[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Rewards

[Jeffrey Kesselman]

On 4/17/07, Raph Koster <raph at areae.net> wrote:
> 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.

This is an inertesting and IME very true observation.

The question becomes.... why do they do this?

The first answer is pure competitiveness and I believe this motivates
some players, but I also believe the motivation is more subtle for
many if not most.

As Raph knows I've advocated for a long time the application of social
psychology to analyzing MUD environments.  I think what you see is
that the reward for the "rat race" really is social authority and
power.

And thats a very strong motivator.