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Like all things in life the username scarcity problem can be solved with gamification. Initially all users are assigned a unique number as their username. By re

Like all things in life the username scarcity problem can be solved with gamification. Initially all users are assigned a unique number as their username. By reaching various predefined goals users can earn new characters to use in their username. For simplicity's sake I'll restrict my examples to ASCII characters. Made your first 20 comments? You've earned a random character. It'll be like opening a pack of Magic cards. Will you get a highly desirable 'e' or much less useful 'Z'? Created your first 3 posts? Get another random character! You'll be able to trade your characters with other users. You need a 'Y' to form "YoloSwaggins", so you trade your desirable 'e' for a 'Y' and a 'g' (you need 2 'g's). You can also sell characters you have no need of or buy ones that you want, all through the website's online marketplace that takes a modest cut for themselves of course. You can't just change your username at any time though. Each character change requires a special character change token that has a small chance of dropping with each achievement. Or you can buy character change tokens in packs of 3 from the online shop.

MildlySerious 11y ago
This is an interesting approach! A problem I think would come up in this case is that it encourages spam and low quality content to collect points to unlock desired features. So strict moderation (likely by the community as well) could be needed, depending on the type, target audience and size of platform this is implemented on. A positive side effect, which I absolutely love, is that the more active people get to choose their name, while the more passive ones have to stick with the "less attractive" name for longer. Which makes complete sense as the screen time for active users' names is considerably higher. Very interesting concept.
mixedCase 11y ago
Have you considered that this introduces a huge amount of complexity to a practically trivial issue?
im3w1l 11y ago
But wont your scheme make the most desirable usernames, the short ones, the cheapest? Or is your aim to shift the demand to longer names as they now convey status?

MildlySerious 11y ago

This is an interesting approach! A problem I think would come up in this case is that it encourages spam and low quality content to collect points to unlock desired features. So strict moderation (likely by the community as well) could be needed, depending on the type, target audience and size of platform this is implemented on. A positive side effect, which I absolutely love, is that the more active people get to choose their name, while the more passive ones have to stick with the "less attractive" name for longer. Which makes complete sense as the screen time for active users' names is considerably higher. Very interesting concept.

mixedCase 11y ago

Have you considered that this introduces a huge amount of complexity to a practically trivial issue?

im3w1l 11y ago

But wont your scheme make the most desirable usernames, the short ones, the cheapest? Or is your aim to shift the demand to longer names as they now convey status?