I remember playing games and the ultimate prestige in a game, was finishing it.  There were no trophies or awards for finishing the first level of ANY game let alone finding two secret things within a single level.  No award for turning on the game and accessing the main menu.  No award for breathing.  Where did this switch to perpetual recognition come from?  Is it a generational thing?  

Well, mess yeah!  I have read some various sites proclaiming that the Y generation is the first to get participation trophies.  Participation trophies?  I don’t remember getting those growing up per say.  At the school Play-days where all the students would compete either you placed in the top three and got awards, or you got nothing other than a severe sunburn and heat stroke and the accompanying shits.  You got a freezie snack, but not as a reward for competing, but as a treat.

So, when generation Y wants constant pats on the back and constant recognition for the most trivial things how does this affect society at large?  I’ll tell you how.  From my perspective it lessens the value of everything.  Remember when kids… oh dear… actually failed at something and were held back another year?  Ah the good old days.  Now we have graduation ceremonies from Kindergarten for gosh sakes.  When I passed into grade one I got a slap across the face and was told to go to bed (perhaps not exactly, I did have a few self induced concussions so I could be mis-remembering there).  

I recall a graduation from Junior High, High School and University.  Those were substantial achievements because they involved a transition from one school to another not from one classroom to another.  I didn’t expect exultations with majestic choir orchestrations for taking a dump in the toilet, but suddenly that’s what parents are expected to do to their children.  “Keep the mess log floating in the toilet so they can admire their efforts..”  What the goddam hell?

Now video games have tapped into, what I call, micro-applauding.  A micro-applause is getting a ridiculous amount, and degree, of congratulations over a relatively minor thing.  In case you don’t know what I mean I’ll further elaborate.  Playing anything for 15 minutes… Bang trophy.  Imagine these kinds of micro-applauses elsewhere?  Getting a ribbon in a baseball tournament for being alive… Bang gold medallion.  Not getting a concussion in hockey…  Boo-YEA baby new car!  

This trend is spreading to everything.  My point is my father tried to bribe me with candy bars and dollar bills, back when such a beast existed, to go to church.  In this regard my father was a trailblazer!  But, suddenly, the going to church was not worth just going anymore I needed/required a reward for falling asleep in the pew.  (That’s not mentioning the fact that I no longer believed in the pompous diatribes being spat at us from a minister who felt prostitution was the original sin, and for which we needed weekly reminders).

This all is not to say you can’t thank people for a good job or being polite.  You can and should.  But, for appropriate things.  Someone finishes a big project or report on time, that deserves a congratulation.  Finishing the title page? Hells no.  They should get a punch to the neck and told to get their mess in gear.  Getting married? Congratulations.  Getting a promise ring to promise to get an engagement ring?  That gets a swift cuff across the bridge of the nose so that the tears will wash away the emotional muck that has clouded their vision.

Bottom line micro-applause or whatever you want to call it demeans true accomplishment.  People do learn best by failure.  WD40 was the 40th version of that product.  The first 39 were failures.  Imagine if the inventor got an award for merely thinking of producing it?  We wouldn’t be able to fix squeaky wheels.. though perhaps some wheels need to squeak a little longer to truly understand how good it is to be well oiled.

Out.

We joke at work that Kudos are the new currency.  When they're handed out so freely, and so disproportionately, to the achievement being rewarded, they lose credibility.  At least that's the way it seems to those of us who don't think.. say, showing up..  is such a big deal.  It actually serves to devalue the things that DO deserve recognition, because they invariably get buried amongst all the kudos for crap.

Kudos for Crap.  There's a good band name.  

Unfortunately, when the annual (?) raises get considered, a tally of the kudos is done.  "So you did that really great thing that was totally awesome?  Cool.  One check mark for you.  Suzy over here did fifty mundane things..  but FIFTY of them!  Well, fifty check marks for her.  So now lets spread this bonus money out according to check marks."

Now.  Where's my damn trophy for this post?  And three more for using sentences, paragraphs, and the word "disproportionately"!

Unfortunately, you failed to use the word "discombobulation."  Minus one.

You wouldn't actually give him a minus one, rather you'd just remark on things to improve that he could have used that word.

And here I thought the best way to motivate the behaviour you wanted was to offer both a bit of the stick and a bit of the carrot.

Seems the world has lost use of it's stick.

This is all quite appropriate timing.  I was just playing a new game and got a trophy for watching the intro movie.  Literally!  Earned a trophy for sitting still long enough to get to the title screen (where it says "Push Start")

What game was that?

Marvel vs Capcom 3 I think.. but might've been another one.  We have a few to check out next time you're over.