On Ultimate Shinobi, in order to progress your character, you need to roleplay and accumulate funds. However, in order for your writing to be turned into these funds, they must go through an evaluation process.

Previously on US, you simply submitted each topic for evaluation once it was completed and every participant would be graded and the points then added to their accounts. However, due to the overwhelming ratio of members to staff, this would always cause periods of time where a member would have to wait a week or more for a topic to be evaluated, and the staff would feel overwhelmed as they would finish evaluating a topic and two more would appear in its place.

To remedy this, the new system revolves around the idea of receiving a small base amount for every topic you complete, with only your best (as you deem them) evaluated on a larger scale, which is also guided by a set rubric. This way, you will have the opportunity to put your best foot forward and give the staff what you think is your best writing to read, while reducing the workload on the staff. Thus, those that complete threads very frequently won't be held up by a lingering evaluation, and the staff no longer needs to feel overwhelmed by the number of evaluations. There will no longer be commentary tailored to each participant in a thread - instead, the rubric (listed below) will allow users to find the score they received and thus know which areas could use improvement in order to raise their score in that specific area.

A short list of rules exist within Evaluations to ensure that members do not try and cheat their way through the system in order to achieve the top rank within a matter of days. Such rules are not meant to be limiting towards the roleplayer, but instead intended to create a level playing field that would otherwise be open to scandalous abuse. Thus, the Evaluator is expected to enforce all rules when required to. More rules will be added if and when necessary.

• Unless otherwise specified, all post count requirements apply per person, not in total, and apply to all topics.
  
• The minimum post count requirement for any threads involving more than one person is 3 posts per topic - social topics with two or less posts from the participating members cannot be submitted as preferred topics
  
• If writing a solo topic, you can opt to write a single post that has at least three times the minimum word count requirement.
  
• A member is only permitted to create three consecutive roleplaying topics with two or less posts. Any more and the overall grade must be reduced by fifty percent (rounded down).
  
• Anybody that does not have a good reason for neglecting to exit a thread will receive a point deduction.
  
• There are some rules that, when broken, will result in a voided topic. That means you will not receive any points, and depending on the situation (for example if there's a problem with your actions in a topic), the events of the thread will be written off as if they never happened IC.
  

Instead of posting every thread as soon as it's completed, members are to take note of all the threads they participate in. Then, On Friday and Saturday of every week, the evaluations section will be opened for the requests. All other days of the week, the section will be closed.

However, it's important that you decide which you feel are your best topics, as you are to select two topics you completed that week that you feel show your best writing and link to them in the "preferred" section of the template. All of your threads will be submitted in a single topic, preferred or no, to keep things straightforward. Any others will still receive points, but on a lesser scale than those evaluated. Thus, it is recommended that you really pick your best writing to be scored rather than just the thread that made you laugh the most.

When submitting your topics for evaluation, please use the following template (with as many or as few bulleted topics as needed):

Code:

[b]Preferred Thread #1:[/b] [url=URL]Topic Title[/url] (Mission Rank if applicable)
[b]Preferred Thread #2:[b] [url=URL]Topic Title[/url] (Mission Rank if applicable)

[b]Others:[/b][list][*][url=URL]Topic Title[/url] (Mission Rank if applicable)

We also ask that, with these template changes, you include any relevant mission approval threads at the bottom of your post.

Rather than grade each participant, the moderator will only grant the points to the user posting the evaluation request. This way, while one person might think their writing was best in a specific topic, those that don't feel it's their best can opt to choose a different topic to be graded on. What this means is that unless you link to a thread in your own evaluation request, you won't be receiving points for it. However, you are able to post in an evaluation request of somebody else if you wish to choose the same preferred thread. You can only have the same threads evaluated/graded that the original poster has selected - if you have other threads that you wish to be scored, you must still post your own request thread.

As this system means that most topics will be given fewer points than the previous average, the grading scale has been raised (the numbers are subject to change during the first few weeks as we get a better feel for how these numbers accumulate). This way, those that roleplay more will not feel as though their efforts are wasted, nor will those that don't roleplay as much feel that they are being left behind.

Topics that are not marked as "preferred" will be given a set score of 8 points. Any completed missions will be given this base score and the rank appropriate completion points as a bonus. For example, if you complete 3 missions in one week that are all B-Rank, the two that you do not mark as preferred will get you 14 points each.

