I think that there should be a section on this site, (or possibly in the news in game) where players are ranked by their levels and standing.

There could be a section where the five players on each nation with the highest combined levels are listed. This could also be done for standing with the nations and the corporations.

This, or a variation of it would be cool.

I like this idea for a couple of reasons.

1) I like the idea of the highest ranking players being able to issue special orders and command the entire nation that they belong to.

I think that has already been mentioned in this forum though.

2) Another reason why I like this idea is because it gives something for less pilots like myself to aspire to. It would give us a goal to try and put our name on the board.

what do others think?

I've always liked the idea of a scoreboard. Back in the day of CTF we did have a
scoreboard, and for a while I had three characters in the top 10. It was a motivator.
I played hard to get those characters up there, and played even harder if I started
to slip in the standings...

These days, I am starting to think that if I have to kill another guardian, carry another crate or mine another 'roid, I will just give it up. Levelling has always been
TERMINALLY TEDIOUS and is worse now than when it was introduced...

But I drifted off-topic. We need something to spice it up. Scoreboards-> good.
In another thread, smuggling illegal goods was suggested. Also good. If the reward
is high enough. One thing that makes trading so boring is that there are no more
commodities that sell for six or eight or ten thousand credits each. The sort of
discovery that gives you a little rush. Looking for weapons? They are pretty much
the same everywhere. Mining? Same same same. Exploring? No surprises. Some
may say that I haven't looked hard enough, but I have pages and pages of notes that
say otherwise. It looks to me like those who have been clamoring for "balance" have
been heard and answered. BALANCE = BOREDOM !!!

Bring back SURPRISE. Easter Eggs. Ancient artifacts to be found. Exotic weapons.
Rare and valuable ship add-ons. Random crates of REALLY valuable stuff. These
things are easy to do... not like writing complicated sub-plots and missions. Give
us VARIETY. Please.

would it make it less tedious if we had the score card to compare ourselves to?

I think in some ways it would, in others it wouldn't. We do need some extra motivation for lvl-ing and doing tedious game play, i think this just may help.

(...)ranked by their levels and standing (...)

(...) highest ranking players being able to issue special orders and command the entire nation that they belong to (...)

I do not think that any Serco will like to get commands from a trader... Because a trader will lead if you put standings into it.

I for my own do not like this Idea. We need no ranking. It is gone for a reason.

yeah they are gone for a reason. a very very good reason

What's so wrong with having a scoreboard? If you don't like it, nobody would make you look at it. And I think everyone would know or would find out very quickly that certain rankings don't necessarily mean anything - having the highest Combat license does not mean you're the best fighter pilot.

As far as giving higher ranked players advantages like giving orders, depending on exactly how it was implemented I think it might work well. Allowing players to give other players orders would definitely be bad (unless of course all players involved agreed, like a strict guild), but something along the lines of being able to earn 'bodyguard' bots that you could order around (escort me, escort the <nation> CtC convoy, attack <player>, attack <nation> CtC convoy, etc) might be cool.

How would you judge score? A trader and a bounty hunter are both viable fields, but a trader might have lower combat levels and a bounty hunter lower trade/mining levels. Who decides what is more important?

just have it sortable by different things, like ctc capture, kills, money, levels, awards, etc

"but something along the lines of being able to earn 'bodyguard' bots that you could order around (escort me, escort the <nation> CtC convoy, attack <player>, attack <nation> CtC convoy, etc) might be cool."

Brilliant.

I agree with Tram. How about a few different lists? One for "most profitable traders," (computed by average income per trade run?), one for "most successful fighters" (computed by kill/death ratio or something, not just liscense lvls) etc....

?

Crap... that would make all my /explodes to get back to my home station suck...