[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Rewards

[Raph Koster]

cruise wrote:
>
> Thus spake Raph Koster...
> > c) Players will choose to do an unfun thing endlessly if there's a
> > reward for it
> > d) Players will neglect fun things if it causes them to fall
> > behind in a rat race.

 **snip**

> > Because of c) and d). In short, players don't need rewards if the
> > activity is enjoyable, but they will blithely ignore enjoyable
> > activities if something else is rewarded. It's an opportunity cost
> > question for them. Most people do not stop to smell the roses.
>
> [NB: I'm switching to Mike Seller's extrinsic/intrinsic terminology
> for rewards, rather than end-result/inherently enjoyable, for
> consistency]
>
> But if there is no (extrinsic) reward (and thus no rat-race) then
> neither c) or d) are a problem. Or were you including intrinsic
> rewards (in which case then I understand and agree)?

Really, it applies with either intrinsic or extrinsic rewards. But we
usually observe it most keenly in the case of extrinsic rewards.

BTW, I regard it as very very hard to get away from extrinsic rewards
altogether. Social metrics in particular arise spontaneously whether we
want them to or not.