Request: New more accessible icons beyond 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
5 years ago
United States

In addition to the icons representing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place on leaderboards, I think it would be cool to have more icons that are easier to work towards. Maybe something like this:

Gold Star - Top 10% Silver Star - Top 25% Bronze Star - Top 50%

Apologies in advance if this is a duplicate request.

Valhalla

Muh trophy/wr culture is already bad enough, why make it worse? You don't need a shiny gold star saying "u tried". View your PB as your trophy.

Quivico, Hako and 6 others like this
United States

Is 'trophy/wr culture' really still an issue in 2019? Sure you'll get those people who will abuse it to boost their ego, but I feel it would be more of an indicator of progression than a simple number. It would also be a good indicator to see whether a PB is 'good' or not. Take SMB1 Any% for example. If I get a PB ranked 192nd on the leaderboard, that sounds bad to the average non-SMB1 speedrunner. In actuality though it's a top 25% run and an icon to indicate that would make it clearer to non-runners that it's a decent time.

Valhalla

Uh a lower number sounds like an indicator of progress to me. My point was that you really shouldn't care about leaderboard position, focus on just doing better runs. If your run is 200th place on the leaderboard, then there are 199 people better than you. Being in the top 25% doesn't mean shit. People focus way too much on their leaderboard standing.

edit: and no leaderboard number, trophy, percentage, etc is an indicator of a good run. Ask the hundreds of runners with """world records""" in games with little to no competition.

Edited by the author 5 years ago
Quivico, blueYOSHI and 2 others like this
Canada

I wouldn't necessarily mind the site having the flexibility to do this sort of thing, though I personally wouldn't want what you've described on any games I run or moderate, for the reasons Komrade brought up. If you want to be in the top 10% or 25% or whatever, then go for that, there doesn't need to be an icon for you to have that as a goal.

[quote=Macobra52]If I get a PB ranked 192nd on the leaderboard, that sounds bad to the average non-SMB1 speedrunner. In actuality though it's a top 25% run and an icon to indicate that would make it clearer to non-runners that it's a decent time[/quote]

I understand the sentiment behind this, but at the same time... does anyone who doesn't know how competitive SMB1 is really care whether you're in the top 25% or not? I'm inclined to think they don't care, and if for whatever reason they do, I'd think they'd be more likely to just directly compare your time to the WR time to see how "good" it is.

blueYOSHI likes this
United States

Ok I think I understand the reasoning now. I only had the highly competitive leaderboards in mind for this, but clearly it isn't needed. Beyond that the percents could work as milestones for curiosity's sake, but I think the runners themselves know more than anyone or any indicator if their run is good. If they're satisfied with their PB then that's that, but if they feel they can do better that should be all the motivation they need.

Thanks! Appreciate both of your prompt inputs.

Bulgaria

Alternative icon solution:

Middle Finger - Top 100%

Quivico, ChucadeMogseum and 5 others like this