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<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5061755" data-attributes="member: 8835">There's an old saw in metrics, that you get what you measure.Measure damage taken (as in more=better) and you'll find people doing everything they can to take damage.This is why, in the business world, you have to be very careful of what you do metrics on, and what's considered good.&nbsp; Employees will game the system.&nbsp; Measure tickets closed, and you'll find them closing a ticket as a stage is reached, and opening a new ticket for the next stage of the problem, rather than using the one ticket.&nbsp; This drives up their &quot;closure rate&quot;, which looks good at review time.Games are no different.If you only gave out XP for accomplishments like finishing quests, doing combat would have less value (afterall, you could die, and except for treasure, it doesn't advance you).However, most people would interpret &quot;gave out XP for accomplishments like finishing quests&quot; and see &quot;gave out XP for finishing quests&quot;.&nbsp; From there, they would only focus on finding and finishing GM quests.&nbsp; Whereas, I also meant to include player driven goals, like becoming mayor of HappyVille.Thus, you must be careful to consider the angles on what you reward.&nbsp; As somebody suggested, imagine Brian Van Hoose from KoDT at your table.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Janx, post: 5061755, member: 8835"] There's an old saw in metrics, that you get what you measure. Measure damage taken (as in more=better) and you'll find people doing everything they can to take damage. This is why, in the business world, you have to be very careful of what you do metrics on, and what's considered good. Employees will game the system. Measure tickets closed, and you'll find them closing a ticket as a stage is reached, and opening a new ticket for the next stage of the problem, rather than using the one ticket. This drives up their "closure rate", which looks good at review time. Games are no different. If you only gave out XP for accomplishments like finishing quests, doing combat would have less value (afterall, you could die, and except for treasure, it doesn't advance you). However, most people would interpret "gave out XP for accomplishments like finishing quests" and see "gave out XP for finishing quests". From there, they would only focus on finding and finishing GM quests. Whereas, I also meant to include player driven goals, like becoming mayor of HappyVille. Thus, you must be careful to consider the angles on what you reward. As somebody suggested, imagine Brian Van Hoose from KoDT at your table. [/QUOTE]

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