I'm extremely interested in the way that game mechanics/achievements drive behavior (the essence of gamification). Making little quests to drive users to areas of a site (like Gaint Bomb does, and very well too) is a great way to expose them to important places, concepts, and functions of the site. But it can also lead to spam (like this post) just to get those points. What do these quests "teach" users? Do they simply min-max stuff to get the points? Yes, they might vicariously come across something cool (I did on Will Wright's page), but how many users read the FAQ when they click on the link to get the points versus simply going to the page, getting the points, and clicking away quickly?
I think this is an interesting debate to have. Again, Giant Bomb seems to do it very well - hell, I've been "leveling" for that last hour and a half instead of doing actual work. But does it simply reinforce achievement hunting instead of actual engagement?
Please don't post quest spam to the boards, we tend to clean that stuff up rather quickly around here as all it does is promote clutter. And no one likes clutter.
I'm also going to be that jerk who doesn't do the @reply or quote to keep you from more easy quest points. HA.
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