Generating the ranking structure.

I think maybe we should start compiling the ranking names. The ones I thought of before are still the only ones in my head.

NoVice
Apprentice
Gamer
Conqueror
Master

Any other suggestions?

perhaps we should have Wizard as the top ranking, in reference to the movie that was a giant NES comercial

Hehehe!!! That'd be some funny stuff!

Maybe Derek can just customise the ranking and put up the name we want!?

Explain that. I don't really understand.

Well the ranking can be put for permanent, it doesn't matter then how much you post.Your rank will always be the same for example:

Nes-a-holic
Dutch nes collector

Well the ranking can be put for permanent, it doesn't matter then how much you post.Your rank will always be the same for example:

Nes-a-holic
Dutch nes collector

That's an idea. We'll have to wait and see what his opinion is, I suppose. He did however say earlier that he wasn't sure phpBB could use titles. I read the FAQ, and it seems that the 'ranking' thing goes by stars, if I read correctly. Probably similar to the ranking of the games in the NESfiles. So I'm not really sure how it would work either way.

phpBB as it stands now doesn't do any title thing. Some mod(hack) for phpBB might add it, but that'd be more a long-term thing if I can find one... As for ideas for rankings, they're based on the number of lifetime posts-- except me, of course-- I'll get a special "master of the universe" ranking for running the place...

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Derek

I believe we should hold a battle to the death for that title, I challenge first.

I think the fact that I can make anyone here go away with a snap of my fingers is enough to deserve the name...

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Derek

perhaps you're right... I retract my challenge.

It's OK. You can come up with similarly cool names for the ranking system!

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Derek

I was wondering how it would work. So can you still do a ranking structure where each person can have a rank to them?

Ranks will be based on posts:

0-99 posts: Level 1
100-249 posts: Level 2
250-499 posts: Level 3
500-999 posts: Level 4
1000+ posts: Level 5

Or something similar(looking for good names)... The title thing may happen someday, but I don't have time over the holiday season to research it.

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Derek

That's cool. Take your time man. Every body here wants it right, not quick, anyway. I like the direction this board is going right now.

Yeah, the place is growing pretty quickly, lots of good quality posts too

When I saw the "ranking" thread in the announcements forum, I immediately thought "Wizard" for the top rank, too. Ha.

How about a ranking relating to NES enemies/bosses?

A n00b such as myself could begin as a lowly Goomba, Koopa Troopa, or any low-level NES enemies you can think of (SMB ones came to mind because they're well-known).

The higher-level posters could have titles such as Bowser or Jaquio.

This is exactly the kind of names I want. Super Mario Bros. is common enough that anyone here should know what they are(versus enemies/characters from other lesser-played games). So let's get some names and ranks settled on, shall we?

Goomba - 0-99 posts
Koopa Troopa 100-249
?? 250-499
?? 500-999
Bowser 1000+

Any ideas to fill the middle? How about the posting ranks-- look acceptable to everyone here? I'm thinking maybe we could use a 0-10 rank to differentiate the one-timers who come and post and never come back from the simply infrequent posters that may stay under 100 for quite a while. Thoughts? Thanks.

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Derek

I like that idea. That's very annoying when people post once and just take off, never to be heard from again.

Anyway, some other names along the topic could be: Para-Troopa and Boom-Boom.

Goomba - 0-99 posts
Koopa Troopa 100-249
?? 250-499
?? 500-999
Bowser 1000+

I like that idea a lot, we just need to fill in the blanks and we'll be set the SMB theme works awesome because EVERYONE and their dog knows SMB.

Goomba - 0-99 posts
Koopa Troopa 100-249
Koopa Paratroopa 250-499
Lakitu 500-999
Bowser 1000+

?????
There are TONS of combinations you could use.

Other enemies include:

Piranha Plant
Bloober
Cheep Cheep
Spiny
Buzzy Beetle
Bullet Bill
Hammer Bros.

