User Achievements Implemented

Many many years ago I was building a website for a Minecraft server. One feature they had was access to the data of players in terms of how far they had walked in the server, mining details, plenty of stats, but it was underutilised. Thinking outside of the box I decided why not build a section on the site for each player, that can show off their skin, and present a number of achievements based on the stats that were accessible. It turned out amazing, and was very well received by the players on that server. Ever since, I have always loved the idea of introducing achievements in some way when building a community. Little elements that give you a pat on the back for participation is amazing.

Fast-forward to Talesmith Tavern and I wanted to start to encourage others to submit content to the library. Not only that, I wanted to give back to them in ways that made sense. Since most of the site’s content you need to be subscribed in order to access, it made it a clear avenue to reward through.

Now users have achievements. So how do they work?

Register for free and visit your profile page to see the available achievements, you will also see an XP bar and your contributor name along with your current level. Everyone starts off at Level 1. Each achievement is worth certain XP. Each time you level up, you earn 1 free month of a subscription. If you have an existing active subscription it should apply that free month automatically, extending the next time you are charged by one more month. If you do not have an existing active subscription you instead store that free month, and when you do subscribe you can then redeem those stored months. Either way, you’re holding onto what you’ve earned. You don’t need to be subscribed in order to earn achievements, but you do need to be subscribed to redeem the free months you have earned.

Some achievements are easy to complete, others are more challenging.

In addition, the title next to your current level is also able to be changed from a preset list of options under your profile settings. Every time you complete an achievement, you unlock being able to use that achievement name as your user’s title next to their level.

I look forward to adding more features but for now, you can check out what the achievements look like by visiting Torin’s profile here.