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This is actually pretty thoughtful: the thrust of the piece is about status signaling, and how easy mode diminishes the status of the people who beat the game w

This is actually pretty thoughtful: the thrust of the piece is about status signaling, and how easy mode diminishes the status of the people who beat the game when it was hard. He compares it to climbing Everest, which "hardcore" mountaineers claim is being cheapened by making it safer and more accessible to less experienced climbers. Something which should be good if the ostensible reasons for participation are true (e.g. games have an easy mode so more people can enjoy them, or fewer die on Everest so more people can appreciate its splendor), in reality are seen as bad because the ostensible reasons are false, and we're just signaling. In that case, making that signal easier to broadcast (I beat megaman or climbed Everest), cheapens the signal of those who have invested in sending that signal before it was cheap to send.

Periodic 17y ago
Another point you could take from the piece is that people love being able to broadcast status signals. For example, adding badges/achievements/status to a social site can boost participation (see Yelp's elite, Stack Overflow badges). It can be dangerous if you drive away your elite users (who are probably 80% of your activity anyway), but it can also be used to bring in new users and retain customers.
pyre 17y ago
I don't think that Everest was the best example (though it did get the point across). Part of enjoying the splendor of Everest is having a decent respect for the harshness of nature, and the danger of the climb. If you just put a cable car up there that takes you to the top, then you hardly have the same awe and respect for nature. It just becomes a tourist attraction. This has nothing to do with status (at least my opinion doesn't). The same thing happens with many of our natural wonders when we turn them into tourist attractions. Even as far back as the 1800s, Europeans were disgusted with the way that Americans had turned Niagara Falls from a natural wonder into a tourist trap.

Periodic 17y ago

Another point you could take from the piece is that people love being able to broadcast status signals. For example, adding badges/achievements/status to a social site can boost participation (see Yelp's elite, Stack Overflow badges). It can be dangerous if you drive away your elite users (who are probably 80% of your activity anyway), but it can also be used to bring in new users and retain customers.

pyre 17y ago

I don't think that Everest was the best example (though it did get the point across). Part of enjoying the splendor of Everest is having a decent respect for the harshness of nature, and the danger of the climb. If you just put a cable car up there that takes you to the top, then you hardly have the same awe and respect for nature. It just becomes a tourist attraction. This has nothing to do with status (at least my opinion doesn't). The same thing happens with many of our natural wonders when we turn them into tourist attractions. Even as far back as the 1800s, Europeans were disgusted with the way that Americans had turned Niagara Falls from a natural wonder into a tourist trap.