Override default category and categorize by content/action type

There's a few different issues that have all been closed (mostly from version 5.x) that ask about setting categories on a per content type or per action basis. The responses have been that in order to do this one must write their own module and that it should be very easy to do, but after reading the documentation and API, I'm not sure really how to do this.

I think there could be three possible ways to do this.

1) Add the function to core userpoints module with some patch. Just as you assign points on a per content basis, you would assign a category.
2) Write a custom module (which I really couldn't figure out how to implement this) that would have to override the core module category.
3) Add a category -> options (like core module has) to the rules userpoint integration so when you award points through rules, you can pick the category to go with it.

Any help would be appreciated. I think having the ability to separate userpoints into categories based on content types and actions is essential.