- Pink Menace
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- Elder Mythic Member
It was a cold day near the southern base in Blood Gulch. Cortana and I were relaxing over a game of Go Fish, WHEN OUT OF NO WHERE 700 BANSHEES CAME FLYING IN!!! I GRABED MY SPARTAN LASER AND LET HELL REIGN DOWN UPON THEM. I HOPPED IN THE NEAREST WARTHOG AND TOLD CORTANA TO GET IN.
Posted by: Recon Number 54
Posted by: Code Zero
PS: I don't want examples of Halo things like people being better than each other in the game or whatnot. That's a different story.
So the thousands of instances where one member told another to STFU because they were only a "level X" is not an example of elitism?
I think that it is a perfect example. It is a number that some have assigned so much value to that they think that it is an indicator of moral, intellectual or overall superiority. And we see it all of the time.
So, since the membership here is willing and able to demonstrate the ism with gameplay ranks.... you think that they could refrain from using some other silly value? You see, there aren't other examples because those "rankings" are deliberately absent from the site and forums.
If you are trying to say that we don't see examples because the membership won't do it, especially if we don't include MM ranks... I think that is a flawed statement.
It's like saying "show me examples of animal cruelty in this _______ country, but don't include bullfights, cockfights, or dogfights."
The desire to outdo others and to let them know that you are "better" is a key part of the Bungie demographic. That is the source of elitism. Most of the methods of demonstrating it are conspicuously and deliberately missing from this site.... and that is why it isn't always easy to find.
No, those count as elitism. But think about all the ways people can be elitist. Sarcastic remarks, insults because of someone's skill level, insults because of a person's name, a way they type (or talk), how long they've been here, what games they've played, and the list goes on.
Can you imagine if we took all those away? Pre recorded messages on an anonymous screen name with no join date, and you're not allowed to put down or offer anyone congratulations. I think we can all admit it's a good deal of overkill. Nobody ever stops to consider whether or not further elitism will actually occur. It's automatically that any reward will simply cause elitism, despite the greatest of precautions. I can't stand it. They haven't even been given a chance and the world is already set against them.
EDIT: Atomic, it's not the same thing at all. They have those features to differentiate them from the average member much like a police officer drives a patrol car and wears a badge. It shows authority, and for good reason. It's not elitist.
Posted by: atomic weggie
Here's the problem with a reward system, and it has nothing to do with elitism. But it does have something to do with common sense.
The people who would even care about some sort of gold star, karma system, or whatever other reward you want to dangle in front of us are the kind of members who already conduct themselves properly on B.net.
Conversely, the members who have alternate accounts, get blacklisted all the time, spam and generally cause problems would not care. They just wouldn't. In fact, they'd probably take sick pride in having a negative number.
So if a reward system's main objective is to entice members to behave, it's not going to work.
Furthermore, you can't just divide the whole of Bungie.net into two categories. It's not just the people who behave and people who don't. Everyone misbehaves sometime, and everyone behaves sometimes. What about the people who, say, write a great column for Bungie.net and keep adding new articles for a month? Will they dangle their rewards in front of people? What of the people who just came to talk Halo 2 strategy? What about the people int he Flood who just like to talk? What about Forum Cops? What about spammers? What about every category on Bungie.net, not just the two you listed?
I'm well aware that some people will abuse it. I'm also well aware that the current system is being abused just as easily. These rewards aren't permanant, and they aren't given loosely.
Ash, saying that having some medal isn't a reward is nonsense. It shows recognition of an accomplishment. Why is it important to get a trophy for winning a race? Because you earned it and you want something that recognizes that achievment- something material. Now I'm not saying that's best for every contributing member, and I tend to agree that having a silly medal under your name wouldn't be that great, but mabye access to new avatars, mabye even a new color of text, a title, something small like that, would be nice.
[Edited on 3/10/2007]