After two features you get Premium; after five you get Cartographer; after seven you get Architect? That sounds a little bit confusing but it could work. And I like the green rank idea, the site seems a little bland with only orange and red running around now ;]
no you misunderstand me. There are already people with 7+ features and a good amount right? Well, people will think things that are not true because they may think that you are just featuring their maps to get them the rank when they have already had enough. Get what I'm saying? also, i am in for the changes they are pretty sweet.
I am for these changes specifically because of the fact that I've almost entirely lost my motivation for Forging since attaining this status, and I feel that some other Premiums probably have as well. Sure, there's ATLAS to Forge for but I don't feel that very many Foundry maps are worthy of matchmaking, let alone my own maps. Giving the Premiums the motivation to keep Forging will probably result in a large influx of many new maps (hopefully some of which can become "classics" like in the old days), which can't hurt the community one bit. I personally don't think that more images would make the site look improfessional; there are bars under the standard rank images already. Although it may seem to some to be an "elitist" sort of ranking system, in my opinion the darkened bars aren't particularly noticeable unless you're looking for them, so I doubt that this will cause many problems at least with interpretation. The big jump is still from regular member to Premium, and adding the Architect rank is yet another big jump. However, I would like to see a different object for the background of the architect image, perhaps a Flag (like the CTF logo), traffic cone, Monitor, or some other Halo symbol that hasn't been used (unless of course this rank is meant to be a mere extension of the Premium Rank and not a new rank altogether).
Might as well call it Guilder. From the start Premium was a rank to replace the gap Guilders left behind, and I'm assuming, to quell the complaints of ex-guilders. Maybe Premiums don't get the insta-feature option that Guilder's had, but really they're the same thing and have the same elitist connotations. The whole, "I'm a better forger than you" and now Architect's "I'm a better forger than everyone". I don't see why most of you think this is necessary to "give respect" to people who have features. Isn't the feature itself and the recognition/praise of everyone on the site respect enough? Do you really think people like Cosmic and Matty are underappreciated, and that they need more respect? No, that's ridiculous. People like Cosmic and Matty are practically household names for forgers. They are already widely respected, so what's a new tiered ranking system going to mean to them? Especially since they'll automatically default to the highest tier. It's going to change nothing for them, and they're not going to care one way about it. Guilder begets Premium... Premium begets Architect... when does it end? When do we stop telling people who they should look up to? When do we stop idolizing an elite few, and actually become equals? Matty's not better than me because he's had more features just like I'm not better than other forgers because I made a damn fishtank, and I'll tell you one thing: One of my favorite forgers, a really talented dude who has some of the greatest ideas this site has seen, hasn't even had one feature here. But if I were to tell you his name, I'm sure a lot of you would know who he is. This is because ranks and forum images mean nothing compared to who you are. I'm sick of all this focus on the forums side of things. What does a stupid little image made in photoshop say about me or anyone else? Nothing. You are not your rank. Why don't we get back to Halo and forging, and drop all this pointless forums crap. Like ranks, reputation, post count - it's all the same, and it means nothing when we're all in a custom game together. True forgers don't need a new rank as incentive to forge. True forgers forge for the enjoyment it gives them and the enjoyment their friends and the community gets from playing the map. That's the attitude of a true forger right there, and that's the attitude of a member I can respect. I think voting yes is foolish. Voting to reinstate a similar egotistical and elitist state as the Guilders, is foolish. Guilders were abolished for a reason and that was to better the site by making us equals. What we should be voting on, is whether or not to abolish Premiums as well, IMO. Since they are nearly the same thing as Guilders were. I can agree to compromise with this. Put this way, it seems more like a harmless statistic on the member's profile page. Similar to the post count problem... which was solved by taking post counts out of plain sight and into people's profile page. This is my stance on the Premium/Architect issue. I won't go further into it in this thread, unless someone wants something clarified. I feel I've done my best to present my case.
I think you're focusing a bit too much on it being used as extra appreciation for already great/respected forgers and not looking at it as just more of a motivating factor for those same people, and just another set of goals. as much as I want to agree with this Thats not always the case. And while it should be true, and is for some, you can't assume that all forgers are so enthralled with forging that they dont need that little extra motivation. I do agree with most of what you said there Nev, but I can't help but feel that you're only looking at one side of it, from a very specific type of person's perspective. This is an awful lot of debate for a few extra rank images.
Actually if i could change my vote i would. This isnt a good idea. I know it gives people something to strive for after premium but they get praise enough having a map so great featured.
With 80% of voters opting for 'Yes', this has now been implemented in the boards. Thanks for debating and making your thoughts known - in spite of the votes, it was a tough decision.