Mission Maker Incentives

[Kissy My]

We also had mission makers that would donate unused items where we could go to try to find many of the items for mission making for lower cost.

There is a space for mission makers to sell to each other items at deep discounts, it isnt being utilized as much as old SW ..
there is also a group and a chat set up associated with Mission Makers Mission Exchange ... if you want the info just let me know.

[Dex Who]

I can think of incentives in three categories, one for making missions in general, one for being a mission maker, and some for playing missions in general, although some are not compatible with others.

General ones:

• Mission maker receives 100 xp of the same xp path every time someone completes their mission
• When sending a mission for approval let the mission maker apply for a refund on the space used (that's probably the cheapest part of making a mission)
• Mission maker non-tradable items for achieving X ammount of total plays

Mission making exclusive ones:

• Make a new Mission Maker xp path
• Mission maker receives 100 MM xp every time someone completes their mission
• Mission maker xp path exclusive wearables and usables
• Official disccount store (furniture and decoration only) for approved mission makers (they can register when they have over 10 approved missions)
• A bit of a stretch but: cheaper non-sellable / non-refundable (as pointed above) spaces for Mission Makers that can be bought only if you have certain level of MM xp (or get access to them through the MM store)

For making interesting non-generic missions or incentives to play missions:

• Bring back the algoritm based xp/tokens payout
• Instead of approving missions bring back featured missions that change often
• Offer CL/VIP bonuses to the mission payout

[Trixi Fang]

I couldn't agree more with the topic of this thread. I think this would be a wonderful thing to add for mission makers, especially given the hard work, cost and resources required to create missions

[Aribella Lafonte]

General ones:

• Mission maker receives 100 xp of the same xp path every time someone completes their mission
• When sending a mission for approval let the mission maker apply for a refund on the space used (that's probably the cheapest part of making a mission)
• Mission maker non-tradable items for achieving X ammount of total plays

Mission making exclusive ones:

• Make a new Mission Maker xp path
• Mission maker receives 100 MM xp every time someone completes their mission
• Mission maker xp path exclusive wearables and usables
• Official disccount store (furniture and decoration only) for approved mission makers (they can register when they have over 10 approved missions)
• A bit of a stretch but: cheaper non-sellable / non-refundable (as pointed above) spaces for Mission Makers that can be bought only if you have certain level of MM xp (or get access to them through the MM store)

For making interesting non-generic missions or incentives to play missions:

• Bring back the algoritm based xp/tokens payout
• Instead of approving missions bring back featured missions that change often
• Offer CL/VIP bonuses to the mission payout

I might rub quite a few mission makers the wrong way, but I don't agree with most of these at all. There are several reasons. I think it would be far better having more reasonable expectations and rewards/incentives that are more inclusive to all mission makers and beneficial to all players as well. I also honestly don't know if it's even possible to ask for some of these things since it requires rather involved/complicated programming. Once we really get to thinking long and hard about what is involved or potential negative outcomes, we just might think that they aren't that much of a great idea at all. I think we are more interested in its benefits than all what is involved here. Needless to say, I am an overthinker. My biggest issue I have with a lot of the suggestions are their exclusivity.

XP/ Mission Path:
I feel that by rewarding XP from players playing their missions will give an unfair advantage based on some missions being more popular than others and that the XP would be dependent on someone else playing their mission, and not by the creator themself. I also don't feel that we need an additional experience path (for any area), nor do I feel that mission makers need their own set path, if one is given, it can easily fit under artist path since we create and are artists the same way as painters and sculptors are. I don't know why we should feel that we are more special than we are, underappreciated, yes, more special, no, and that may be the impression received by others that may wonder why we need our own set path as a creator.

Spaces/Discount Store:
A refund on the space/spaces used to create it or exclusive savings/savings based on xp .... it's rather hard for me to respond appropriately or nicely on this, other than that's just crazy. I think a better and reasonable option would be to make spaces more affordable to mission makers and as a result, any player could benefit from this.

Official discount store that is only available once they have over 10 approved missions - WHY THE EXCLUSIVITY?! A better solution would be to lower catalog prices on common items that anyone can benefit from, a good start would be with the NPCS.


Exclusive item Reward After (?) number of plays - I can agree with, within reason. SW only rewarded tokens and if any item was rewarded, it was some sort of incidental item we didn't care about. Perhaps take it up a notch.

Incentive To Play Missions:
I know it may be a bitter pill to swallow, but I think we need to accept the fact that not everyone enjoys playing missions and it falls back on players will play what they want to play.

Payout- However, I do agree that having 3 tiers for mission payouts, one for shorter missions (3-6 min) and one (7+ min) could help. Of course, the 3rd would be the already existing one for unapproved missions, but I think we should raise the token/XP payout so not to remove any current rewards to upset the majority of players. They wouldn't be happy when the flat rate 1000 token/250 XP payout would change for a lesser one so there would be a lot of opposition if that were to happen. I think we also need to take into account that this may not be able to happen since SV is taken from existing data (after 2.0 was already implemented) so it may be difficult to revert to and could mess up a lot of stuff. We really don't need to break something somewhere else trying to add it back into the game.

