Community Ranking

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
February 27, 2019
4 replies
136 views

Hi, Everyone,

I know it has been awhile since we have talked about our PTC Community Refresh efforts. I am sure you have been keeping up with Community Announcements where the general Community is informed about updates and changes in the Community.

We are ready to launch some more updates that I need the PTC Community Refresh Group feedback on.

There is a great discussion going on in the Community Feedback board about ranks, and it is perfect timing because the Community Team has a project underway to enhance the gamification on our community.

So, this is the deal....Level 1-20 (our current Community) is helpful but not very exciting. Unfortunately, some of our members have topped off and the backend formulas are so arbitrary that no one really moves very quickly (or at all). I think we are going to swap out the levels with a "themed" ranking system. I will "publish" the path so you know where you are along the journey. We will also be implementing a badge program so you all can start getting the recognition you deserve!

I am thinking about going with rank names that are "universal" something globally recognized like precious stones. I already mentioned this to some of the Community Champions but I wanted to socialize with this greater audience.

I was thinking about going for "game theme--like Rubik's Cube, yoyos, gameboys...etc but then I thought I might get into some copyright issues.

We have been poking around some other Technology Company communities to get some ideas.

Here are a few:

Alteryx--Space Theme

EMC-- Computer Progression themed (floppy disks to Bytes and everything in between!)

Verizon FiOS Community (Levels are for precious metals Nickel, Bronze, Silver, Platinum)

S

StephenW

23-Emerald III

My preference is the number ranking system. It conveys the information without fluff. I am not a fan of fluff.

The only other one I have seen that makes some sense is the NX community that utilizes a bar chart kind of visual ranking that seems relatively reasonable.

And that would be here https://community.plm.automation.siemens.com/t5/NX-Design-Forum/bd-p/NXDesignForum

T

TomU

23-Emerald IV

We've been through this multiple times over the last 6 or 7 years. Anything other than numbers (or letters) is not automatically clear on it's progression, especially to a global audience. I see no need or benefit to switching from numbers to something else. Unless there is some tangible gift given or privilege bestowed upon reaching certain levels, they really serve no purpose beyond just showing who's been around the longest (or posts the most.) Switching to some other level indicator isn't going to change that.

I would guess that the vast majority of people on this community couldn't care less about what level they're at. Most of us don't come here to socialize, we come to solve problems with the products we use. It just doesn't seem like gamification is the right use of precious limited development resources. (Fixing the CSS to get rid of the excessive white space would be way more valuable in my opinion.)