One Dimensional Ranks?

[DarkRider]

Hi There!

I was browsing through my new forum tonight, getting familiar with the different settings and I found some disappointment in the rank system on the new board, I thought I would provide you folks with some constructive feedback to help you make improvements! :blush:

Now, forgive me if any of this is incorrect, I'm new, but from my exploring and also skimming the forums here for more information, this is my analysis of the current rank system.

In the new IP Board the rank system is set up so that there is one "series" of ranks that users progress through as they achieve post count. Each rank can have either an image, or a set number of "pips" (which are cool by the way).

However, this system is very limited as it provides only one series of ranks for all users based on post count. On gaming sites, it is very common for our communities to have multiple groups, divisions in our population, and to have only one series of ranks for multiple divisions is incredibly limiting.

For example, my general population has ranking that is based on post count with ranks like Layman, Novice, Apprentice, etc. For this purpose, IP Board's current system is fine.

But, my staff is in a moderator group and they carry ranks like Candidate, Soldier, Lieutenant, ect. They don't have a single moderator image, they have images varied by rank. Ranks for staff member are granted by merit or training level, not post count. These are special ranks.

The current board doesn't appear to have any consideration for this sort of special ranking. From what I can tell, the only way to achieve this is to establish a new moderator group for each rank in my staff and move team members to different groups as they advance. So instead of a solid team with 8 ranks, we are 8 groups with 8 ranks.

The other issue with the current rank limitation is that it doesn't allow an admin to establish multiple series of ranks, say one for regular users and a different series of ranks for subscribers. This sort of differentiation between free/paid users acts as an incentive for members to buy subscriptions. In this instance, for paid members I would have to create a chain of 11 groups, one for each rank and set them using the group promotion setting, rather than just have a senior members group with a series of ranks for them.

I'm going to have a lot of groups! :lol:

A more dynamic ranking system would be a big draw to the major gaming sites and many others I'm sure!

Cheers!

[Viper V2]

I second this suggestion. I run a gaming community and the lack of special rank modification is difficult. I have a lot of groups and it stinks having to mange them all like they could easily been done with a special rank system.

[DarkRider]

Since IPB 3.2 is in the works I thought I would politely bump this. +1 for multiple rankings!

[Aisha]

Isn't that what user groups are for? I have a ranking system as well of over 40 ranks and I use user groups for it.

[consolearmy]

I run a gaming forum its not that difficult to do it