Leaderboard
In Goodgame Big Farm the leaderboard is a shared window where I can see the standings of every player and every cooperative on my world. Clicking a name takes me to that player's farm or to the cooperative's details, so the leaderboard doubles as a way to scout neighbors and rivals. Besides the overall standings it also holds separate tabs for long-term scoring and for the event that is running right now or finished most recently.
I treat the leaderboard as a basic orientation tool in the game - I use it to find active players for the cooperative, to check my own position and to see what I am still missing for a reward. On its own it would not interest me, but combined with the cooperative and with events it is worth checking regularly.
I use the leaderboard to find players, cooperatives and their farms
I open the leaderboard as an overview where I can search for other players, visit their farm or compare myself with them. Alongside the leaderboard of individual players there is a separate tab for cooperatives, so I judge both groups separately.
I find a specific player or cooperative through the field for searching by name or by rank, and as soon as I click a row, the player's details or the cooperative's details open - with a cooperative I also see the donation requirements, such as the minimum amount and the minimum number of points a donation counts for. With players I get a button for visiting the farm directly on top of that.
Sorting by XP, reputation, sticker points or fishing XP shows different kinds of success
- By XP - the classic level progress
- By reputation - how many reputation points the player has collected
- By sticker points - progress in collecting stickers
- By fishing XP - results in fishing
Thanks to that the leaderboard does not rate only who is furthest along in the game; I can also read out of it whether a player actively fishes or collects stickers, which comes in handy mainly when I am looking for partners for the cooperative.
The overall ranking, the long-term leaderboard and the event leaderboard cover different periods
The overall ranking tab counts results from the whole time spent playing. The long-term leaderboard, by contrast, only adds up challenge points from the last completed competition cycles, so it shows the current form of a player or a cooperative better than a one-off performance at the start of the game.
Then there is a separate card for events - it shows the final placement from the previous finished event along with the date and time when the event ended. If an event that is currently running has not finished yet, there is no leaderboard for it; it appears once the event ends and stays visible even after the next event starts. On the event card I also find a list of the Big Farm worlds that took part in that event.
Rewards for placement make it worth defending my spot in the standings
On leaderboards tied to rewards I see two numbers at once - my current score and my current rank. The condition for a reward is usually to earn a certain number of points and at the same time to finish among the best players, so scoring alone is not enough, I also have to hold my position ahead of the others.
Points are collected mainly by producing in production buildings, so when I see that placement is what I am missing for the reward, it pays to aim my production at whatever brings leaderboard points instead of relying only on the points I pick up along the way.
I send a player an invitation to the cooperative straight from the leaderboard
When I come across an active player without a cooperative in the leaderboard, I do not have to look them up anywhere else - I send them the invitation to the cooperative right from here. The game asks me whether I want to invite that particular player, and once it is sent I get a confirmation that the invitation went out successfully. The invitation is only valid for a limited time, though; after it expires a new one has to be sent.
A player I am ignoring myself cannot be invited - in that case the game tells me straight away that the action cannot be carried out because of the ignore.
Ignoring players shows up in the leaderboard both ways
The leaderboard also shows me whether a particular player is ignoring me - that row is marked separately. It is mainly useful when recruiting for the cooperative, because I can see right away who there is no point trying to contact or invite.
