It's very easy for people to say that Reddit karma is pointless and has no value to people, but when I look at myself I see myself making comments on another website (http://hackerne.ws) where by, if the other users feel I have made a contribution which added something to the discussion, they reward me by clicking on an up arrow next to my name, it's like they're giving me a virtual thumbs up.
So yes, it made him feel good and it's important to feel appreciated by the audience to whom you perform. Feel free to take away my hard earned karma if you disagree, but bear in mind that it will probably make me die a little inside, at least, for a few minutes, before the rush of internet-adrenaline wears off.
hackerne.ws is the only way I can reliably connect to this website unfortunately
Marketeers are getting wise to Reddit. They know if they hit a sweetspot the reddit can make or break their brand over night. Soliciting "reddit celebrities" is naturally going to be a tactic many people employ.
Reddit karma is (mostly) useless, but I think the poster's point is that they are meaningful to a great number of people, otherwise they wouldn't be accumulated and fought over with such zeal.
People's egos are tremendously important to them, and the people around them.
The crusades arguably were fought over things that had a lot of meaning, even if they didn't have a lot of utility. It'd be hard to argue that the crusades had no meaning.
Just out of curiosity. Could you comment on what are those perks? Thanks
Hey babe, ever heard of reddit?
We want the products we build that aren't (to counter your definition) "in the real world" to give us salary, a future, wealth, whatever... but you flip the viewpoint and someone doing something they wish to do "not in the real world" is completely meaningless (and this implicitly has no value). The fact that people achieve A surely means there are endless scenarios where B is not true.