Retiring Custom Badges

1st Official Post
  • AllKill VIP
    • Official Post

    Custom badges will be removed from the Akorn shop in exactly 1 week. They will no longer be available beyond 3/20/2021.


    If you already own a custom badge, do not worry, you will not lose them and they will remain on your account. For those of you who want to get a custom badge, you will have 1 week to purchase one before we retire this option indefinitely.


    There are a multitude of reasons why we are retiring this option. Some are technical reasons, and others are due to our future plans for aesthetics and collectibles.


    We understand this decision will not be a popular one, but it is a necessary one. Still, we are taking into account everyone's feedback in regards to all aspects of the site, so please feel free to leave your feedback below.

  • AllKill VIP
  • AllKill VIP
    • Official Post
    Quote from silver25

    what?????? but i've been saving akorns to get a custom badge. i don't have enough akorns for one yet, and i won't be able to save up in one week ;(

    Be assured we still plan to have a path that allows users to have custom badges - but maybe say win them in events? Join a guild? Etc. These are all part of the future plans that johnny is referencing and there are several moving parts. We have been rethinking how things work a lot taking into account the user feedback we get from you all. These changes are partly because of the discussion around pricing (as well as technical issues as already stated). Please be patient while we re-assess. Your feedback has always been very much appreciated!

    Quote from Ves

    Be assured we still plan to have a path that allows users to have custom badges - but maybe say win them in events? Join a guild? Etc. These are all part of the future plans that johnny is referencing and there are several moving parts. We have been rethinking how things work a lot taking into account the user feedback we get from you all. These changes are partly because of the discussion around pricing (as well as technical issues as already stated). Please be patient while we re-assess. Your feedback has always been very much appreciated!

    i don't take part in events or guilds etc ;(

    Quote from Ves

    Be assured we still plan to have a path that allows users to have custom badges - but maybe say win them in events? Join a guild? Etc. These are all part of the future plans that johnny is referencing and there are several moving parts. We have been rethinking how things work a lot taking into account the user feedback we get from you all. These changes are partly because of the discussion around pricing (as well as technical issues as already stated). Please be patient while we re-assess. Your feedback has always been very much appreciated!

    So the plan is "force people to join a guild"?

  • AllKill VIP
  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from Ves

    We are planning different avenues as I said - no one will be forcing anyone to join a guild.


    All the avenues you've mentioned mean requiring further engagement with the site. It's like dangling bait for fish. At this point, all people have to do is post, and if you're on these forums, you're probably posting because you care about a band or about music. Fine.


    But requiring further engagement (join a guild! do events!) beyond posting... it's your site, you can do it, but it feels predatory almost. You're forcing users to consume content if they want something, and I never like that. It's your site, do what you want with it, but heavy side-eye on that decision. I'd rather you say people just couldn't have them than make it into some sort of participation olympics.

  • AllKill VIP
    • Official Post
    Quote from aristophenes

    All the avenues you've mentioned mean requiring further engagement with the site. It's like dangling bait for fish. At this point, all people have to do is post, and if you're on these forums, you're probably posting because you care about a band or about music. Fine.


    But requiring further engagement (join a guild! do events!) beyond posting... it's your site, you can do it, but it feels predatory almost. You're forcing users to consume content if they want something, and I never like that. It's your site, do what you want with it, but heavy side-eye on that decision. I'd rather you say people just couldn't have them than make it into some sort of participation olympics.

    Understand that having a custom badge or not is not going to make or break anyone. They are free to post about bands, idols or any of the variety of topics that fit into the sub forums we offer.


    Badges are not something anyone has to have - buying them is entirely optional and not something everyone needs or wants (look at selfmate). Predatory is a very strong word and I'd be careful how you toss it around, especially since we are not forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to.

    Quote from Ves

    Understand that having a custom badge or not is not going to make or break anyone. They are free to post about bands, idols or any of the variety of topics that fit into the sub forums we offer.


