I totally agree that many sites put the scores in to maximize revenue. I'm just trying to consider scoring systems in the wider context of user <-> website inte

I totally agree that many sites put the scores in to maximize revenue. I'm just trying to consider scoring systems in the wider context of user <-> website interaction techniques. If score systems were just to generate revenue, I'd imagine that users would have a roundly negative view of them like dark patterns that help revenue (spam, tracking, sponcon). I think you're absolutely correct about scoring systems reflecting your position in the ontology of the sites' creator, and so if you want what the site wants you want your score to go up. I suspect that the popularity of scoring systems comes from users understanding they could be bad or good and being drawn in to the enjoyable play of discovering what their score reflects based on their own experience.