There's a game, played by certain rules. One way to win the game is to adopt a persona or alter ego, which acts as a form of sandbox/VM. Those who play the gam

There's a game, played by certain rules. One way to win the game is to adopt a persona or alter ego, which acts as a form of sandbox/VM. Those who play the game well get money. The money attracts players from all over the world. More money attracts more competitive players. A $300k salary and some artificial rules like interview mastery attracts more gamey types. There are places that don't play by those rules. There will still be some gamification - for example, the other rules may reward those who share knowledge, are polite, honest, down to earth, and so on. They may still be performative, but it looks less like one. There's a reason hackers go around in t-shirts and uncombed hair, and it's performative in itself.