I think with as small as our community is, word of mouth reputation is just as, if not more effective in helping you weed out bad apples as a system such as you;ve described here would.
I think with as small as our community is, word of mouth reputation is just as, if not more effective in helping you weed out bad apples as a system such as you;ve described here would.
The only working example of such a system I can think of is Archeage's hero system; players gain hero points for participating in large-scale events, and the top X amount of players are then voted for every month. The heroes get a money reward, but they're also able to summon the entire server to a central location - the intention being that if an event is going on, they're able to quickly rally the faction.
It works sometimes, but honestly the scale of Project Gorgon doesn't really justify a similar system - but if you wanted a functional example, they're out there.
We need some applicable examples. Sure, there are examples but it needs to be applicable so that it could work with Project: Gorgon and it can't be fundementally flawed. What's fundementally flawed? Examples: Systems that are easily abused, systems that require significant moderation, etc.
I'll use druids for an example.
If you participate in X druid events, you'll start earning druid notoriety. The top 10 druids become candidates for Arch-Druid status. All other druids (with a minimum level requirement) can vote for a druid during a particular 3-month festival. The 3 most voted for druids gain the "Arch-Druid" character badge, and the ability "Druid's Call", which sends out a "call" to all other druids on the server, which can be accepted to teleport the player to the Arch-Druid's location; this ability has a 24 hour cooldown, and can only be cast during a druid emergency.
It hardly seems exploitable or something that could be abused, and would make the whole druid emergency event go down a lot smoother, while also establishing players as a pillar of the community & requires no moderation whatsoever.
That said, I'm not saying the game needs these sorts of systems, I'm just saying they're doable.
One issue that can't be fixed is that if you want to be nice to new people but these new people are prone to being mean/evil then the rep system isn't going to protect you. If I ever choose to come back, I'm going to vow to avoid being engaged in the player economy in any way, shape or form. I wonder if what/who drove me from the game, is related to why Niph is looking for ways to vet people. In my case it was someone I had never heard of before. It would be nice to know that the kerfuffle I got myself into wasn't entirely or mainly my fault.
One issue with Niph suggestion of "Grouping consistently with high-reputation players would increase yours." I would think the problem(s) would just suck-up to higher ups and still be hell for lower level players. They probably flaunted their rep, and use it in their scams and schemes to their advantage.
I am thinking that some problem people are smart enough that they get on your nerves but don't cross the line, that calls for you to writing out a abuse report. In those cases I'd like to submit lesser feedback. This person made me sad, this person made me mad, this person made me quit the game. In cases where this person made me quit the game, and if the player then stops playing at all, then the system would put a message to the devs. Of course if someone was racking up lots of sads, mads or quits, the system should also alert the devs. When issues with a player did arise they could look at the accumulated totals, and might be able at a glance to see if the player in question is more problematic than the average player. Any system would still require investigation on the part of the devs once the system reached the call to action point. If the system could automatically, record chat and transactions that occured between the two players before the feedback submitted, or a timestamp at least to make it easier to investigate.
Maybe a friendly suggestion from the devs, to people that are being disruptive. A sort of please change your ways, or you might get along better with people if you did things this way. Of course that would be just phase one, incase they didn't realize their behavior was harmful.
Anyway, I miss playing.