Expert Community gamification features explained

Alexandru_BD

You may have noticed by now that you can achieve different ranks within the community, depending on the amount of points that you've accumulated. This rank will be displayed on your profile next to your username whenever you post.

Gamification works as a points based program and there is a set of interconnected elements shaping it. Let’s dive into it:

Points

You can earn points by answering questions, getting positive reactions from your answers, unlocking achievements, earning badges, and other activities.

Badges

All badges in the community are configured with criteria that determine why/when they are awarded. The criteria can be action-based (e.g., you upload a profile picture), threshold-based (e.g., you have been a member for 5 years), or reaction-based (e.g.,your comment received 5 likes).

The flexibility of badges means that you can be directly and indirectly awarded for your participation; and when you earn a badge, it displays on your profile where other members can see your engagement level. We have various badges in store, but I won't spoil the surprise here 😊

Reactions

Reactions are a feature that helps you build your reputation in the community. With this feature, members can share how they feel about a post.

Reactions are a 1-click response to discussions and comments. Using Reactions enables community members to indicate an emotional or empirical (“Like”, “Vote Down”) response without typing a comment. This also introduces feedback that is otherwise missing from a community when members don’t have anything to add to a discussion via a comment. After each post, a row of reactions will appear. You can click one (and only one) Reaction to each post. Clicking a different reaction will switch how you reacted. Clicking the same reaction a second time will revoke it. We use seven clear and familiar reactions, because reacting should be simple and reflexive, not a complex decision over which reaction to use. Reactions are universal to all categories on the site.

"Promote" is a special reaction. Only users with permissions (or that ability via Ranks) are able to use it. It assigns five points to the discussion or comment. The user that made the post receives the number of points indicated under that reaction.

"Abuse and Spam" reactions are available to all users but have special actions attached to them. Five or more Abuse reactions will add the content to the Moderation Queue for moderator review. Ten or more will remove it. Five or more Spam reactions will move the content to the Spam Queue.

The current default for standard negative reactions is for them to remove 1 point from the discussion or comment, but to have no effect on the point total of the user who made the post. This discourages abuse of negative reactions beyond simple voting scenarios.

"Abuse and Spam" reactions however will remove 1 point from the discussion or comment and from the point total of the user who made the post.

Ranks

The Ranks are triggered by positive actions. By default, ranks are awarded based on points earned, but can be customized by time spent on the site, roles and even a combination of these. Ranks can be used to limit abilities and/or reward members based on the community reputation system. 

A rank can be assigned to a user to grant or remove certain privileges on the forum. A rank is not the same as Roles & Permissions, which govern content access, moderation abilities, and administrator access.

You can only have one rank at a time. Typically, your rank is displayed in your discussions and comments just after the username. If you also have a Title, that is displayed separately, next to the Rank.

The ranks are configured to be given based on: total posts, points, how long you’ve been a member, and/or a permission level. Here's the current setup:

Level 1 * - 10 points

Level 2 ** - 50 points, 5 posts

Level 3 *** - 100 points, 10 posts

Level 4 **** - 500 points, 15 posts

Level 5 ***** - 1000 points, 20 posts

You will receive the highest level rank you qualify for (meet the criteria for).

Leaderboards

The first leaderboard displays the usernames of the all-time leaders and their points.

You can earn points and climb the leaderboard in a few different ways:

• When other members positively react to your posts;

• By answering questions & having your answers accepted (in Q&A threads);

• When receiving badges - whenever you are awarded a badge, it will also come with a number of points.

The second leaderboard displays our Defenders of the month.

The leaderboards show the top contributors of this community and recognize the expert members that share their knowledge, bring ideas to the table and help fellow peers.