Other Uses For In-Game Titles
by Eric Vice 
Aug 25th 2007 at 2:00PM
I have to give my aging eyeballs credit for this story. I was reading news feeds this morning and didn't have my glasses on and completely misred a word from this post from Windychan121 on the Livejournal WoW Chicks community. I thought she began her blog entry with "Ninjas need to get a title". Yeah, I really need to start using "Large Fonts".
It got me thinking though, even after I figured out what Windy really meant to say. For a great part of the history of World of Warcraft, the game used player titles to reflect PvP rank. Although this was a dearly beloved part of the game for some people, it got removed (even though people got to keep their existing titles) when the first expansion was released when the PvP system was totally changed.
Fast forward to present-day Azeroth and we're seeing a lot of people in the capital cities with new titles which reflect their status in the Arena ladder, with titles like Gladiator, Duelist, Rival, and Challenger.
Going back to the ninja topic, why don't we give ninjas titles? Before you start throwing overripe produce at me, sit back and think about this for a second. Think of a system where you would have an option at the end of an instance, when you zone out, to rate the conduct of players in your instance or raid. It could be as simple as a good or bad rating, perhaps with a drop-down menu to specify the type of activity the player engaged in. People who consistantly got bad ratings from a high percentage of the members of their groups would start to accrue points towards various less-than-desirable titles. Of course positive player reviews would have the reverse effect. While I think this is a tremendous idea, I don't think it will ever be implemented for the simple reason that it could have a negative impact on the subscriber base. But do we really care if we lose those people? It's something to think about.
What other uses can you foresee for player titles?
[Special thanks to 'Aello' from Gnomeregan for lending a hand in the screenshot!]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Justo Aug 25th 2007 2:10PM
heres the issue with the whole "title" thing. if you gave people the option to rate the conduct of other players, a really good player could get negative remarks form a shithead player simply because of, lets say, a personality conflict. a former guildie of mine (we hate each others guts) would do anything to be able to slander my name, even though im far from a shitty player. that sort of a system is guarenteed to be abused over petty, stupid and irrelevant shit.
dreadlorde Aug 25th 2007 2:12PM
It seems like a good idea, but think of all the people who always rated everyone down or vise-versa.
:/
Hakael Aug 25th 2007 2:16PM
I'd avoid this because it would be prone to abuse. Have you ever been in a PuG? People are idiots. Most people that are called "ninjas" by other players oftentimes aren't item thieves, they simply rolled on an item another player thought they were entitled to. For instance, a whiny rogue complaining that a hunter won a roll on a good piece of leather armor and calling him a ninja is very different than a player looting a chest on his lonesome and hearthing. The latter is a ninja, the prior is not. There aren't really many real ninjas in the game, and those that exist are usually well known and avoided... on the other side, there are a LOT of childish people that will scream bloody murder if things don't go their way... which is why a system like this would get abused and should never see the light of day.
Thijz Aug 25th 2007 2:26PM
I have to agree with #3. Solely because of the possible abuse it will never be implanted.
BaboonNL Aug 25th 2007 2:28PM
I'd create a guild called "Ninja Pirates", and organize guild runs for everyone to get the ninja title, then wear the Bloodsail outfit all day long.
Eric Vice Aug 25th 2007 2:32PM
I'm not talking about feedback from a single player or a single guild being allowed to bring down somebody's rating. I'm talking about a formula that requires different people in different guilds and for there to be a trend of abuse... not just one or two people who spam it repeatedly. I think the math is possible.
Velline Aug 25th 2007 2:48PM
I use an addon called Diggkarma. Where you can click on alliance and horde alike and rate whether you liked them or disliked them and right a note as to why on both. Everyone else who has this addon can also see what you rated the person and the note you wrote.
Shawn Wildermuth Aug 25th 2007 3:55PM
This seems to work relatively well in XBox Live...I like the idea (and even on XBL my ratings only 4 out of 5, everyone has bad days).
10pound Aug 25th 2007 3:45PM
I see a "looks good on paper" idea that would be ripe for abuse.
LanceG33 Aug 25th 2007 3:54PM
I would like new titles in the game but this is not the way to do it; too much potential for abuse.
Warrior_Tess Aug 25th 2007 4:05PM
I feel that certain titles could work out great in-game. How about titles that tell what roll each player fills?
For instance "Tank" before Warrior, Druid or Pally names, or "Healer" before Druid, Priest or Pally, depending on their spec. Bliz can already rate this in Armory, but it would be nice to see this in game. It would save a lot of misunderstanding (like inviting a resto druid or DPS warrior to tank)and make it easier to put a good grop together. Have the titles display when you /who and it would be great!
Sherp of Ahrotahntee Aug 25th 2007 4:38PM
People would start ninjaing stuff and acting like jerks JUST so they could get the title. I've read of people doing reputation grinds for incredibly weird reasons, or just because they're there--you think the reputation-grinding concept wouldn't cross over to live players?
ToddNak Aug 25th 2007 5:22PM
Virtual mob rule is never ok. Shame on you for suggesting it.
Hellstrike Aug 25th 2007 5:51PM
I'd like to see a 'Duke' title to go with my death knight!
lordfrikk Aug 25th 2007 8:37PM
@11
That is a great idea indeed. I wouldn't call it title but rather a player tag. Each player would be able to choose from few pre-defined tags (tank, dps, healer etc.) and these would be used in LFG and /who. I would really like to see this in-game.
Ariel Aug 25th 2007 10:14PM
No no no no god no. This is just like that horrible fame/defame system I've seen in other MMOs. It's abused to a ridiculous degree and it's a terrible idea. Just another way for players to grief each other.
BenMS Aug 25th 2007 11:49PM
That's a great idea, #11. That way my mage could have the titles Pyromancer (being deep fire) and my shaman could have a title like Witch Doctor - just something to let people know he's resto.
Extending this would be a little more difficult, however. Mortal Strike warrior? Combat Rogue? Anyone think of any titles for them? Because, I'll freely admit, I'm fresh out.
bwest0526 Aug 26th 2007 5:37AM
@11 Perfect Idea!! @Eric Perfectly BAD Idea! Everyone has mentioned why so I don't need to tell yu again how perpetually bed this idea would be, talk about your rep going down just because someone had different Ideals than yourself...I still get concerned over the gold farmers report idea...I surely hope it is working as intended.
Niklaw
ICFtB
Zangarmarsh
Unregistered Aug 26th 2007 11:52PM
easy to implement. we already have armory. now we just wow to implement a need/greed tracking system.
COUNT the number of times a toon needs, esp when the rest only greed. if the needed item is BOP and is relevant to the toon, skip it for the ninja count. otherwise, increase that toon's ninja counter. this formula can be further tweaked but you get the idea.
winners of title (by World, Realm, Faction, Class) will be assured of their temporary fame/infamy. we should also have the top 10/100 lists for the Realm/Faction so we can avoid PuGs with these toons for the rest of their unproductive lives.
Juliah Aug 27th 2007 1:03PM
Eric, as others have said, it's too vulnerable to abuse. (Yes, I understand that you'd want high percentages, but the idiots outnumber the non-idiots, so you could still get those numbers.)
#7 -- I looked up Diggkarma, but I can't tell if it let's you know what your ranking is: can you see your own, in addition to that of other players?