Many forums and online communities reward members for posting engaging and on-topic discussions. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all sport a similar "like" option which allow users to show support for something another user posts. I have taken these aspects and have now applied them to Scified.
XP (Experience) Points
You will gain XP any time you post a new topic, news article, upload an image to the gallery, reply or comment on a thread or article and subscribe to blogs. New members automatically gain 10XP for signing up.
Your XP is a measure of quite literally your experience on Scified. Having high enough XP will open up new ways for you to enter specific giveaways and unlock new site features!
Certain actions will not earn you the same XP as others. For example, subscribing to a Blog will earn you a lot more XP than posting a reply to an article. Posting news earns more XP than posting a topic, etc...
XP values will also change from time to time. We will run promotions where by you can earn "double the XP" for posting a news article, or by posting a new topic in a specific forum, as a couple examples.
XP is determined by you, as you explore and interact on Scified.
Reputation / Rep Points
On the opposite end of the spectrum we have the new Rep system. This is the prestige factor associated with your profile. Higher rep earns higher respect within the community.
Rep is completely determined by others. Every time a member upvotes a post of yours, you gain Reputation. Upvotes can only (currently) be applied to forum topics and blog / news articles.
You can not give yourself Rep. You can upvote your own posts, but you will not gain any Rep from the action. Only when other members upvote you will you gain Rep.
Rep will help get your posts seen to more people (since people have decided your content is important by upvoting it). Your rep will also open you up to unique and special giveaways.
Both XP and Rep are aimed to help make posting and interacting with Scified more fun. For those who are avid gamers and who enjoy to "up their stats" and constantly level up, this also adds a new avenue to test yourself and push yourself to be the best you can be.
Rep is shown next to your profile in posts and both XP and Rep are shown on your profile page (as well as your mini profile preview when clicking your profile icon in the top right of the page).
Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments below! More updates still on the way...