Agreeing on which ones should be used for which rank would be the hard part. We have twelve enemies listed (I think that's all of them except for Podoboo and Firebars, but I don't consider those "enemies"), so maybe even more ranks could be implemented? A rank for every 100 posts or so.

I think if all the enemies are included, that would take away from the "ranking" part of it. What I mean is, the Goomba is considered the easiest, Bowser the hardest. This has already been established. The reason the middle is more difficult, is because the enemies are in a similar ranking of their own. It'd probably be pointless to have a Buzzy Beetle and a Koopa Troopa both in the ranking system. Even though you can't beat the Buzzy Beetle with fireballs and he is more difficult, he's not as popular an enemy as the Koopa Troopa. Now Hammer Brother, that would be a great ranking!

Yeah, not all of them have to be included, I'm just saying there are more options than 5. There is kinda a "gray area" where many of the enemies are about the same difficulty and difficult to rank.

This is exactly the kind of names I want. Super Mario Bros. is common enough that anyone here should know what they are(versus enemies/characters from other lesser-played games). So let's get some names and ranks settled on, shall we?

Goomba - 0-99 posts
Koopa Troopa 100-249
?? 250-499
?? 500-999
Bowser 1000+

Any ideas to fill the middle? How about the posting ranks-- look acceptable to everyone here? I'm thinking maybe we could use a 0-10 rank to differentiate the one-timers who come and post and never come back from the simply infrequent posters that may stay under 100 for quite a while. Thoughts? Thanks.

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Derek
You could have characters like Mouser, Birdo, Fryguy, Triclyde, Wario, etc.

I think a poster ranking based on content (rathen than post-count) would be a more interesting choice. You could reward good posters for being helpful, intelligent, or entertaining, and punish bad posters for being opposites of those things.
And put the POWer in the hands of fellow posters (although the downside is that a system like this could be frequently abused).

"Bowser" or not, no one should be labled as something more special just for making over 1,000 empty-headed posts.

These are good ranking ideas, but it seems to be turning the whole thing into a mario based structure, when it should incorporate all aspects of nes gaming.

Well, the idea is to keep it NES-like, and nothing is more a NES icon than Mario. I'm listening to other ideas, but I think the Mario theme will be recognized by 99.99% of the visitors-- and after all, it's just a little name below your name...

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Derek

Goomba - 0-99 posts
Koopa Troopa 100-249
Koopa Paratroopa 250-499
Lakitu 500-999
Bowser 1000+
<snip>
Other enemies include:
<snip>
Hammer Bros.

Good idea... Fine tuned a little, but how about:

Goomba - 0-24 posts
Koopa Troopa - 25-199 posts
Koopa Paratroopa - 200-499 posts
Lakitu - 500-999
Hammer Bros. - 1000-1999
Bowser - 2000+

I'm not sure which is "higher" in most eyes-- Lakitu or Hammer Bros... Thoughts?

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Derek

If we do those ranks, then we should make a clarification key in announcements or something to that effect.

I think a poster ranking based on content (rathen than post-count) would be a more interesting choice. You could reward good posters for being helpful, intelligent, or entertaining, and punish bad posters for being opposites of those things.
And put the POWer in the hands of fellow posters (although the downside is that a system like this could be frequently abused).

That has been suggested, and I tried to load a mod into phpBB that does just that, but it didn't seem to work. I'll have to try again when I have more time. That can be in addition to this simple post-based ranking structure...

Agreed-- no one wants senseless posts, and so far, we've been lucky in that everyone has contributed actual content in their posts. If it starts to become a problem, I'll likely have to become a more discriminating moderator with those people or something...

Either way, there's no prize for being a 'Bowser', so there really shouldn't be enough motivation for anyone to post that much...

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Derek

I think the Hammer Bros. is definately more high ranking. Lakitu is tough and all, but the Hammer Bros. always seem to be more difficult. You can hardly ever just run from them, unless you have some sort of speed run record. Lakitu can be run from pretty easily.

so now that the system has been implemented, what are the rankings, and how many posts are needed to attain each rank?