    Badges are not something anyone has to have - buying them is entirely optional and not something everyone needs or wants (look at selfmate). Predatory is a very strong word and I'd be careful how you toss it around, especially since we are not forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to.


    I get that, it's not something that's a huge deal. And forcing further engagement is something a site admin might want to do (I never did it when I worked in IT, I think people should be free to choose how/if they want to engage) but it's a choice. Personally, I probably would never get one anyway, I'm anachronistic enough to like the simple look. But if someone wants to represent their fav that way, I don't think they should have to jump through hoops. And for a site that's just running a forum/news, REQUIRING stuff beyond just posting is jumping through hoops. Like you said, it's not hurting anybody, no big deal, don't like, don't participate. I personally just think that compared to the current strategy of "post enough, get rewarded", for a forum, it's a marketing strategy that lays more burden on the consumer than the producer, hence the use of "predatory".


    It's not about custom badges, that's not important. It utterly doesn't matter, do what you want. It's about how you treat users/consumers, the philosophy behind it. You can be cynical ("Let's make users participate in our events for rewards!") or you can be straight-up (posts=rewards). Do as you like, as you said doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it's a website, not life-or-death.

  • AllKill VIP
    • Official Post
    Quote from aristophenes

    I get that, it's not something that's a huge deal. And forcing further engagement is something a site admin might want to do (I never did it when I worked in IT, I think people should be free to choose how/if they want to engage) but it's a choice. Personally, I probably would never get one anyway, I'm anachronistic enough to like the simple look. But if someone wants to represent their fav that way, I don't think they should have to jump through hoops. And for a site that's just running a forum/news, REQUIRING stuff beyond just posting is jumping through hoops. Like you said, it's not hurting anybody, no big deal, don't like, don't participate. I personally just think that compared to the current strategy of "post enough, get rewarded", for a forum, it's a marketing strategy that lays more burden on the consumer than the producer, hence the use of "predatory".


    It's not about custom badges, that's not important. It utterly doesn't matter, do what you want. It's about how you treat users/consumers, the philosophy behind it. You can be cynical ("Let's make users participate in our events for rewards!") or you can be straight-up (posts=rewards). Do as you like, as you said doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it's a website, not life-or-death.

    I'm confused as to how this is treating users badly... Extra participation is just that - extra and there will be rewards above and beyond for it.


    They don't have to jump through hoops - they still have their avatar and signature where they are free to express themselves (as long as they don't break any rules) and those require no posts at all. It is not as though they do not have free options that allow free expression. You're making it sound like in order for users to be able represent who their faves are, we are going to make them join a guild or an event. That is both unfair and untrue.


    In addition, there are still regular badges for purchase and we are adding more everyday based on user demand. I fail to see how we are mistreating them or how this move is "cynical", but we can agree to disagree.

  • AllKill VIP
    • Official Post
    Quote from aristophenes

    I get that, it's not something that's a huge deal. And forcing further engagement is something a site admin might want to do (I never did it when I worked in IT, I think people should be free to choose how/if they want to engage) but it's a choice. Personally, I probably would never get one anyway, I'm anachronistic enough to like the simple look. But if someone wants to represent their fav that way, I don't think they should have to jump through hoops. And for a site that's just running a forum/news, REQUIRING stuff beyond just posting is jumping through hoops. Like you said, it's not hurting anybody, no big deal, don't like, don't participate. I personally just think that compared to the current strategy of "post enough, get rewarded", for a forum, it's a marketing strategy that lays more burden on the consumer than the producer, hence the use of "predatory".


    It's not about custom badges, that's not important. It utterly doesn't matter, do what you want. It's about how you treat users/consumers, the philosophy behind it. You can be cynical ("Let's make users participate in our events for rewards!") or you can be straight-up (posts=rewards). Do as you like, as you said doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it's a website, not life-or-death.

    Why is this an issue?


    Custom Badges are an option we want to retire to refocus efforts on different aesthetic enhancements. Users have a week to pick one up if they still want one. Beyond that, although I prefer not to, we may hold events for users who still want to pick up a custom badge. Not because we want to force users into running thru hoops, but to give a final few chances to obtain one before being retired indefinitely.