Preferred missions will be graded on a scale of 10, with the rank based completion points added, but have a multiplier of 2. Continuing from the prevous example, if the user's preferred mission receives a grade of 8/10, they will receive 28 Mission Points.

8 + 6 = 14
14 * 2 = 28

The Rank-based completion points for missions are as follows:

• D-Rank: +2 MP
  
• C-Rank: +4 MP
  
• B-Rank: +6 MP
  
• A-Rank: +10 MP
  
• S-Rank: +15 MP

Preferred social topics, however, will be graded on a scale of 30.

Storytelling: Storytelling is the conveying of events in words. When you write a story, you should be able paint the picture of what you are writing by using simple text combined with words that make up the meaning of what you are trying to convey. Storytelling is a broad definition, but we want you to keep it simple. Can you tell story? Can you break it down into a beginning, middle and end? Even if your story spans over multiple topics, a beginning, middle and end must exist. You must be able to tell a story that keeps people reading whether it's in the middle of your Saga, the very beginning or end. Entertainment also fits here. At the end of the day, someone has taken time out of their day to sit down and read your work for free. They don’t want to be going through endless topics reading the same old, boring drivel. They want to be reading new, exciting and fresh topics that make them want to read more and more whilst keeping them in suspense in between. When posting, you need to be asking yourself some questions such as; did the topic tell a story? Did the topic keep your attention? Did the topic make you want to read more? You should write for your enjoyment, but also write so that people feel excited when they read your roleplaying.

Storytelling
Grade	Description
0	There is no effective storytelling present.
2	The topic doesn't seem to be focused on the story at all, though there are some connected elements.
4	The story is present, but there are a lot of ideas that aren't conveyed properly. Some parts of the topic feel disconnected.
6	The story is present, but the elements are confusing. Lines have to be reread and the story has no visible interest.
8	The storytelling is average. It's clear that there is a single story being followed in the topic, but it still lacks some focus in places and can be confusing at times.
10	The story is being told well, but there are still some elements that don't make sense.
12	The story is being told very well and there are very few elements that don't make sense. There is no confusion about the events in the story.
14	The storytelling is impeccable. All of the writing relates to the story being told and keeps the reader's attention the entire way through.

Readability/Flow: Readability is commonly referred to as 'flow' on most roleplay sites. Readability is important when writing but difficult to master. Readability is your ability to make the topic flow into one story. This flow is usually interrupted by what is called 'rehashing' or writing a similar or same train of thoughts over and over again, in a new way. Though there are multiple ways one can deal with a situation, constantly writing it over again becomes a bore if new story elements aren't introduced. Also, when writing topics with people it is not necessary to retell events from the beginning of your post in detail. Remember, having a proper flow helps your story - it becomes easier to read.

Readability & Flow
Grade	Description
0	These is no flow and the topic is unreadable.
1	The topic is barely readable and feels extremely choppy.
2	The topic is difficult to read and the flow is very inconsistent.
3	The readability and flow of the topic are somewhat lacking.
4	The readability and flow are good. This is the average.
5	The topic reads and flows very well.
6	The topic reads effortlessly and flows exquisitely.

Structure: Structure is your ability to format your reading in a way that makes it easy to understand and read. When reading topics with considerable length, the blocks of text make things hard to read as it feels like a chore just looking at them. Space your dialogue out, remove clutter from your posts by stating a single idea and moving on to the next. By adding lines between dialogue, thoughts and even text it gives the feeling of moving to the reader, therefore it is easier for them to get through the story. Stay away from unnecessarily long sentences but don't use a bunch of short ones.

Structure
Grade	Description
0	The topic has very little structure and is one long passage of text.
1	The topics' structure is extremely weak and the text is not spaced properly.
2	The topic structure is very poor and comes in big blocks of text.
3	The topic's structure is poor and the paragraphs are not properly broken up in to manageable sizes.
4	The topics structure is average, the paragraphs are spaced normally but the structure still appears bland as thoughts and key events are not spaced properly.
5	The topics structure is good, the storytelling elements as dialogue and thoughts are properly placed and the topic looks easy to digest.
6	The topics structure is perfect, the storytelling is easy on the eyes as all elements are spaced properly. At first glance the topic is interesting and reading the topic is effortless.

