A game built on top of comments. »

Any of you that know me, or have been following me for any period of time, know that I spend a lot of time thinking about how to incorporate gameplay into just about everything and anything. And so it's probably not a shock to hear that I've been thinking about a game as it relates to comments for awhile now.

While I actually have no vested personal interest in comments, one of the reasons I've been thinking about the possiblity of a game like this is just because of the Disqus.com comment system...which I believe finally has enough critical mass to make a game like this not only possible, but actually fun (and also very technically possible).

Another reason is just because of the personal thrill I get everytime someone like Fred Wilson personally replies to a comment I leave on his blog...or even the jolt of personal-validation I get from any random reply to a comment I leave around the web...

Both of those feelings are very much like the excitement I get in completing an in-game challenge...and so of course my brain jumps right to "why not make it an actual game?!"

So while I haven't worked out all of the details just yet, the basic goal of the game would be:

Invoke better, more engaging, discussions.

And I think the initial, basic, gameplay would be something like this:

One point for every response a comment you leave on a qualifying blog generates.

Actually, the more I think about it, it would probably be better to implement a badge system much like foursquare uses (ie. earn a badge for most reply-generating comments across the whole disqus system, earn a badge for most replies generated on a given blog, earn a badge for generating X number of replies in whole, etc.)

Again, since Disqus is already so widely adopted, the data to power a simple game like this is already out there...and since Disqus actually has an API, I think most of the pieces are in fact already in place for a game like this to be built...

If the game took off, perhaps Disqus or website owners, could even require a certain badge level or 'point' value before you were allowed to leave auto-approved messages...or maybe even allow certain badge level people to help 'monitor/manage/approve' comments for their blog (ie. the top 3 or 4 badge owners for a given community could be granted the power to manage the comments for that community)...

So really it's more just a matter of find the time to actually build it (and of course get the word out there for people to start playing it)...honestly it's probably got a better chance of success if it's something Disqus itself implements (though I don't believe it could only be done by Disqus, it would just be easier for them then a third party)...

Anyway - I would love to hear your thoughts a game like this...would you care? Would you play it? Would you be proud of the badges you earned? Would you show them off, and if so, where?