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Hacker News Comments on
No Contest: The Case Against Competition

Alfie Kohn · 2 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "No Contest: The Case Against Competition" by Alfie Kohn.
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Amazon Summary
No Contest stands as the definitive critique of competition. Contrary to accepted wisdom, competition is not basic to human nature; it poisons our relationships and holds us back from doing our best. In this new edition, Alfie Kohn argues that the race to win turns all of us into losers.
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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
> I imagine there is no good, scientific method to determining how someone should be motivated that we can train teachers with.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Contest-Case-Against-Competition/dp...

http://www.amazon.com/Punished-Rewards-Trouble-Incentive-Pra...

It's a little more subtle than Kohn admits, however. While promises of rewards ahead of time evoke feelings of bribery or coercion, a system where praise and rewards are often the "natural outcome" serve as great motivation. Consider the products specializing in making things fun/addicting - video games. WoW throws in as many "rewards" as possible - hell, even changing your password is rewarded: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/404957/Picture%2039.png

Highly recommend further reading: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071351450/

Alfie Kohn's "No Contest" is also a great read in the same vein: http://www.amazon.com/No-Contest-Case-Against-Competition/dp...

zach
There is a reason why "achievements" (NB: nearly always by that name, hmm...) are the most pervasive game design pattern today.

I want a t-shirt that says "Actually, I'm just doing this to get the achievement."

Xichekolas
I think achievements work because they satisfy our inner magpie. It's the same reason "complete collections" are more valuable than merely "greatest hits". The extra items that make the collection "complete" may suck, but, by God, you can check ALL the boxes on the list.

When I play a game with extensive achievements, the game is always fun right up until I complete the last one on the list. At that point, I almost totally lose interest. I have tried to fight that, to the point of avoiding some achievements so the character doesn't feel "done"... but it's hard. As expected, merely starting a different character can make all the achievements seem worth it again (because the checkboxes are once again empty), even though I have already done them all before.

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