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What hunting styles are there?

What type of hunter are you?

  • Purist

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Booster

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Modder

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hacker

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5

KGBc00L

Member
I need some input on creating a classification system for types of trophy hunters. I have come up with a tentative classification system which I hope can be implementet as a self-labeling tag on the profiles after some discussion.
Labels:
  1. Purist
  2. Follower
  3. Booster
  4. Modder
  5. Hacker
So, it is a ordinate level of what style of hunting techniques are applied. The Purist allow no guidance whatsoever other than the game itself provides. The followers take learnings from others through guides and walkthroughs. The booster get active help from other players in earning trophies, the modder accept mods (of any kind) as help. The hacker will actively manipulate code, use hacks (both software and hardware) to achieve objectives.
I judge no one on their chosen style, and hope for more openness on this matter so meaningful comparison can be made between players.
If enough players label themselves truthfully enough, it will be possible to create a statistical model that calculates a score for any player which reveal what their probable style is, based on trophy metadata. It will also make the label ‘cheater’ redundant, as the meta game of trophy hunting now can be divided into classes based on hunting styles.
 
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Somfing

Active Member
Sometimes a purist can be a follower. Hackers are not gamers - they are hackers.

So you're suggesting their own leaderboard for each classification?
 

KGBc00L

Member
Sometimes a purist can be a follower. Hackers are not gamers - they are hackers.

So you're suggesting their own leaderboard for each classification?
Good points, I guess the labels must be dealt somewhat pragmatically. I don't suggest own leaderboards, but with this tag, you could filter and sort on selected styles, so that the ranking of your selection consists of gamers with approximately the same approach to hunting. But, like you said, I guess hackers can be purists some times as well, and I guess hackers could compete among themselves for these ridiculously high scores, and the purists might take more pride in their own effort, when not compared to hackers and modders. Having an unbiased algorithm set your label, will make it more fair. An alternative approach is to use an unsupervised learning algorithm to purely identify groups of hunting styles, but I thought that would be very hard to do, and also difficult to interpret. At least, with a labeling system, it would be easier to verify or describe such groups. Yet another approach to verification is to make another score on a one dimensional scale of hunting efficiency, theorizing that hackers would be the most efficient, and purists the least. This could then be correlated with the classes found by deep learning algorithms, or supervised learning based on self-labeling with the groups I suggested. I would like to hear more on what kind of typification of hunting styles that could be used.
 
Last edited:

CaptainScarLeg

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Game Info Editor
It's an interesting idea but I doubt enough people would be interested to take part in something like this. I also don't think many people would strictly classify themselves as one type or another, it often depends on the game. If you decide to take the leaderboards super seriously you'll end up using just about any method available to get ahead, outside of cheating.

If you're caught hacking or cheating in any way that breaks the Unified Achievement Hunting Rules you'll likely end up being removed from leaderboards entirely, so the "hacker" and "modder" classifications wouldn't be useful beyond labelling/shaming the users who have been removed from rankings.

It might be cool to have some profile tags or little badges that are automatically applied based on achievement tracking. Like little icons to show which platforms you play on, tags for certain ranking levels, like being in the top 10%, 5%, 1%, etc on the leaderboards. Maybe tags related to number of games played, like 200 games - "enthusiast", 500 games - "collector", 1000 games - "gaming addict" or something. That might be neat.
 

Somfing

Active Member
Good points, I guess the labels must be dealt somewhat pragmatically. I don't suggest own leaderboards, but with this tag, you could filter and sort on selected styles, so that the ranking of your selection consists of gamers with approximately the same approach to hunting. But, like you said, I guess hackers can be purists some times as well, and I guess hackers could compete among themselves for these ridiculously high scores, and the purists might take more pride in their own effort, when not compared to hackers and modders. Having an unbiased algorithm set your label, will make it more fair. An alternative approach is to use an unsupervised learning algorithm to purely identify groups of hunting styles, but I thought that would be very hard to do, and also difficult to interpret. At least, with a labeling system, it would be easier to verify or describe such groups. Yet another approach to verification is to make another score on a one dimensional scale of hunting efficiency, theorizing that hackers would be the most efficient, and purists the least. This could then be correlated with the classes found by deep learning algorithms, or supervised learning based on self-labeling with the groups I suggested. I would like to hear more on what kind of typification of hunting styles that could be used.
It's all about honesty. I don't think hackers or modders can give themselves the right characterization. It's a different type of mentality. And they will not participate in the voting even if the admins "like it". It's more like a trap considering your nickname :)

The idea of classification is not bad in itself though. It would be nice to have the tags or badges the Captain was talking about.

I can't decide in any way who I am - a purist or a follower? I try to play most of the games on my own, but since I love puzzles, sometimes I have to resort to guides.
 

KGBc00L

Member
It's an interesting idea but I doubt enough people would be interested to take part in something like this. I also don't think many people would strictly classify themselves as one type or another, it often depends on the game. If you decide to take the leaderboards super seriously you'll end up using just about any method available to get ahead, outside of cheating.

If you're caught hacking or cheating in any way that breaks the Unified Achievement Hunting Rules you'll likely end up being removed from leaderboards entirely, so the "hacker" and "modder" classifications wouldn't be useful beyond labelling/shaming the users who have been removed from rankings.

It might be cool to have some profile tags or little badges that are automatically applied based on achievement tracking. Like little icons to show which platforms you play on, tags for certain ranking levels, like being in the top 10%, 5%, 1%, etc on the leaderboards. Maybe tags related to number of games played, like 200 games - "enthusiast", 500 games - "collector", 1000 games - "gaming addict" or something. That might be neat.
Thanks for the input, and I trust your judgment on this matter. I think, however, it is impossible for certain gamers to adhere to all the Hunting Rules all the time. Some games are interesting only in modded versions, and it is not always like you can turn off achievements while playing them. But I guess, the aim of the rules is not to attack these gamers, but rather gamers who use mods specifically aimed at helping with achievements. As it stands, based on yours and @Somfing judgement of mentality of gamers, this type of scoring now seems viable only as an automated detection mechanism for flagging unrealistic achievement, both per game and in total over a time span. And in that case, self-labeling is not helpful. It is still possible to add a efficiency metric to the scoreboard, without implying the best ones are cheaters, especially as cheaters are removed from ranking by some kind of vetting process.
 

CaptainScarLeg

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Game Info Editor
Thanks for the input, and I trust your judgment on this matter. I think, however, it is impossible for certain gamers to adhere to all the Hunting Rules all the time. Some games are interesting only in modded versions, and it is not always like you can turn off achievements while playing them. But I guess, the aim of the rules is not to attack these gamers, but rather gamers who use mods specifically aimed at helping with achievements. As it stands, based on yours and @Somfing judgement of mentality of gamers, this type of scoring now seems viable only as an automated detection mechanism for flagging unrealistic achievement, both per game and in total over a time span. And in that case, self-labeling is not helpful. It is still possible to add a efficiency metric to the scoreboard, without implying the best ones are cheaters, especially as cheaters are removed from ranking by some kind of vetting process.
Yes I should specify that mods that are purely used to alter games in a cosmetic way or fix issues or offer quality of life improvements are okay, but those types of mods have no real bearing on achievement hunting. If you're using mods that mess with the game code in some way to help you get achievements then that's breaking the rules.
 
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