Hacker News Reader

I think you have it backwards. If someone is going to cheat, they are not going to be interested in this rpg. The rewards of leveling up are a new found productive habit, not just some silly swag or xp in a lame game.

On top of that, by instituting your "prove it" functionality, you are only incentivizing people to cheat. In this case, trust is the best way to prevent cheating.

View on HN

http://kuwest.com/users/neoblue

You were saying...?

People will always be interested in winning. Doesn't matter if the software is for self-fulfillment.

That's why, if it's public, then people will know they're cheating.

I toy with the idea of verifiable quests. For example, Take a picture a day (I can verify that they have from flickr). Blog once a week (I can verify this from their RSS feed)... although each one of those requires custom programming.

Maybe give more XP for those things that can be verified.

But...if you have the self-control to not cheat, then you have the self-control to get the dang chores done. So who's the target demographic? People who don't need the app.

I don't think this is necessarily the case.

It depends on how well the "Do not cheat" and "Do your chores" imperatives are internalized. There is also the fact that (at least for me) it is much harder to do something than to not do something.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com