Badge suggestions

[Neil Tathers]

Tutorial'd maybe

[Johan Crichton]

"Veteran" - for those who were on Shartak before v2

I'd suggest, and prefer, "Old One".  It has a more Shartak like feel.

[Milla]

Maybe a few badges that you need to be in spirit shape to get, just to be quirky.

Christmas Spirit
You have haunted Santa's Grotto.

Pirate Ghost
You have haunted the crow's nest at the Shipwreck

Ruin Haunter
You have haunted the ruins of the Temple (or another ruin, I guess)

[snico]

Maybe a few badges that you need to be in spirit shape to get, just to be quirky.

Christmas Spirit
You have haunted Santa's Grotto.

Pirate Ghost
You have haunted the crow's nest at the Shipwreck

Ruin Haunter
You have haunted the ruins of the Temple (or another ruin, I guess)

Yes!  Class specific badges!!

Fat Slob- you've eaten over 100 characters

Picky Eater- you're last 75 feasts have all been from one camp

[Neil Tathers]

Firestarter - Started 50 fires.

Firefighter - put out 50 fires.

[Swarm]

Firestarter - Started 50 fires.

Firefighter - put out 50 fires.

Change firestarter to pyromaniac?

[Simon]

Would badges implemented need some form of graphical representation or just a long text list a bit like the skills tree?

[Johan Crichton]

Would badges implemented need some form of graphical representation or just a long text list a bit like the skills tree?

I'd suggest text first, icons when and if they're available.

Something like:

Description:
You see nothing special.
They carry 1 parrot feather charm...
They're wearing the following badges: Happy Camper, Island Explorer, Fail Whale sailor, Cutlass Carrier

[Ahnaom]

Description:
You see nothing special.
They carry 1 parrot feather charm...
They're wearing the following badges: Happy Camper, Island Explorer, Fail Whale sailor, Cutlass Carrier

Please, make an option to turn these off for your own characters...

[Milla]

Maybe replace wearing the following badges with has earned the following badges?

[snico]

Please, make an option to turn these off for your own characters...

That's a good point, a character may earn a badge accidentally that goes against his/her established behavior or personality or, well, character.  Maybe in the character's profile, all the badges you've earned are listed with check boxes next to them, and only the ones you check are shown on your profile?

[Johan Crichton]

Maybe replace wearing the following badges with has earned the following badges?

Good suggestion.  It really is about earning them rather than wearing them isn't it.

[AlexanderRM]

And never say what can get you one, just how many there are

That sounds like a nice idea. Say that there are X many badges and perhaps the names (or people could figure out the names from profiles) but no saying how you earn them, perhaps even discouraging discussion of it on the forums? Reminds me of the NW exploration badges, where you had a list with descriptions but you weren't allowed to say where they were found.

[Maunder]

I'd prefer they were called "Achievements" rather than "Badges". 
I'd suggest each should be included on a statistics page, listing all achievers with dates, linked to from the profiles of those folks. 
The profile would indicate achievements in some way, not necessarily an obvious one (i.e., description of wearing or carrying a particular item for a particular achievement, not part of inventory, or, for natives, perhaps, tattoos!).

Besides being marked on the profile for all to see, an achievement could also be acknowledged by an in-game event, or even offer a minor benefit to actual game play, or any combination of the three.

As an example (not necessarily the best ideas):

Complete Scout: having seen every single square of surface land (jungle, grassland, sand, etc) (excluding underground caves)
Profile: A green scout badge.
Benefit: 10% chance each movement on land costs 0.5AP less than usual.

Complete Swimmer: having seen every single square of surface water
Profile: A blue scout badge.
Benefit: 10% chance each movement in water costs 0.5AP less than usual.

Complete Explorer: having seen every single square of map possible, including underground.
Profile: A shiny scout badge.
Benefit: rough position estimation when not carrying GPS unit, e.g.: You estimate your position near [-70.34,+26.34]  (one digit less accuracy than a GPS unit) (Cumulative with the above benefits!)

[Of course, these suggestions are problematic if Simon doesn't want people knowing what the maximum area is.  Worse, if it might change in the future, then folks would have a heads up about it, possibly losing an achievement and telling them suddenly there is more to explore...!]

[Swarm]

Spelunker: Same thing as the swimmer and scout badges/achievements Maunder suggested but only for caves.