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Hayley Ashburn's avatar

Wow! What a great read! I always thought of this trend as the “jock-ification” of climbing, gamification fits better. I’d have to agree with Daniele that making the climbs harder, in some ways, isn’t degamification in the way one might hope. Increasing the risk to reward difference doesn’t always result in scoring less points. If a climber makes the objective more difficult and then SPRAYS about it, they might earn extra points. If they stay silent though, I think it works. Ticking a bunch of hard routes on Mountain Project without marking “free solo” or mentioning that you had used only knots for pro, would be pretty punk rock :)

On ticks: what if we shifted perspective and imagined ourselves ticking off romantic partners like climbs? Instead of searching for and finding the best lovers, simply trying to tick them all would lead to an empty, meaningless love life. I don’t give a shit about climbing every climb, I’m on a search for the best ones and I reclimb my favorites over and over (Royal Arches I’m looking at you). Maybe that’s why I’ve stayed so stoked on the sport for so long. Thought provoking article!

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Teddy Dondanville's avatar

Also, I loved the concept of "rawsight". I also didnt know I was a GILC hunter until. How wonderful it is to know now!

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