Spelling and Grammar: The bane of all writers can often be the most simplest of spelling and grammar mistakes, which is why the eagle-eyed evaluator, is here to help point out these mistakes. If a frequent mistake is made, such as five or more times per post, then an alert should be made within the evaluation and points deducted. Any less though is acceptable. If your grammar isn't good, by simply asking for tips when you post your topic up for evaluation can spur the evaluator to help you with the errors. Now that you're making an effort to become a better writer, don't fret about points being deducted. The basic level of grammar that we're looking for is the same you use to talk amongst your friends and what you learned or are still learning in school.

Spelling & Grammar
Grade	Description
0	There are so many spelling and grammar errors that this topic is impossible to understand or read without stopping at nearly every sentence.
1	There are so many spelling and grammar errors that it is very difficult to read the writing and the flow suffers considerably.
2	The spelling and grammar errors make the flow choppy and make the writing a bit difficult to read sometimes.
3	There are enough spelling and/or grammar errors that they somewhat disrupt the readability and flow of the writing.
4	There are so few spelling and/or grammar errors that they have no noticeable effect on the readability and flow of the writing.

Comprehension and Execution: Did they fully understand what was being requested by the client and did they to adhere to the exact directions or did they stray off the directions and go about it in their own way with out necessity? Points deducted for any detail no matter how small that was overlooked and not completed in the task. Also anything that went against a direct stipulation/order issued by the client will receive at minimum a one point deduction unless doing so aided the over all mission in its effective completion. To do so must have made the mission more successful than had they not. No exemptions will be made if the mission would have been just as successful or less successful by disobeying or ignoring orders and stipulations.

Comprehension & Execution
Grade	Description
0	The roleplayer did not understand the terms of the mission and did not meet any of the objectives.
1	There is very little understanding of the terms of the mission and the objectives were barely met.
2	There is a slight lack of understanding of the terms of the mission and the objectives weren't fully met.
3	The terms of the mission were fully understood and all objectives were met.

Evidence and Collateral: If it was a secret mission were they found out by anyone at all and blow their cover, otherwise, did they cause any unnecessary damages to the area or people which was not needed for mission completion? Higher score = less collateral. Points to be deducted based on extremity and noticeably of extra damage. This does not include damage that needed to be caused to complete the mission, but rather that could have been avoided and still have completed the mission just as well. These include things like damage to buildings, agriculture, nature, injuries to others and murders. Again, things that needed to be done to complete the mission will not count as deductions.

Evidence & Collateral
Grade	Description
0	There is so much collateral damage that the mission cannot be considered a success. There is blatant evidence of the ninja's presence, removing all doubt about who is responsible.
1	There is a lot of unnecessary collateral damage, but the mission can still be considered successful. Sort of. The ninja left behind some evidence identifying them as the person that carried out the mission, but it would still take some searching to find the exact identity.
2	There is a little bit of unnecessary collateral damage. The ninja left behind a little bit of evidence that very vaguely points to them or their village or organization as the one responsible for the mission.
3	There is absolutely no unnecessary collateral damage. if there is any, it was unavoidable. There is nothing that points to the ninja, village, or organization as the one responsible.

Creativity: Did they use their ninja training to come up with an inventive and new way to complete the mission or did they do it in a generic and more or less boring style? This is entirely at the discretion of the grader. However base guidelines more or less settle around out of the box thinking to solutions and methods as well as adaptability to new circumstances.

Creativity
Grade	Description
0	The execution of the mission showed no deviation from the basic objectives in difficulty or complexity. They simply go through the mission and complete it without any sense of difficulty.
1	There is some creativity in the completion of the mission objective(s).
2	The ninja adapted to new circumstances with ease and went outside of the box in finding ways to complete the mission objective(s).

Quality:This one is best described as a combination of the four values used to grade social topics It involves, length, grammar, quality, structure and character progression. More or less it comes down to if the grader thought you should have described something important better, or if your details were a little confusing, or if you just obviously weren't even trying on the mission at all. Character Progression is obviously indicative of some form of growth shown through the topic.

Quality
Grade	Description
0	There are so many spelling and grammar errors that this topic is impossible to understand or read without stopping at nearly every sentence. There is no character growth whatsoever and there is no real structure to the topic.
1	There are enough spelling and/or grammar errors that they disrupt the readability and flow of the writing. There is very little character development and the topic structure is lacking.
2	There are so few spelling and/or grammar errors that they have no noticeable effect on the readability and flow of the writing. There is very clear character development and the topic is structured well.