SNS: Level Up!
A very interesting topic has been raised over at Many 2 Many wondering if SNS software is not actually more consistent with the qualities of a traditional "game". As AJ Kim notes:
Earning points (in one form or another) and asociating levels with earned points is a common and powerful game mechanic that taps into basic human nature. When you earn points for in-game actions, you gain a sense of progress and accomplishment — which motivates you to keep playing. And when you’re rewarded for your persistence with a new ‘level’ that offers greater status, powers and challenges, that compounds the motivational power of the mechanism.
This basic idea has wide application beyond games. For example, Frequent Flyer programs allow customers to earn points via economic transactions, and award loyal, active customers with special status and privileges when they reach certain levels. Anytime you have the means to track and assign value to social or economic transactions within a system, you have the opportunity to introduce a mechanism for earning points and assigning levels.
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The drive to accumulate points and track accomplishments is so powerful that people will often’make up’ a game when one doesn’t explicity exist. For example, social networks show you the number of friends you have, and the number of connections you’ve ‘earned’ by having those friends. This simple feedback mechanism encourages some people to think of a social network as a ‘game’ with the goal of ‘collect the most friends with the greatest number of connections.’
I would have to wholeheartedly agree with these statements. I would perhaps go a little further and suggest that the value is not simply in the ability to collect "points and levels", but also the ability leverage that in any number of methods: sold, bartered or traded as commodities (EBay, Craigslist, etc.), influence over opinion and action, or wielded as a badge of honor to earn acceptance to gated communities. This last point is, I think, the most interesteing, as it uses the point system as an activity meter as well as a network monitor.