I’m sure I will get shot down for this but I really need to say it.
This is all getting a bit much. I’m not anti badges, but it is starting to feel like both being ranked as to how important you are to the community and some sort of data collection exercise.
Imagine some of the above are added, one person joins in with the game section and posts 1000 times but another replies to 5 advice request posts giving genuinely helpful advice. Who is the “better” member? In truth, neither is better, but one will have a badge and one will not.
“Post x replies in y category” type badges will also be very easy to achieve without actually contributing positively. It will simply result in quantity over quality in posts (eg “I can’t help but someone else will be able to” or “you’ve had great replies here”). This already happens with the “like stuff” badges. Also, it doesn’t take into account what is good advice. If someone wanted beginners anal advice, I could reply suggesting inserting a bullet vibrator. It’s horrifically bad advice, but would still count towards me earning a badge. (And if you are wondering why I chose that example, I’ve seen it recently in a review)
I fully appreciate no one is required to participate in getting badges and when the badges are things that are achievable by pretty much anyone however they want to use the forum, that’s fine. But when they become more and more targeted, it starts to get exclusionary (and a bit too “military” which is a little ironic).
There has been a lot less chat about sexual happiness lately (although it is starting to increase again) and it does seem like there have been a fair amount of people either contributing less or stopping altogether lately. I’m not saying this is anyone’s fault as there will always be these sorts of ebbs and flows, but maybe we could let some dust settle and let people get comfortable before adding more achievements and side quests.
Just how I feel.