[phil_KartMe]

If HackerNew wanted to become more like FarmVille (not that it should), the system could:

* give you karma just for stopping by each day

* give you karma for upvoting other's posts

* give you profiles you could customize by trading in karma

* show you what your friends were upvoting and their Karma

* show you how close you were to attaining moderator status

* allow you to give one virtual gift per day to your favorite contributors

* have your karma decline if you don't stop by in a week

[ryanjmo]

Ha, the sad part is if they did this, I would likely use HN even more.

[dmix]

It would be more appropriate for Digg.

[psyklic]

HN can't become like FarmVille. The key element to FarmVille (and games like WoW) is -- you level up not due to skill, but by how long you play the game. In other words, a very skilled player will level up just as quickly as an unskilled one.

On HN, karma is earned much more rapidly by "skilled" users, even though to get a high karma you must use the site often. Taking this away would rob HN of its most valuable asset -- karma encourages "skilled" users to post insightful comments.