Token Overhaul

[redsea]

It has come to the attention of me and some other users, that the design for tokens have not undergone significant development since they have been introduced. This thread is dedicated to the pursuit of a new and more stylish token viewing experience. My initial idea for this was to somehow create some 3d design for the tokens, and keep the original image as a template. As you scroll over the tokens, they would rotate and possibly zoom in on your profile.

Now, this idea is just a thought. This thread is all about the opinions and ideas of the community, and whether or not you guys would like to see some sort of development in the tokens.

I have asked spit to help explain the technicalities of our idea in this thread so that you can better understand the path that we would like to see taken.
note: Spit and I are not going to perform these changes ourselves. This is an idea that we would like to see happen under the direction of the moderators.

Edit: THE TITLE OF THIS THREAD MAY BE A LITTLE MISLEADING. IF YOU PICK NO TO THE POLL WE ASSUME THAT YOU WOULD NOT LIKE TO SEE ANY DEVELOPMENT IN THE TOKENS. IF YOU CHOOSE YES, THIS MEANS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING DONE WITH THEM. WHETHER IT BE A LITTLE CLEANING UP OR A FULL BLOWN CHANGE.

[SC_coolguy44]

I picked yes, however this seems like a really good idea in theory, I just don't see this actually happening.

[Riotpolice]

This is an excellent idea that will take a lot of time. I'll just say that I fully support this idea.

[Gradiant]

Think it would suffice to just have new designs or cleaning up the image for the older tokens so they don't look horrible compared to the more recent ones.
These especially:

[Hakulyte]

1. Who would do it. How etc.
2. Are admins/moderators fine with the idea?

If you can answer these two positively, you're going somewhere.

Pretty much going with Gradiant on this one.

[Arkuski]

Tokens? What are those?

[redsea]

Originally Posted by Hakulyte

1. Who would do it. How etc.
2. Are admins/moderators fine with the idea?

If you can answer these two positively, you're going somewhere.

Pretty much going with Gradiant on this one.

OWA said that he saw some potential in the idea.

As to who would do it, your guess is as good as mine.

[Nullifidian]

I'm cool with doing a few redesigns of the general token itself, so it can be used as a template, but refilling the new token design would take quite a bit of work which I'm not interested in investing my time in cause I have other (paid) jobs to do as well.

Me and spenner discussed this before with redsea as well and were thinking of doing a new 3D token design that could slowly rotate when you hover your mouse over it. Maybe even zoom in so more details can be seen. The only issue would be reproducing the original token inside images though.

[One Winged Angel]

I would like to note that this is something that should probably get Synth's approval if it involves replacing the older tokens, should this idea reach that stage (after getting the okay from administration and majority of the community). Most of you are well aware that he wishes to preserve the history of the site, so I don't know if getting rid of the designs that we currently have is something that should happen. I'm aware that you're suggesting to keep the original image for these tokens as the template for the update, but just something to keep in mind should this idea progress to that point.

That being said, an update would be nice, but finding someone with the graphical expertise and willing to put enough time aside to make this happen is another issue entirely.

[Nullifidian]

Just to make it clear Rob (as I think you're either mixing up terminology or you have the opposite idea of me), I'm talking about changing the token itself, not the images depicted in the token. The images depicted in the tokens should be preserved (perhaps slightly renewed in terms of colors etc. but the same image). I think the token (primarily the outer ring) could use an update as it looks dated.

Token design being the shape of the token -> change
Token image being the image depicted in each token -> preserve (and/or slightly update)

[One Winged Angel]

No I'm aware that the image displayed on the token itself wouldn't change, but I still think it should be run past him. Remember what the response was when members wanted to recolour the Legacy files? The steps themselves wouldn't have been altered in any way, but Synth said no because BNS was part of the site at one point. It's a similar issue here imo.

Again, I'm personally fine with it.

[Nullifidian]

alright, was just making sure we didn't end up with opposite ideas lol

[XelNya]

Originally Posted by Gradiant

Think it would suffice to just have new designs or cleaning up the image for the older tokens so they don't look horrible compared to the more recent ones.
These especially:

I have to agree with this. There's no reason to do more than that. It's just wasted server space.

[redsea]

Originally Posted by XelNya

I have to agree with this. There's no reason to do more than that. It's just wasted server space.

A good amount of people welcome this idea, and so do I. I would really like to see any sort of improvement. It doesn't matter to me all that much if my specific intentions from the initial posts come to life or not.

[RNGRX]

3D tokens done.

[redsea]

I'm thinking about trying to direct Synth to this thread, as we really need the admins to be on our side if this is ever going to happen. Anyone think it is worth a try to consult an admin on the subject?

[TheSaxRunner05]

Originally Posted by redsea

I'm thinking about trying to direct Synth to this thread, as we really need the admins to be on or side if this is ever going to happen. Anyone think it is worth a try to consult an admin on the subject?

You have better chances of winning the lottery than getting synth to do something about it. He is a wandering ghost, haunting the forums and lurking about. He is the ghost of FFR-Past.

[redsea]

I really meant to say an Admin in general. lol

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by redsea

I'm thinking about trying to direct Synth to this thread, as we really need the admins to be on our side if this is ever going to happen. Anyone think it is worth a try to consult an admin on the subject?

First off: exactly what TSR said -- the odds of catching Synth are worse than you getting struck by lightning.

Second: I really don't think this is something that should be pushed around/about; it is an unnecessary waste of site resources. There are a large amount of tokens on this site -- changing them to higher quality/three-dimensional designs detrimentally affects load times for profiles and reduces accessibility for those who want to access the site through mobile means. There's nothing horribly wrong with the token designs that exist; they could use a little bit of cleaning up in some cases (see Gradient's post), but that's really about it.

Third: the token designs are a part of the site's history, and really shouldn't be changed for the sake of preservation. I don't quite agree with Rob in them being the same scenario as BNS files -- in fact, token designs are considerably less problematic being left alone than BNS files considering that they very negatively affect the visual mechanics of the game and cause a lack of uniformity; this further defends the point of just leaving them alone.

They don't need to be fixed, they don't need changed, and changing them will reduce overall performance in certain areas of the site (also, increasing bandwidth usage unnecessarily as well, if you want to think from a more technical perspective).

[One Winged Angel]

The only reason I brought up BNS files and why they haven't been recolored was to cite an example of the owner wanting to preserve the site's history, which is why I believe Synth should be contacted should this idea actually take off. That's the only thing I was trying to point out, no other comparison between that issue and this one.