Featured Missions - Definitely a reasonable suggestion. Perhaps there can be some sort of exclusive item reward for this, same for any contest reward that can also become a featured mission as part of its reward with gold that usually comes along with it.

CL/VIP bonuses on mission payout. - Simply NO. I do not agree with this, this should be a store exclusive benefit (excluding mission involvement) to help fund the game, without sufficient funding, there is no game for us to play.



There have been several suggestions on how to improve incentives and offer rewards to mission makers. But I think we need to look at this from a simpler perspective. Reducing space prices, item prices, offer exclusive rewards through accomplishments, ie. contests, featured missions, mission milestones. Asking for exclusives is going way beyond what is reasonable. We need to feel appreciated, not try to show that we are more special than any other creator/community, feed our egos, etc or anything that might lead to the wrong impressions in some of the things we are asking for. At this point, it is definitely hitting me the wrong way and I myself am a mission maker.

[Kissy My]

guess I have a different perspective when it comes to missions. I see them as another form of art.

even the simplest mission takes investment, thought, planning and time.
Would you expect painters and crafters to be limited in returns on their investments?
Which btw, they earn xp when making their crafts and then get the benefit of selling their items to earn back their investments.
Heck arena has it's own xp path and really, how many even play that? a dozen? 2 dozen? compared to how many mission makers?

If not a mission makers xp path, at minimum allow them to earn art xp while they create.

as far as players not liking missions. Simple solution, dont play them.
Being connected to loyalty.. realistically they only need to play 3 if they complete all the other loyalty paths.
I don't think requiring 3 once a week is unreasonable. especially when there are so many 4 min missions.

With that mindset, get rid of the rest.
I can't stand farming stuff .. ptsd from farmville LOL ... so, take it out of loyalty.
Unfortunately, have no talent in art or craft, take it out also ..
That leaves us with .. spin the wheel .. O.o

Let's be serious... Missions are what sets this game apart from the many other social virtual worlds.
In what other game can you find player created missions like they have here?
ALL the other games have decorate spaces, art, sculpt, craft and player resale shops.. several even do it better.. no offense SV powers that be.

Missions should be looked at and treated like an asset...

No doubt resellers spend a lot of money... but mission makers surely come in at number 2 or very close..
I know what I spend a week and I am a way smaller mission maker.
How many mission makers are there? who also spend a decent, steady amount each month.
Why wouldnt they want to support and encourage a steady flow of cash?

Theres been lots of great suggestions in this thread .. and I truly hope the powers that be are reading and taking some of these things into consideration.
As it is... I am sadly seeing some mission makers get discouraged.
yeah! they are going a mission contest!! thanks for that ...
but we really need to talk ... won't even go into the issue with the many rejections happening lately .. some even rejecting quality missions. another time and place.

[Aribella Lafonte]

guess I have a different perspective when it comes to missions. I see them as another form of art.

even the simplest mission takes investment, thought, planning and time.
Would you expect painters and crafters to be limited in returns on their investments?
Which btw, they earn xp when making their crafts and then get the benefit of selling their items to earn back their investments.
Heck arena has it's own xp path and really, how many even play that? a dozen? 2 dozen? compared to how many mission makers?

If not a mission makers xp path, at minimum allow them to earn art xp while they create.

as far as players not liking missions. Simple solution, dont play them.
Being connected to loyalty.. realistically they only need to play 3 if they complete all the other loyalty paths.
I don't think requiring 3 once a week is unreasonable. especially when there are so many 4 min missions.

With that mindset, get rid of the rest.
I can't stand farming stuff .. ptsd from farmville LOL ... so, take it out of loyalty.
Unfortunately, have no talent in art or craft, take it out also ..
That leaves us with .. spin the wheel .. O.o

Let's be serious... Missions are what sets this game apart from the many other social virtual worlds.
In what other game can you find player created missions like they have here?
ALL the other games have decorate spaces, art, sculpt, craft and player resale shops.. several even do it better.. no offense SV powers that be.

Missions should be looked at and treated like an asset...

No doubt resellers spend a lot of money... but mission makers surely come in at number 2 or very close..
I know what I spend a week and I am a way smaller mission maker.
How many mission makers are there? who also spend a decent, steady amount each month.
Why wouldnt they want to support and encourage a steady flow of cash?

Theres been lots of great suggestions in this thread .. and I truly hope the powers that be are reading and taking some of these things into consideration.
As it is... I am sadly seeing some mission makers get discouraged.
yeah! they are going a mission contest!! thanks for that ...
but we really need to talk ... won't even go into the issue with the many rejections happening lately .. some even rejecting quality missions. another time and place.

