The New Usergroups For The GF Community:

[LiNuX]

Gamers Forum is constantly expanding and looking for ways to make our community better for its gamers. We see potential in many of our regular users and we want to show our users that we appreciate and recognize their involvement with us, as well as give newer users a clear indication that we're a rounded gaming community that they can make part of their gaming lives. Our new GF Usergroups are aimed at recognizing contributions to the GF community, while also giving new members great advocates to aspire to. This is part of an on-going endeavor to enrich and expand our community as a whole.

To help start this journey we've implemented three new levels of usergroups.

What are the new usergroups?

As mentioned above, there are three levels of it. They are:

1. GF Rookie
2. GF Member
3. GF Veteran

These are not powered positions however you may see retired moderators and other staff members in these usergroups. These usergroups are a great way to gain respect from your fellow members. Being a part of these usergroups will also give others the sense that you can be trusted and people will look up to you for help and meaningful discussions because that’s what these usergroups are meant to represent.

GF Rookie

The GF Rookie is given to those who show potential in being a great part of our forum. The Rookie position also sets you on the path to higher levels such as Member, Vet, and perhaps even a moderator for our forum. Becoming a GF rookie is the first step to a bigger future with Gamers Forum because once you get here, you show us, others, and yourself, that you are capable of doing anything and everything you set out to do.

GF Member

The GF Member is the second and middle of the group. Rookies are upgraded to GF Members if they show more potential and show that they want to better our community with new ideas or motivating others.

GF Veteran

The GF Veteran Position is the highest position you can level up to without reaching a powered position. The Veteran is a prestigious position fit for leaders. The GF Veteran positions are given to those who have done exceptionally well for themselves here on Gamers Forum either through helping the forum develop or motivating others to take part in our ongoing development. Retired moderators may be found in the Vet position because they have already proven to be leaders and role models for our newer gamers.

It is not necessary at this moment, but eventually we will make it so that holding the GF Veteran position becomes a prerequisite for applying for powered positions such as a Moderator and/or IRC Channel operator. This also gives retired moderators a chance to come back into the powered position if they feel like they should come out of retirement. The GF Veteran position is also a little more exclusive which may make it harder for some to be upgraded to this level. This position is really for the best of the best and that’s why it is more likely for you to spot retired moderators and other highly respected members of our forum as GF Vets.

How do you become a Rookie, Member, or Veteran?

Unlike forum moderators, game reviewer, or our GFX Positions, you do not need to apply to these positions. The forum’s moderators will monitor new users as they come on and decide who deserves to be placed in the Rookie position or who in the lower positions deserve to be upgraded to a higher level. So all you have to do is participate and look towards helping the forum as much as you can in order to be considered.

Everyone is eligible and we do have certain hard criteria for selecting users for these groups however they are not as big as the potential we may see in you. And unlike the moderator position, there is no cap/ceiling on how many users we can have in each group so everyone stands a chance and there is always room for change and/or improvement. Our GFX Staff and Game Reviewers who are not moderators are also eligible.

Our moderators will constantly nominate users to be put in certain usergroups and once or twice a month, we will make all necessary upgrades, and notify and announce as necessary. And taking on these positions is absolutely optional. If you feel you don’t want to be in any of the usergroups, you can decline an upgrade or ask to be downgraded if your upgrade was already issued. We do not want to force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do.

What are the benefits of the new Usergroups?

1. The first noticeable change is the new color to your username. Each usergroup has its own color along with its custom userbar. If you are part of our GFX or Game Review team (and you are not a moderator), you also have the choice of choosing which usergroup is to be your primary (or most dominant) usergroup and that’s the color that will take over your username. And if you are in multiple usergroups, the userbars for all of your usergroups will show up in your postbits and user profiles.
   
   
2. The second benefit is a group of new and private discussion boards for each usergroup. The Rookies have one, the Members have one, and the Vets have one. The higher group has access to the lower groups meaning the GF Members can view the Rookies boards but not the Vets but the Vets can see and participate in all three boards. User posts count towards your posts and you can have discussions about anything you want whether it’s news, jokes, or ways to better or contribute to the forum. The moderators also have access and will also partake in the discussions and help you out when you need it. Regular users of the forum can also see the new Boards but may not view any content inside.
   
   
3. Another benefit comes in your signatures. Users in all three groups are allowed to have up to 4 images in their signatures compared to 3 that regular users get.
   
   
4. A fourth benefit is with your Profile albums (not GF Image host). Regular users can only host 500 total images in their user profile albums however, GF Rookies may host 1000, GF Members May host 1200, and GF Veterans may host 1500.
   
   
5. A fifth benefit comes in the form of how you spend your GFP. All three usergroups will get a 15% discount on any Arcade activity which includes regular games and future arcade tournaments. The discount will remain the same even if the GFP required to enter into tournaments or play arcade games increase in the future (which means more discount for you). The second way you can save on GFP is through your username and User title changes. As you may know, it costs several Hundred GFP to change usernames and user titles but now, GF Rookies get a 15% discount, GF Members get a 20% Discount, and GF Veterans get a 25% discount on all additions/changes.
   
   
6. The sixth benefit isn’t official yet, however as mentioned above, being a GF Veteran will be a prerequisite for becoming a GF Moderator and/or GF IRC Channel Operator. This will increase the trust we have in our future Moderators and Operators because of what we’ve witnessed them do as GF Veterans.
   
   
7. As the forum expands and develops further, more benefits will be added to the list and as part of one of the three usergroups, you can also help us figure out more benefits for you or changes to current benefits.

Questions/Suggestions

If you have any questions or suggestions about any of what was said in this thread, please feel free to ask in this thread, open up your own thread in the Questions/Suggestions board, or contact a forum Moderator and ask your question. We will be more than glad to answer your questions and clear up any inconsistencies or confusion that may exist.

Over the next few days, we'll be moving certain users into the Rookie and Member usergroups starting tomorrow night and Veterans will follow in the coming weeks.

Please note that this idea is still developing and the way we choose users for these new Groups may change in the near future. And as time progresses, our method of choosing users and the benefits given to the users in these groups will get better. We all appreciate everything our users have done for our forum and what they mean to us and we will try to show our appreciation as best as possible.

We thank you for your time and we hope to see you in one of these usergroups leading Gamers Forum to a bigger, brighter, and better future!

Our first group of Inductees:

GF Rookie

• Bertrum
• BitterKingSkyler
• Blackbird
• Blackleo
• Craesc111
• Kenoi
• Mizel
• mutilations
• norid
• Psychotray
• RaiDae
• Shixx
• Slay
• thedeparted
• Trunks
• XnewskinX
• ZXDarknessfalls

GF Member

• BobTD
• Damage
• egg-whites333
• Exentenzed
• foof
• Jayhmmz
• jcmcdo12
• Samus-Fan
• snake_eyes_555
• Th3-Devils-princess
• vepanator

GF Veteran

• EpsionX
• Ilyich Valken
• LemonRising
• paecmaker
• ROFLBRYCE
• Synge