I was curious how long it'd take for anyone to say anything...

Goomba - 0-24
Koopa Troopa - 25-199
Koopa Paratroopa - 200-499
Lakitu - 500-999
Hammer Bros. - 1000-1999
Bowser - 2000+

I still need pics for Lakitu, Hammer Bros., and Bowser. I'm thinking I might resize the existing Goomba and Koopa Troopa's, and add a small transparent border in the image to make them not butt up against the text. What do you think?

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Derek

Actually, do you think you could get the picture next to the rank word? I was getting confused with some of the members who didnt have avatars because it looked like that was their avatar. No big deal though.

Yeah, I was getting kind of confused at first, too. It's not so bad that it bumps up against the text, it's the avatar that it seems too close to. Maybe just a space in between the rank pic and the avatar?

Also, you were talking before about the people who come in and post once or twice then never come back... What if their avatar was the Mini-Goomba that floats around the Flying Goomba on SMB3?

Also, you were talking before about the people who come in and post once or twice then never come back... What if their avatar was the Mini-Goomba that floats around the Flying Goomba on SMB3?

I like that idea!

I thought the same thing. I guess I could try to hack the phpBB code to get it to work... I sure hope they don't have another security problem that forces me to upgrade-- I'll have to re-hack all the files I've changed already...

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Derek

I think it's good the way it is now. It's a good ranking structure.
Definitely the Hammer Bros. are harder than Lakitu. I remember always standing before them, as a small Mario, and they just won't stop throwing their hammers.

yea for sho........................take your time. Dont pull a Capcom and make it in 20 minutes

That was a good one.

what will be the policy on custom titles?

I don't believe there are going to be custom titles. I believe Derek (admin) said it would take a special program or something. I have bad memory. Must be the grandpa thing!

I don't believe there are going to be custom titles. I believe Derek (admin) said it would take a special program or something. I have bad memory. Must be the grandpa thing!

I'm not saying there won't be, but there doesn't exist any such functionality in base phpBB. I'd have to find a php 'mod' to make it happen. If anyone know of any, let me know. Thanks.

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Derek

I'm kind of fond of the way it is. We're like the NES military and you can't be a Sergent and just declare your title to be 'the almighty god' or something like that.

I also like the way it is now. It's ok without those custom titles.

BTW!!!
We have our first Lakitu (congratulations, Roth.. and soon NES-Luke).
But he doesn't have a Lakitu by his name.

Didn't you implement Lakitu yet?
If you need one there are many out there.
e.g. here:

Yeah-- still looking for a good Lakitu, Hammer Bros, and Bowser images. The one at that site looks kinda small, though... Can anyone do a clean emulator screenshot with these characters, maybe? I can crop them out nicely... Thanks.

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Derek

also, aren't the current ones from SMB3? I could be wrong, but at that size it's hard to tell...

Yes, they are. They don't have the sprites for Lakitu on either game, though. Maybe I'll take a screenshot and resize it to see what I can come up with....

Also, did Derek say he needed a Hammer Bros. as well?...

yeah, Lakitu, Hammer Bros. and Bowser.

Aren't those images the same size like the ones that are now used already?

Aren't those images the same size like the ones that are now used already?

Those images are slightly smaller, and the images I'm using now are already kinda small, IMO.

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Derek

Yes-- use SMB3 if you can. I figured SMB3 would have the best NES graphics for SMB...

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Derek

Shouldn't get too small.

It would be too bad if Bowser was smaller than the Goomba.

Those images are slightly smaller, and the images I'm using now are already kinda small, IMO.

Agreed, but much bigger and they could mess with the formatting, I think they're just good the way they are.

Indeed. I just took them at the resolution that the emulator screenshot was at-- I didn't re-size them at all. The Koopa, for instance, is 18x27. Typical icon size is 32x32 or 16x16, so keeping it in that range is a good idea.

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Derek

You should try to get Bowser (=Koopa in Japan!) in the biggest resolution. IMO it should look bigger than the others.