On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 2:07 PM, Michael Tsikerdekis tsikerdekis@gmail.comwrote:
But, it all comes down to primary needs. Games provide entertainment, social opportunity and personal identity development (or role playing). Writing articles provides personal satisfaction and social opportunities (but perhaps less direct socializing). Also, the complexity of tasks has increased along with regulations. Rules for e.g., WOW are easily explained and forced upon players by the environment. When it comes to writing, restricting e.g., people to write in neutral point of view is not something that can be achieved by software. One has to learn npov along with writing itself.
I find the issue of motivation rarely looked at. People are willing to overcome quite a lot if they have the right motivation.
That was why I suggested the WikiCup as it has the component of game in terms of competitiveness and clearly definable goals. The problem with some of the other aspects like basing things on total edit count is you have an English Wikipedia culture that can often come down hard one people who are perceived as "hat collectors" or "star collectors". I have seen this lead to some higher profile people operating in certain spaces get harangued because others perceive them that way. There are in some quarters very little acceptance of actions based on motivations other than "Information should be free!"