I’m pretty sure that this sort of idea has been presented in one form or another in the past, but here goes:

It seems to me that there is a real dichotomy that exists in the realm of rewards. On one hand you have the player-rewards, while on the other you have character-rewards. Player-rewards are by far the most popular in my opinion. They reward the player, they allow the player to improve the character in some way, and they allow the player to have an effect on the game world. Examples would include:

fate chips (deadlands), experience points, story points (story engine), spotlight time, karma points (shadowrun)

Yes, when spent, experience points improve the character, but the are awarded to the player not the character.

Character-rewards have an in-game effect that the character can see. Examples include:

reputation (legend of the five rings), gold, possessions, on-the-fly character improvement

The character can feel the changes these rewards bring about.

My question: Do I have it right? Are player rewards more common? What type of rewards am I missing?

There has been a great deal of talk about why to give rewards and how the three-fold system plays into the picture, but the nature of the rewards needs more exploration. I believe that past emphasizes has been on rewarding the player for good role-playing, but what has the character gained? Should we even bother rewarding the character, seeing as he’s a fictional character and the player is really the one doing all of the work? How do different play styles dictate what type of rewards should be given?

From a narrativist perspective player rewards seem more in line with their beliefs, but a simulationist might want to see their character gain from their role-playing efforts.

Obviously this post isn’t as well thought out as I would like – it’s really more of a mess of thoughts in written form. However, feel free to pick it apart for anything of value.

Tim,

Before continuing, I want to make sure you've checked out the Reward Systems thread just a few topics down on this forum. It was a more general discussion, but your question did get addressed to some extent. I'd like to pick it up from there rather than starting from scratch.

Let me know,
Ron