't actually playing against the EU players. It doesn't really matter though if this new system is in place, as its reward based. And the rewards might be obsolete after a while if they were given to the 3 big regions separately. That's to be debated though.
Once something like this is done, you're giving incentive to a LOT of old time players to come back and give the servers a whirl again. I know of quite a players who dedicated so much time just because they wanted to earn a top spot. And once it became unrealistic to put 6 - 8 hours a day into the game so they could hopefully get to 2k or 3k wins, they quit. When new players join these servers, I can't even imagine what they think to themselves when they see the leaderboards. I can honestly say that if no system was in place or if there were already 100 players with 2k - 3k wins, I wouldn't have ever put as much time as I did into the game, and I'd be willing to bet that a lot of the top players now wouldn't either.
I could go on still, but I'd first like to hear everyone's opinion on if they back the system I thought out, or if they don't. Any opinions are welcomed, along with fresh ideas, etc. I'd love to see the communities take on it, competitive players or not.
Last edited:
