I've been working on a badges system. I'm beginning to realize that it's possible to create fairly complex rules around badges. Any particular system is likely to implement a small sub-set of possible badge types. I want to keep an open mind on how different types of badges behave, but don't want to build complexity that won't be used. This post serves to document ideas that I may or may not build out in code.
Simple badge -- Represents an achievement and does not have any special rules. When unearned, the user gets to see a gray version of the badge and the description of how to earn the badge. You can only earn a simple badge once.
Stacked badge -- A badge that you can earn multiple times. I'm not sure why this might be useful. See Leveled badge.
Mystery badge -- When unearned, the user gets to see an obscured placeholder indicating that they need to explore the system to discover how to earn the mystery badge.
Surprise badge -- When unearned, the user does not see that the badge exists. These are create for user delight, rather to encourage specific behavior. An example might be a "Night Owl" badge earned when the user does something between midnight and 4:00 am. Showing this badge as unearned would ruin the surprise.
Progressed Badge -- A badge that requires X number of events to earn. Earners see a visual indication of progress as they get closer to earning the badge.
Leveled badge -- A badge that requires a task to be performed multiple times. When unearned, the user sees their progress. An example might be to access the system for 5 consecutive days, 10 consecutive days, and 25 consecutive days. Potentially, leveled badge could also be mystery badges or surprise badges. If this is the case, progress would be tracked, but not shown when the badge is unearned. When viewing earned badges, high level badges would replace low level badges.
Locked badge -- A badge that doesn't appear as unearned until the user earns a badge that acts acts as prerequisite. The purpose is to avoid cluttering an earner's list of unearned badges. Leveled badges could be locked badges. In this case, the earner would only see the next unearned leveled badge, and would not see how many levels exist.
Forked & Locked badge -- A locked badge where unlocking opens up multiple paths. For example, if a learning system has flash cards, earning the flash card badge could unlock badges for repetition, for speed and accuracy, and for exploring a number of card decks.
Meta badge -- Behaves like a simple badge, except that it is earned by earning a specific combination or number of other badges.
Scored badge -- A badge with a point value. Easy badges would be worth a low number of points, and more difficult badges would have a higher point value. Scored badges are intended to encourage behavior that requires more commitment from the user.
Some kind of badge type that I didn't think of? -- I don't know what this would be.
No comments:
Post a Comment