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Comment by kingstnap | Hacker News Reader

The headline makes it seem more monetary than it actually is.

https://www.read.gov.sg/join-the-readsg-challenge

It seems like turning points into money is just a happens to exist sort of mechanic. Enough to write a headline that they are technically "paying you". The real mechanics are much more typical gamification. Like earning xp, streaks, leaderboards, limited edition goodies at events, prize draws, collective goals.

The strict money payout is S$0.02 per 15 minutes at most once a day. Obviously if you were doing this it would be more for the rest of the dopamine then hoping to buy a candy bar after like 50 days.

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Systems like this are not new. When I was in elementary school in the US Midwest, we had a program called accelerated reader, (AR), where you could take tests about books and get points. The longer the book, the more the points. You could redeem the points for candy.

Anyway I was banned from AR in the 5th grade because I learned you could sort the book list by points awarded, so I wrote down the list of most valuable books and checked them out from the library. I convinced a 2 friends to help, one would take the test and write down the questions and then someone else would read the book to get the answers and share them. We ended up racking up like way more points than anyone else and the teachers called out and made us explain.

My middle school had a reading program where the monthly winner would get a book of their choice from the scholastic catalog. This was a very enticing prize to a poor, voracious reader like me.

After winning my way through the Hobbit/LOTR series, they changed the rules specifically for me to require oral exams on each of the books I was reading, and later book reports. I was eventually banned completely so there could be an actual competition.

In fourth grade, I went to the library and noticed a book with a tripod on the cover blasting people with a heat ray. Of course I checked it out. I didn't know what scifi was at the time, and had never heard of HG Wells. Anyhow, I loved every word in the book, and devoured scifi ever since.

Another seminal book for me was Lord of the Rings, which I read in 6th grade.

You basically discovered the exploit in gamified reading before gamification had a name. I wonder how many kids today would optimize the points system instead of actually reading the books.

I remember around 5th grade getting in trouble for finding the software to create/edit the AR tests

Ha I also got suspected of this but I actually just read the books. Three musketeers and shogun was particularly lots of points as well as the Harry Potter books.

I had so many points that even though I stopped reading books on the list in 6th (I got into manga). I still placed 1st in my school until the last semester of 8th because of my point lead.

yea a free candy bar for kids every 50 days for just reading sounds great

Most kids will correctly recognize up front it's not worth the effort.

Sure. But getting something free for something you'd have done anyway? There's many ways to nudge people/yourself into specific behaviors even though the rewards are not worth it when thinking it through

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