Rewards and acknowledgements

[Aphel]

Greetings everyone,

during the recent discussion on how to reward GMs for their work and effort, XP rewards for GM characters were discussed [Link:"GMs...what are they worth?]. I am hoping that the discussion continues as it touches quite a fundamental subject in my opinion.

But it got me thinking about how to reward, apart from giving Kudos to the participants in question [Link: "Kudos for great roleplay], the creative work and overall effort that all of us are putting into Layonara. Rowana started something a while ago [Link: "Social Media: CDT Featurettes] and depending on the new features orth will publish during the next update, there even might be more possibilities I do not yet know.

How about creating two kinds of awards given regularily, highlighting somebody's work for the Layonara servers, systems, community, and roleplay. It would be possible to have one award from players, and one from the GMs/Team, while people could only vote in on or the other award, should they fit in both.
The award should give spotlight to the work, creativity and effort the person in question showed in a category and be easily visible to other players (eg. a symbol in the profile or near the avatar or something similar).
I would suggest the following categories for both awards:
-Technical
--technical effort award
--most useful technical article/suggestion
-Community
--community effort award
--best creative content, by category
--most useful community article/suggestion
-Roleplay
--Event/Story award for best story initiated, written, hosted or similar
--Most memorable event, by category
--CDT attention award by category (whole CDT, CDT entry)

It would be a lot of work for all involved, so it would not be a thing which can happen too often over the course of a year. It would rely heavily on the community doing something and use up some extra time as well as solving technical and regulatory matters.

What are your thoughts? Are there better ways with higher chances of success or achieving the overall goal?

[Tobias]

In my opinion there are enough rewards for players especially now with the autoXP, WL XP wands, General xp awards for good RP, GM Quest rewards, and of course kudo's.

Also lets not forget at the end of the Dragon Storm Campaign everyone got a level and then at the end of the year the the double xp for quest and 1.5 for killing monsters. For me that's enough.

Really I am just content with hearing/reading at the end of the night. "Thanks man! I really enjoyed RPing with you!"

That always brings a smile to my face and fills me with pride.  

[RollinsCat]

When I'm inspired by a gm (and I have been, by many) or a player (and I have been, by many) - I write.  I enjoy seeing my characters influence others and I imagine it's the same for you and your characters, so if I'm feeling it?  I put it in print.  I can't give the gms and players xp so I give them time and the creativity they sparked in me.  In short, you are my Muse.

Therefore my suggestion is if you feel it, take time to write it, even if it's quick, even if you don't think you're a good writer, just jot something down in your character thread.  I bet it'll get a smile and feel as good as a level of xp to the person(s) who inspired it.