Comments on: Why Isn’t Money Points?

By: Juliette Culver » April links

Juliette Culver » April links — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:35:41 +0000

[...] Why isn’t money points? [...]

By: Hodgepodge « Tish Tosh Tesh

Hodgepodge « Tish Tosh Tesh — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:23:06 +0000

[...] uses Easter Eggs to manipulate players, and muses a bit about money in the real world, compared to points in games. It’s also a [...]

By: JOE

JOE — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:59:41 +0000

Another bit of insight into how “money” and “points” work differently can be found in Dan Arielly’s TED video. Arielly is another behavioral economist and ran experiments on cheating with monetary and point rewards (the points could later be turned into money). Cheating occurred significantly more when it was redeemable points in play than money. The more we abstract away from giving a physical object in return for a physical object, the less bound by traditional ethical concerns, apparently.

By: Game Tycoon»Blog Archive » Articles of Interest

Game Tycoon»Blog Archive » Articles of Interest — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:12:55 +0000

[...] tells an insightful story about an Easter Egg hunt game in Metaplace: “There’s no reward in this game, there’s no winner or loser, and there’s no endgame. [...]

By: Finance is a game - Playful Design

Finance is a game - Playful Design — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:28:19 +0000

[...] of playful design, and it’s more important as it is applied to a very serious software. Raph Koster have some thought about the idea, and an interesting insight about Ultima Online [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:57:59 +0000

Once we came off the gold standard, money became points. But of course, some points are more important than others – just ask the sports fan.

By: Games for health and money « Shakeout’s Blog

Games for health and money « Shakeout’s Blog — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:48:25 +0000

[...] more examples of game design techniques in two of the least frivolous areas imaginable – health and wealth. Both from Raph Koster’s great blog (which is essential reading for people creating anything [...]

By: Peter S.

Peter S. — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:24:31 +0000

If those Easter eggs were something you spent, the game would have lost a lot of its addictiveness[.]

On the thought of the very rich, maybe that’s why once one’s finances pass a certain threshold, money stops being something you buy things with and starts simply being a score (somewhat using Raph’s language, since you lose the ability to make meaningful-feeling choices once the sheer amount of money diminishes the sense of opportuity cost associated with spending it). Maybe that’s why people in that position can seem even *more* money hungry when logically, from the outside, they should be less.

In other words, get rich enough and it *does* turn into a score, and become addictive in that sense.

By: Thunderheart

Thunderheart — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:12:25 +0000

>>>>But honestly — money is points anyway, isn’t it? Why is it that we value the cash less than the flat-screen TV?<<<<

No. Money is not the same as points. Money is a Method.

Money is simply a means to barter. The TV represents a desire. We value the TV because it satisfies our needs (one that in a very twisted way does fall in Maslow’s pyramid).

Money is a tool. Like most tools rusting in people’s garages and basements, we only use them when we need them. The caveat, of course, is the craftsman who sees his or her tools as a lifestyle, not unlike the way truly cash rich people see their money.

Further, the methods employed to accrue money, and get better at the skill of accruing money is a pure math and the art of the deal is arcane at best. These are not simple skills to learn, while scoring points in most games is a relatively simple stimulus and response by design.

By: Cheeta's Mom

Cheeta's Mom — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:34:39 +0000

There’s quite a bit of dissatisfaction in WoW over the armor sets. Players don’t choose them, they are chosen for them. Some games have gone to a system that allows the player to switch out the stats of different armors, so the choice becomes the player’s.