Alright, let's go over this update since it's pretty massive compared to the last few updates! So why achievements? One of the biggest issues when joining a new site is trying to figure out what to do. Normally when you create an account on a site it's to take part of some sort of social feature or to get access to special feature. Let me go over how users typically come to the site.


Most users find the site through online advertisements. Once a user clicks on an ad they are shown several of the site features and given an option to join. When they join they go through the normal boring validation process which has been spruced up to give it some color. At that point they are dumped into the forum with a small guide. They also receive a welcome message by myself explaining the site features as well. Will they read it? Who knows! So you may be asking, what do achievements have to do with this?


The second a user validates their account they are given an achievement! Because let's face it, outside of video games how many sites actually give you freaking achievements? Normally sites depend on some sort of level or point system. This works by giving the user points every time they do something on the site. It's a gradual change and you don't recognize it until you look at your points on your profile. Or they are displayed on the forums. Now there is a major issue with this! You can just spam points. You can post a ton of pointless posts on forums, create spam, flood. It doesn't matter, you'll get points for everything. It doesn't encourage users to explore the site either. It's simply some sort of number you receive that takes up server resources.

Achievements are not like points. (Granted you get points for them too!  ). Achievements stand out, they also encourage users to try new things. You won't get points for doing the same task over and over again. You have to try something new. And sometimes you won't even get points with achievements. In fact points mean nothing other than to help the user track their progress. A perfect example is a game like StarCraft II. I'll admit to being swayed by achievements. But many users completely ignored them. Many of your type gamers will have less than 1000 points while the casual player will have racked up almost every achievement known to man. The reason is they are fun and something to show off. But they aren't something to brag out. They are an accomplishment and nothing more. In fact you may not even receive any points for certain achievements! And what are those achievements? It's a secret. Hidden achievements will be continually added to the site. These achievements will not be shown anywhere on the site unless you unlock them. You won't know what will unlock them or how to get them. But they will be very unique and require a bit of effort.

So let's finally go into the nitty gritty! There are currently 24 visible achievements on the site. This number will go up as features are added. Each achievement is for a unique activity on the site with the exception to blogs. To encourage more users to read blog, users will receive achievements for simply reading blog posts-up to a total of 155 points. Most achievements grant between 5 to 15 points. There will be no achievements provided for the number of entries you make into the database or the number of forum posts. This is because quality is key and by offering incentives users will be encouraged to add multiple low quality entries simply to rank up points. Instead users will get achievements in more creative ways. An example (this isn't a hidden achievement fyi!) would be to say post 10 characters from the same anime series or to add a comment saying "Over 9000!"

Be creating unique achievements it will add fun to the site and document your progress. Now what if you hate achievements? Well good news and bad news. Bad news is tough luck, you're getting them! Good news, you can disable the notifications. If it becomes an issue an option to hide your achievements may also be added. To access the option to disable achievement notifications simply go to the privacy settings.

With that said I'm going to bed! It's been a long and stressful night. I hope this will get you excited about the new feature! And hopefully we'll see some more activity from new users!

Nyo