steal vs claim

shopee came into my life when lockdown took place, thanks to covid-19.

it is a very smart app. it has games that keep you coming back to the app. 

one of the games is a farm, where you pick a tree that you will water and at the end of a certain amount of water droplets fed to the tree of your choice, you get the reward associated with that tree. it is like a tamagotchi with rewards. if you don't know what a tamagotchi is, go google it. 

anyway, what was interesting was, when we were just suppose to water the tree, i did so, but not with very much diligence. 

but then the shopee games people introduced the concept of "steal". this is where, if your watering can is full, and you did not water your tree, then your friends who visit your garden, and help you water your tree, will also get to steal a few droplets from a separate bucket located next to your tree! those droplets stolen will be deducted from your watering can! that was surprisingly, a big motivator~ the fear of losing those few droplets kept me coming back to water my tree rather religiously. although, when i thought about it, i would have lost more droplets by not watering as diligently, before the ability to steal water was introduced....

then the shopee games people stopped the steal concept and introduced "claim". this is where you get to claim water droplets and the person whom you claim it from will not "lose" those droplets. so, you do not have to worry about your friends stealing your water. and if you visit them at the right time, you get to claim more water! funny how that was not as big a motivator. for me at least. even though the droplets you are able to claim is more than what you can steal!! 

looks like fear of losing is stronger motivator that an opportunity to gain. perhaps that is most other people as well. if that is not the case, then most people will be having their own business vs being gainfully employed, no? 

thoughts?