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PRD-03: Gamification System

Version: 1.0
Date: 2026-02-02
Status: Draft

Overview

The Gamification System motivates human participants to answer questions consistently and thoughtfully. It uses points, badges, streaks, and leaderboards to create engagement without requiring user accounts.

Key Principles

  1. Reward participation - Every answer earns points
  2. Encourage quality - Bonuses for thoughtful responses
  3. Build habits - Streaks reward consistency
  4. Create community - Leaderboards show collective effort
  5. No pay-to-win - All rewards are earned through participation

Core Mechanics

Points System

Base Points:

Action Points
Answer a text question 10
Answer a multiple choice question 5
Provide confidence rating +2

Quality Bonuses:

Bonus Points Criteria
Thoughtful response +5 Text answer > 100 characters
Quick response +3 Answer within 5 minutes of notification
In-demand question +5 Question had < 50% of needed responses

Daily Limits:

  • Maximum 500 points per day (prevents grinding)
  • Points earned after limit still count for badges/streaks

Streak System

Definition: A streak is maintained by answering at least one question per calendar day.

Streak Rewards:

Streak Length Reward
3 days +10 bonus points, "On a Roll" badge
7 days +25 bonus points, "Week Warrior" badge
30 days +100 bonus points, "Monthly Maven" badge
100 days +500 bonus points, "Centurion" badge

Streak Rules:

  • Streak resets to 0 if a day is missed
  • Streak is based on user's local timezone (derived from browser)
  • Streak count shown in UI

Badge System

Badges are permanent achievements that showcase participation history.

Participation Badges:

Badge Name Criteria
🎯 First Steps Submit your first answer
🔟 Getting Started Submit 10 answers
💯 Century Submit 100 answers
🎖️ Veteran Submit 500 answers
🏆 Legend Submit 1000 answers

Streak Badges:

Badge Name Criteria
🔥 On a Roll 3-day streak
📅 Week Warrior 7-day streak
🌙 Monthly Maven 30-day streak
⭐ Centurion 100-day streak

Category Badges:

Badge Name Criteria
🧠 Tech Expert 25 answers in technical category
📊 Product Pro 25 answers in product category
⚖️ Ethics Advocate 25 answers in ethics category
🎨 Creative Mind 25 answers in creative category
🌍 Generalist 25 answers in general category

Special Badges:

Badge Name Criteria
🌅 Early Bird Answer a question within 2 minutes of creation
🦉 Night Owl Answer 10 questions between midnight and 6am
⚡ Speed Demon Answer 5 questions in under 30 seconds each
🎯 Confident 10 answers with max confidence rating

Leaderboard System

Leaderboard Types:

Type Reset Frequency Purpose
Daily Every midnight UTC Short-term competition
Weekly Every Monday midnight UTC Medium-term engagement
All-Time Never Long-term prestige

Leaderboard Display:

  • Top 10 shown with rank, points, and answer count
  • User's own rank shown regardless of position
  • Anonymous display (no usernames)

Leaderboard Entry:

{
  "rank": 1,
  "points": 520,
  "answers": 45,
  "is_current_user": false
}

Data Model

UserStats Table

Stored in DynamoDB, keyed by fingerprint hash.

{
  "fingerprint_hash": "sha256...",
  "total_points": 1250,
  "total_answers": 98,
  "streak_days": 7,
  "streak_last_date": "2026-02-02",
  "badges": [
    {"id": "first_steps", "earned_at": "2026-01-15T..."},
    {"id": "on_a_roll", "earned_at": "2026-01-20T..."},
    {"id": "tech_expert", "earned_at": "2026-02-01T..."}
  ],
  "answers_by_category": {
    "technical": 35,
    "product": 28,
    "creative": 20,
    "general": 15
  },
  "daily_points": {
    "2026-02-02": 45,
    "2026-02-01": 120
  },
  "created_at": "2026-01-15T...",
  "updated_at": "2026-02-02T..."
}

User Experience

Points Feedback

After each answer submission:

  1. Show points earned with breakdown
  2. Animate point counter increment
  3. Show progress toward next badge
  4. Display new badge with celebration if earned

Example UI:

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│           ✓ Thanks!             │
│                                 │
│         +10 base points         │
│         +5 thoughtful response  │
│         +2 confidence bonus     │
│         ─────────────────       │
│         +17 total               │
│                                 │
│  Progress: 83/100 to Century 💯 │
│                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Streak Display

In header or settings:

🔥 7-day streak
   Answer today to keep it going!

After missing a day:

💔 Streak lost
   Start a new streak today!

Badge Collection

In settings/profile:

Badges (7/15)

🎯 First Steps      ✓
🔟 Getting Started  ✓
💯 Century          ○  (83/100)
🔥 On a Roll        ✓
📅 Week Warrior     ✓
🧠 Tech Expert      ✓
📊 Product Pro      ○  (18/25)

Badge Award Logic

On Answer Submission

def check_badges(user_stats, new_answer):
    new_badges = []
    
    # Participation badges
    total = user_stats.total_answers + 1
    if total == 1:
        new_badges.append("first_steps")
    elif total == 10:
        new_badges.append("getting_started")
    elif total == 100:
        new_badges.append("century")
    # ...
    
    # Category badges
    category = new_answer.question.audience[0]  # Primary category
    category_count = user_stats.answers_by_category.get(category, 0) + 1
    if category_count == 25:
        new_badges.append(f"{category}_expert")
    
    # Streak badges
    if user_stats.streak_days == 3:
        new_badges.append("on_a_roll")
    elif user_stats.streak_days == 7:
        new_badges.append("week_warrior")
    # ...
    
    return new_badges

Fingerprint Persistence

Gamification data is tied to browser fingerprint:

Pros:

  • No account required
  • Works immediately
  • Privacy-preserving

Cons:

  • Fingerprint can change (browser update, settings change)
  • Lost data if fingerprint changes
  • Potential for multiple fingerprints per person

Mitigation:

  • Show "Your progress is tied to this browser" notice
  • Future: Optional account linking to preserve progress

Anti-Gaming Measures

Abuse Prevention
Rapid-fire answering Points capped at 500/day
Farming easy questions Quality bonuses encourage thoughtfulness
Multi-device gaming Each fingerprint has independent stats
Bot answering Response time heuristics (see ADR-05)

Future Enhancements (Not v1)

Opt-In Identity

  • Link fingerprint to email/account
  • Preserve progress across devices
  • Enable social features

Quality Scoring

  • Weight answers by agreement with others
  • Bonus points for "consensus" answers
  • Penalize consistent outliers

Achievement Milestones

  • "Answer 100 questions in a week" challenges
  • Time-limited events with special badges
  • Seasonal leaderboard resets

Social Features

  • Share badges on social media
  • Compare stats with friends
  • Team competitions

Success Metrics

Metric Target Rationale
Return visitor rate > 30% Gamification drives retention
Avg answers per session > 3 Points encourage more answers
Streak holders (3+ days) > 20% of actives Streaks build habits
Badge collectors (5+) > 15% of actives Badges provide goals

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