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Ideas for Awards & Recognition

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:49 pm
by Akroth
From what I've seen there's not a whole lot we that we do to recognize the achievements of our members until the point when they're ready to become a squire and/or knight.

While some realms (And moreso, units) have systems in place to recognize the achievements of their members, I don't see much here locally, nor have I seen much on a national scale.

Looking at SCA and Amtgard, they both have systems to recognize members who contribute to the group. For instance, the SCA has a whole list of awards they give out including awards for Medieval Arts & Sciences (Garb etc), Combat Skills, Service, Teaching and many others. A list can be found here:
http://www.sca.org/awards/

I think Bel could be doing more to recognize the achievements of its members. I'm attempting to implement a recognition/award system within Thunder Guard and would like to hear the ideas that other realms/units have come up for this sort of thing.

So far, here's some ideas I'm tossing around:

AWARDS - Like in SCA, longtime contributing members could be recognized with an awards ceremony and certificate/title at local/regional events. This could appeal to any long-term member of our group who regularly makes a contribution to the game, including those who make garb, provide loaner gear, help with organizing/running events, marshaling and of course those who engage in combat.

COMBAT TRIALS - Any fighter in the group will have the option of trying to complete combat trials once every few practices. These will be 1v1 and small group battles designed to test the fighter's skill in a variety of scenarios. Combat trials will become increasingly difficult as the fighter increases in rank.

ELO RANKED COMBAT - Any two fighters may agree to a ranked fight, with the fight observed by a marshal. The outcome of the fight would affect the rating of each fighter, based upon an ELO ranking system. The ratings would be shown on the realm website. This is meant to appeal to competitive 1v1 fighters.

Re: Ideas for Awards & Recognition

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:34 pm
by Caleidah
2 and 3 will just lead to rhinohiding and sneaky cheating.

For 1, Par already has a lovely set of awards and honors for longtime members and contributors.

Re: Ideas for Awards & Recognition

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:55 pm
by Akroth
Caleidah wrote:2 and 3 will just lead to rhinohiding and sneaky cheating.

We've already run #2 in the past without any issues. We're not that super-competitive I guess. Personally I'd want to do them for the challenge, not for the sake of competing them as quickly as possible. Cheating seems silly.

Caleidah wrote:For 1, Par already has a lovely set of awards and honors for longtime members and contributors.

ORlly? Where do I find these sneaky awards and honors? Are they on a national level, or are they open to realm leaders to give out to their members?

Re: Ideas for Awards & Recognition

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:41 am
by Galya
ORlly? Where do I find these sneaky awards and honors? Are they on a national level, or are they open to realm leaders to give out to their members?

They're here, although the list of people who hold them is not up-to-date, since Par just handed some new ones out at Geddon: National Recognition Awards
And they're on a national level. Given that the president is the only person who has been giving them out, I'd imagine you'd need to talk to him before having your realm leaders do the same.

Re: Ideas for Awards & Recognition

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:19 pm
by Tiberius Claudius
It is my opinion that most honors and recognitions need to remain at the Realm and unit level. It is there that a person is usually most instrumental to advancing the cause of Belegarth and where they are most easily recognized. Like government, having awards get passed down the pipeline from on high often overlooks the fine details and results in undeserving folks getting something because there was a nice write up *cough my Lieutenant's Silver star I'mnotmadbro* or deserving people being ignored simply because the machinery in place is too big and cumbersome.

Leaving it organic at a small level also makes room for unique situations to be respected - say a member makes a ton of cheap loaner garb and brings it to every practice for everyone to use, vs the local seamstress who gets paid beaucoup bucks by the well-to-do senior members to make a few sets of absolutely kick * garb. Who's more deserving of a 'service' or 'garb mastery' award? I say it depends on the Realm and the people making up the rules, you know?

Lastly, leaving it at the local level can help a new fighter break the ice at events. When I was in a roman unit we created all sorts of awards for skill, service, leadership, etc and we wore them on a sash for feast garb not unlike the boyscouts. I was new and had a few of these on and plenty of folks came up to me and asked what they were. I got to explaining and some people thought it was neat, others thought it was motarded, and some even said, 'well I already do that, why do you have an award; where do I get mine?' and we got into discussing the process behind creating them and earning them. Point is, I got to meet people and they had a better understanding of who I was and what I brought to the game at a local level.

YMMV

Re: Ideas for Awards & Recognition

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 6:06 pm
by Jcollins
Amtgard does Awards for a host of reasons its also how they measure folks for knighthood.
I dont mean to ressurect an old post but local awards and even potentially regional awards from a coalition of banded together groups isnt a bad thing..it sets a standard level for people to have to aspire to.