[MUD-Dev] Player run reputation system

[J C Lawrence]

On Thu, 7 Jun 2001 12:54:52 -0700 
Raph Koster <Koster> wrote:

> Reputation systems, whether intentionally or not, fill one need
> very specifically--they help work around the inconstancy of
> communication that is present in large groups and in virtual
> environments, more rapidly disseminating information on social
> standing. That's what eBay ratings do, that's what UO's murder
> counts do, and that's what any mud application of Advogato would
> do. What else would you use it for?

The basic problem with Advogato's system is that it is inherently
inflationary and yet the currency (status levels) are fixed and
finite.  Further, while it is resistant to clique elevation, it
isn't resistant to the wide spread wish and willingness to rate the
famous as famous and thus attempt to gain reflected glory.

  Yeah, I voted for Bubba Grouchwater, inferring that I know him
  personally and thereby elevating my status more than the actual
  vote's I've received indicate.

You need deflationary systems which don't:

  a) skew the graph due to extreme values at the edges of the curve
  (the famous/notorious)

  b) make deliberate deflationary activity either appealing,
  effective, or seemingly possibly effective (and thus appealing in
  a "hack the system" manner)

  c) devalue or excessively slow progress near the zero point, or at
  the center of your bell curve

Populations with common experiences, especially social populations,
like to talk.  Talking groups like to elect, if only by
self-election, leaders in the sense of "everybody knows" and
"everybody hears" (even if they "hear" only reputationally and not
in fact).  This creates an artificial and wide spread cluster in the
reputation graph.  I've done a couple models where, literally, you
get every node being no more than degrees removed from the "famous"
node (look at Advogato sometime for signs of this (it used to be
really bad)).

--
J C Lawrence                                       claw at kanga.nu
---------(*)                          http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/
The pressure to survive and rhetoric may make strange bedfellows
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