Creating missions is another form of art, as I stated in my post, so there really isn't any different perspective there. I think we can all agree mission making is an artform. Speaking for myself, you and I have the same desires and viewpoints, we just don't agree on the solutions on how to go about rewarding or showing appreciation for mission makers. Nobody has once disagreed or said that mission makers shouldn't get something back after the tokens/gold/time spent. Everyone posting on this thread each has an opinion to what bothers them and a possible solution. Staff can take that feedback/solutions and apply what they feel is the best answer and one that would benefit the game and perhaps, be a benefit to other communities/players as well since the game is rather diverse. Hopefully, they will listen and do something for us mission makers, aside from just making half an attempt to categorize missions and giving us a mission contest. Mission making is what sets this game apart from all the rest as there is no other game like it based on a player's ability to create them (not just play them/quests) so we should have better acknowledgement than we have been getting. Again, I apologize if I come off the wrong way simply because I don't agree with how things are implemented into the game, I do in fact support the cause.

That being said, I don't think we should tell players not to play them if they don't like to play them. Missions pose a great importance to numerous leveled wearables which would take forrrrrrrrrrever to gain that amount of XP through widgets and they also are required to play through loyalties. Missions are what you could say are forced onto players that may not like them (look at it from their perspective) so that is why they really don't like them and let's be honest, being forced to do something you do not enjoy can make someone hate something. I think rather than force them onto players, we should provide more incentive to want to play them by removing the pressure. Of course you will hate it, Kissy, but that's removing the requirement to play them through loyalties and leave it as an option and put other activities in the game as an option as well and go for the total number of loyalty points and let activities become repeatable (as I believe they once were on SW) Loyalties weren't mentioned on this thread previously (I don't think, but since you mentioned them ... ) Also, it's not just asking players to play 3-4 missions per week - you forgot to take into account all the NON VIP players who have to play (cough ... cough) 13-14 missions to reach their loyalties since they only get 1 point per activity (unlike VIP) THAT is what is asking too much and contributing to the hatred. If there isn't some sort of adjustment to points on their part, then something must be done with the loyalty system overall. We should be able to play a game, play a mission, participate and get some enjoyment out of it, not force us into doing something. Doing loyalties ARE NOT ENJOYABLE and it's the demand playing missions that is doing it. (I'm sorry to say) It was never this way on SW, it's only here. Missions on SW were much more fun to do, and players were less in a hurry. They could dedicate 6-8 minutes on a mission or longer and be okay with it. Not here. The question is, why?

I'm just going to mention Staff efforts in what they HAVE done so far, which myself am not satisfied, I don't know about anybody else:

Approved Panel - effort to categorize, unfortunately, a player has to take it upon themself to prioritize most recent missions etc and not where the featured and most recent missions show first. Before MM went to browser and totally messed up their mission panel for viewing, they at least got this right. So therefore, I know that it IS possible. A little bit of effort would be great.

Mission Contests: well, there were a few complaints that the last one didn't have fair voting (however it was done and I personally wouldn't know, but I didn't agree with the results) and it was too restrictive regarding its time limits and confusion on how the winning missions were to be judged. This time around, I doubt I will be entering because again, I feel that it is too restrictive. The time allowances are perfect as is the rewards, my only issue is that the theme is too specific which I feel will be rather limiting to allow the player to use whatever idea to fit the theme. In SW, themes were rather simple pertaining to a holiday (Christmas, Halloween) or to be Space or Humorous. Simplicity allowed us to go with whatever story we wished to create. This theme makes it where it has to be relating to an older time period and involve an item of great importance. This restrains the mission creator to what they can create. If it were simply an Adventure theme, it would open it up a lot. As it stands, it also seems to lose creativity to me as it reminds me too much of Indiana Jones, so as a result, the missions will probably be more in the lines of that. It is great that we finally have something, so it is what it is, so we can be thankful for that.



I also have to agree with all the declined missions lately. It has gotten to the point of being ridiculous. We seriously need updated guidelines to what is expected of us or that mission tester needs to be trained properly to what fits within guidelines, what doesn't and to offer straight to the point suggestions on how to fix what reasons the mission was rejected without going into unnecessary features such as notifications, message boxes, sound effects, large spaces or use of NPCs. Another thread (sigh) but the number of missions being declined is rather disheartening as it discourages us, especially newer/returning mission makers. There goes incentive ...

For me, lack of incentive is not providing mission players more incentive to play longer missions and our concerns going ignored with little/unsatisfying result. Like ie. we ask for costs to go down and they go up. So, if anyone is asking where Ari is lately ..

If I am going to be honest with myself, if any of these incentives are implemented into the game poorly, it would discourage me even more, this is why I disagree on the additional details of many of them as they give some an unfair advantage or are exclusive to certain mission makers which I am strongly against..

[Penguin Disco]

Aribella, you make some great points... I like that you're thinking along the lines of inclusivity and ensuring that even mission makers who are just starting out could benefit. I do like the idea of a "Storytelling" XP path though. I think the point of the XP paths is that you get to CHOOSE which areas of the game you want to focus on, with no pressure to do one or the other. I mean, I don't have ANY arena XP but am doing just fine in every other path.

I do like the idea of incentivizing creators with gold - and not just through the contests. I am open to the "space refund" idea, but agree that the primary issue is that spaces are just too expensive. Same with NPCs! So just making things cheaper and more accessible would go a long way.