new idea in mind

I think this would be a good idea to add an experience bar for leveling up your profile when everytime you completed a game and however long you beat the game in you would get some experience. So like at level 1 uploading a game that took like 30 mins to beat could give you level 2 then so on it would get harder to level up since need more time. With this feauture it would make people want to beat more games so they can reach highest level and stay rank 1.
If you like this idea please comment below :)

While added features like this are nice, what are the benefits (if any) and what would stop people trying to enlarge their "e-peen" as it may be , by just adding random games and "completing" them just to progress in level.

Leveling up via forum posts and such can be monitored and regulated, but a system where people can blindly just fill out forms and get "promoted" will be abused by people eventually.

Ooo, that sounds like a good idea. :) While neo_sporin has a point in 'abusing' the system, I honestly don't think it would become too much of an issue. The admin approves all times that go through in the first place, and too many suspicious times would probably get someone caught. In my opinion, something like a 'level-up' system will give people a reason to post times, beat games, and remain active.

Of course, it'd always be cool if more people popped in the forums... maybe people can gain exp from making posts as well? Then again, posts would need moderation so people don't spam to a high level...

This is an idea I've thrown around with myself for a while. I have even been tracking some statistics that would play into it, just in case I ran with the idea. There are a couple reasons that I'm hesitant. The first, people abusing the system through loop holes and spam. Another reason is worrying about being able to keep up with submissions and moderating. I also wondered if I should wait for the community to grow a little before I introduce it. It could be discouraging to new comers if there are members miles ahead of them but maybe that isn't the case?

Anyway, I love to be open and honest about all site activity so just know that I am definitely considering it. Keep up the discussion and share your ideas.

Originally Posted by: admin

The first, people abusing the system through loop holes and spam.

To be honest, I'm not really sure about the loopholes, but the spam on the forums can be taken care of with posts being moderated. That isn't a problem at all now with how small the community is at current, but when it grows, you'd probably need help with volunteer moderators or something. A forum dedicated to spamming, and posting in it would not rise your post count is another option, but that sounds sorta hard to do, since you're building the system from the ground up and all.

I also wondered if I should wait for the community to grow a little before I introduce it. It could be discouraging to new comers if there are members miles ahead of them but maybe that isn't the case?

Unfortunately, that would be a problem no matter when you introduce a system like that, or even with websites in general: There will always be 'newbies' and 'veterans'. Of course, a newbie can always catch up with a leveling up system... if it's mainly dependent on game times, a 'newbie' could even become a 'veteran' in a matter of hours. Then again, that could lead back to the abuse neo_sporin brought up... but I think the general swing would be for new members to be motivated to post game times and catch up.

If it were implemented, I don't think the length of the game should really matter, it would give incentive for lying.

just to give my opinion - i have no interest in this type of feature. I understand it might be nice for people who do a lot of cross platforming. but for newer consoles the xbox and playstation have this system already in place. I dont like the idea of a website competetition - which it what it seems like it would turn into.

Maybe a less competitve system with a perk-based structure...

Perks means the site has features that you just can't use because you haven't beaten enough games. Plus that would lead to lying even more than just having a level system.

Originally Posted by: pongsifu

If it were implemented, I don't think the length of the game should really matter, it would give incentive for lying.

Yeah, I gotta agree with that. Also, even amongst those that wouldn't lie, it'd give an unfair advantage to RPG fans, as opposed to an Action or Shooter fan, since those games tend to be shorter.

As for the lying problem, it's something that can't always be prevented, but the admin does hand check every time. At the very least, the super suspicious times wouldn't make it up there, though I guess that isn't much comfort...

As far as I can tell, only times on games with few completions or unusually fast times get manually checked. Not all of my games went to the "pending" section first, some, for more common games, went straight to the completed page.

Originally Posted by: pongsifu

As far as I can tell, only times on games with few completions or unusually fast times get manually checked. Not all of my games went to the "pending" section first, some, for more common games, went straight to the completed page.

Huh, maybe that's the case then. I noticed almost all of my gametimes go into the 'pending' section, but at the same time I certainly wasn't keeping a sharp eye on the numbers, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the super popular games with a ton of times logs already would automatically just log them. :o

oohhh that's a nice idea! but people might just add random games even though they haven't finished it yet :(

oohhh that's a nice idea! but people might just add random games even though they haven't finished it yet :(

I guess you are right but not only that, think of the work admin and Everdred would have doing such a thing it would require hours that maybe they don't have

Check this out:
https://www.howlongtobeat.com/forum.php?&thread=468

Check this out:
https://www.howlongtobeat.com/forum.php?&thread=468

It looks like a very cool ideia, but that would probably make people add games to their completion list just to have points :(

It looks like a very cool ideia, but that would probably make people add games to their completion list just to have points :(

Yes, it could be problem, but who cares about cheaters? Everybody can add some people to friend list and compare score with them. Cheaters will be cheaters.

Yes, it could be problem, but who cares about cheaters? Everybody can add some people to friend list and compare score with them. Cheaters will be cheaters.

I guess we could do that but still i think that this ideia would take a lot of work and i don't know if Everdred and admin have the time to do it if they wanted and could do it

Yes, it could be problem, but who cares about cheaters? Everybody can add some people to friend list and compare score with them. Cheaters will be cheaters.

That would negate the whole purpose of the site which is to measure how long it takes to beat a game. People randomly submitting times to get points would ruin the accuracy, and right now the times are pretty accurate. I don't think it would be a good idea to mess with that.

There won't be any prizes so why people have to cheat?

There won't be any prizes so why people have to cheat?

To show off. Pretty much same as achievements in games. Some people do anything to get them, even though there's no rewards for it.

I think that this feature can attract new players on this website. And more players will be good for the average game length stats.

I think that this feature can attract new players on this website. And more players will be good for the average game length stats.

It could attract more players and help with the average game lengths but still most of them would join only for the purpose of points and it would probably bring the problems that gss89 pointed out

There won't be any prizes so why people have to cheat?

Because some people are just like that. They don't need a reason other than that it makes a number bigger, which makes them feel better about themselves.

I think it would be cool to see a thumbs up/down option that we can click on someones post/comment. Then they add up and show up on your profile separate numbers basically thumbs up is good and Thumbs down is bad. The click would be permanent as well so you have to choose wisely when you give them an Up or down. Anyways something around those lines.