    You are thinking way too deeply into this, there is no conspiracy or marketing strategy involved in this decision. We aren't doing this to make users run thru hoops, but to make the transition easier since some users still want to be able to get a custom badge and are saying 1 week does not allow for enough time.

    I see the great ves has mentioned me

    Custom badges will be gone in a week I see

    People upset, angry, confused no doubt

    I'm just wondering what brought this about

    To me badges, custom or not are pretty lame

    You can put it in your sig or profile frame

    Don't worry people there will be future events

    To earn those customs, partake in such contents

    oooh nice rhymes.

  • AllKill VIP

    The one person with enough for a custom badge does not want one so why is removing them such a big deal?

    ❤❤❤ Micah Forever ❤❤❤

    ❤❤ Benny's Smoll Bean ❤❤


    Zn0vgbb.gif

    Quote from motorp77

    Honestly I like the idea of earning custom badges differently. Right now its just akorn and it fosters akorn farming and post spamming. If you win them during events, guild wars etc it would be more special and might be better overall for users who can't be that active.

    yeah for sure, thank god guild wars had nothing to do with spaming and was not time intensive :pepe-life-support:

    Meanwhile I don't care about this I just want Reactions/arcade posts to be worth acorns. I really feel like there's a push for us to spend real money (which I have shamelessly done. Lmfao) but a lot of users here are young and will have to like... post on their limited time and don't have that option. A lot of users are working hard to save up so I guess there really isn't a good middle ground here.

    I feel like this is understandable, as it's actually a human doing the work, and it can get crazy.

    Since you asked for feedback in the OP, I’d just add some here as I did in the previous threads. I understand that y’all are very busy with lots of moderation and housekeeping behind the scenes. I also understand that there are still a lot of groups to make badges for, but I think it’s frustrating for fans of smaller groups that still don’t have badges or groups where not all the members have badges to have the badges go away. (That’s even before you get to people preferring a specific era from an aesthetic perspective.) I thought it was nice that you could earn them by just being active even if you supported a less popular group. (Yes they are expensive but I get it as a form of CRM to reward engagement.) And since we were looking for the specific images, it was perhaps taking a little of the load off you to search for them? (I don’t know, just spitballing here.)


    While I don’t need a custom badge for my own faves, I do understand that for many fans it was something special they were really trying to save for because they’re passionate about their faves and could express their individuality, just like the different siganatures and pps.


    None of this will change your mind of course, and you’re probably thinking “lord this woman always has such long ass comments”, but since you asked for feedback, I thought I’d add a little.

    ..............................................................................................................perfume

    1a8e5b24bf1c6ccaa1e5bd8ca4a707841e1abe65.gif31addbb43f8bc3a9c9e7fff75dd7f232c5839f1f.gifd752226429a326c0a6d90dfff22926c1961158d1.gif

    Quote from ripia

    Those are too prone to abuse, everyone would just like every single guild members post on every page ... you'd be able to stack them up way too fast. If we could limit the amount of reactions we could use in a day we could add them, but its too prone to spam.

    As for arcade, well the section is basically a gaming section, a lot of posts are purely spamming.. counting to 10 thousand... last comment wins.. etc.. those dont contribute to the forum really and are more for pure boredom or something like that, the akorn system is designed for users to be more active in the forum generally.

    I wouldnt say there is a push to buy akorns, and they arent needed always, for example selfmate hasnt purchased any and is the richest member (typically) but ofc users can always just buy akorns instead of posting 1k times for 2 standard badges, but thats everyone's own choice to do so.

    Good point ripia! Change is just sometimes frustrating. I have no problem purchasing them, but I know others don't have that luxury.


    The choices you're making are there for the best and I get it. Its hard to find something that will make everyone happy also.


    The staff is doing amazing. Thank you all for listening to our feedback, and providing answers #ateam

  • This thread contains 21 more posts that have been hidden for guests, please register yourself or login to continue reading.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login