“Not Ranked” Status Request

[Oliarco]

I hope i’ve posted in the right section (I see this as “Site-related support”) but if i’m mistaken feel free to move my thread where you see fit.

I’d like my Account To be set as “Not Ranked” if possible.

Here’s my reasons:
The Unified Achievement Hunting Rules which ExoPhase follows states that:

NA-6 : Do not use unofficial mods that alter gameplay.

• All Steam Workshop mods are allowed except for mods that instantly/directly unlock achievements. Outside of Steam Workshop, only fully cosmetic mods are allowed. No unofficial mods that alter gameplay are allowed. Please see Allowed Rule 16 and Allowed Rule 17 below for more information on allowed mods.
• Examples: Installing unofficial debug-style mods similar to a trainer; Installing unofficial and gameplay-altering mods from sites such Nexus Mods or GameBanana or ModDB or random forums; installing a mod from NexusMods that increases your carry capacity or increases your XP gain or enables fast travel and other such gameplay-altering mods; etc.

It’s kindly asked to see Allowed Rules 16 and 17, therefore that’s what i did:

OK-16 : Most Steam Workshop Mods and Official Mods/Official Patches are allowed.

• Steam Workshop mods are considered official and generally allowed (even Steam Workshop mods that alter gameplay) except in the case of “Achievement Unlocker” mods (See Not Allowed Rule 7).
• Examples: Installing and using most Steam Workshop mods, as long as they do not grant you ways to instantly/directly unlock achievements (Not Allowed Rule 7); installing official, dev-provided H-patches (Hentai / Adult Content patches) which were downloaded outside of Steam in games where this is required for an achievement (many VN hentai games); downloading and using dev-provided accessory tools/patches to games; etc.

OK-17 : Fully Cosmetic Mods are allowed.

• 100% cosmetic-only mods are allowed, as long as they completely do not alter gameplay - this includes: texture packs, accessibility mods, mesh/lighting mods, nude mods, character portrait mods, mods that change how your player character looks, widescreen/aspect ratio mods, FoV mods, UI mods, HUD mods, and graphics overhaul mods. Unofficial mods that enable see-through walls/doors, wallhacking, outline/glow of enemies/items/etc. are not considered “cosmetic” and not allowed. Note that using any mods at all for online games might get you banned or VACed.
• Examples: Installing high-resolution texture pack mods or lighting fixes for The Witcher 3 is allowed; changing the character portrait artwork for the villagers in Stardew Valley is allowed; reskinning your Skyrim character into a beautiful naked magical hentai pony is allowed; etc.

I’m a modder that downloads, plays and (to a minor extent) creates mods.
In these mods are included gameplay changing mods which don’t come from the steam workshop (this for example).

• Using gameplay changing mods which don’t come from the steam workshop in games with achievements is not compatible with the aforementioned rules.
• Therefore my request.

If what i wrote left the impression that i feel these rules as unfair, well be assured, that's not my intention.
Actually it’s exactly like the Unified Achievement Hunting Rules states:

It is important to understand that “achievement hunting rules” are not the rules for how to have fun playing a game or how to play a game as it was intended. Achievement Hunting is a community very much like speedrunning or high-score attack where games are “hunted” in a non-standard, meta-competitive way.​

It’s just a community that decided to compete over achievements using specific and shared rules.

Do i find these rules incompatible with having fun in many games?
Sure
Am i or someone else FORCED to be part of that community and abide by these rules?
No.
So i leave the judment if these rules are fair or unfair to whom is part of said community.

If i "don't care" about that community then why do i care to make this request?
Well, mainly for 3 reasons:

1. Although i like achievements, i hardly care about competing over achievements and the “Not Ranked” status would make this clear right off the bat.
2. From the point of view of the A.H. Community: i find positive that people who’re not part of their community (i’m not) don’t “pollute” “their leaderboards” (although it’s not clear to me why A.H. Community uses leaderboards that track everyone regardless if they are or aren’t part of their community).
3. I love your Achievements Tracking Site and am more than up to respect its rules as long as they are reasonable (till now they are).

I trust in your understanding.

 

[Oliarco]

It’s been a month since i originally created this thread and it looks like it won’t get any support by now, maybe due to lack of time (although many “new” threads got attention/support from the staff in less than 3-24 hours of their posting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) or maybe for other reasons (was there maybe something wrong with my thread?).

Anyway, i made my request primarily to try to meet the needs of this site and its “hardcore audience” (reasons 2 and 3). Therefore, if the staff thinks that not setting my account as “Not Ranked” works better for the site, then i'm fine with that.

Still, i’ve to say that i fear that keeping someone in the leaderboards (me in this case) despite them admitting they’ve broken the rules that this site states to follows (and which AFAIK are mandatory for competing in its leaderboards) might lead people to question the validity of those rules on this site.

 

[x3sphere]

Sorry, I thought I had replied to the thread. Nothing wrong with it, however, I haven't taken action yet as I believe you should get a different status since you're voluntary asking to be removed from the leaderboard and we didn't specifically find issues with your account.

In effect would be the same (set to Not Ranked) but the status would allow the staff to more easily distinguish between those that were marked by the enforcement team and those that opted-out of leaderboards. Admittedly it hasn't been a high priority but I'll try to make this change soon.

 

[Oliarco]

Sorry, I thought I had replied to the thread. Nothing wrong with it,

Thanks for reassuring me.
I guess that the “silence” + seeing all other threads being answered created quite the “unneeded paranoia” hehe

however, I haven't taken action yet as I believe you should get a different status since you're voluntary asking to be removed from the leaderboard and we didn't specifically find issues with your account.

It is true that i’m voluntarily asking for it,
but it’s also true that i did break a rule (NA-6) which your site states to follow (i.e. I played games with achievements with mods that change the gameplay and don’t come from the steam workshop) and that its infringement should be an issue with my account.

Or shouldn’t?

I guess one may try to interpret NA-6 in other ways, but to me, it didn’t seem there was really room for different interpretations.

In effect would be the same (set to Not Ranked) but the status would allow the staff to more easily distinguish between those that were marked by the enforcement team and those that opted-out of leaderboards.

What works for the staff works for me (at least till now it did).
If you think that creating a “Voluntarily Not Ranked” status will make things easier for the staff then that’s most likely the way to go.

Admittedly it hasn't been a high priority but I'll try to make this change soon.

Thanks a bunch!