Entries in wow penalties (1)
The Balancing Act: WoW and Virtual Rewards, IRL Penalties
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - 4 Comments Tags: balancing act, columns, the balancing act, wow penalties, wow rewards 
There's many ways to teach a dog, or even a child new tricks. Most of the psychology behind teaching relies on positive reinforcement. The idea is simple, whenever the subject does something correctly it is rewarded for its action. Food, love or a pat on the head, the reward can be almost anything likeable. It has also been shown that if the positive reinforcement comes somewhat randomly, rather than every time, the subject is more likely to seek perfection later on.
Positive reinforcement has worked wonders on me. My parents promoted good grades by granting me fancy dinners for each A. My teacher gave out Jolly Ranchers for fixing a grammatical error in a paragraph (it's vs. its ftw). Sports accomplishments lead to WWF/WCW (now WWE) pay-per-view events - I even like cheesy stories! In college I rewarded my own achievements with video games or a night on the town. It's a tactic I use on my pets, and will likely repeat when I have my own koopalings.