Why I Won't Use Upvote Services (Playing The Game My Way)

First off, I understand completely if there are folks out there that need a starting point that doesn't start at zero. I mean every action needs to have a guaranteed reward at the end of it, right? Maybe I'm just a masochist that appreciates the journey more than the destination. Maybe I'm crazy that I have enough self-control not to take the money upfront. Maybe I'm dumb for wanting an actual challenge then something just given to me for little reason.

That looks hard, doesn't it?

I don't use upvote services and have stopped upvoting my posts because the content itself has no real value after I finish writing it. I mean I had these ideas before I compressed them onto a web page. I'm not providing any additional value to myself. Why should I be rewarded for something that I have done for myself?

I mean at that point, it's like printing money. And while that can be useful, it really isn't fun. It's like entering the cheat codes in a video game. Sure, you beat the game, but are you as satisfied at beating the game as you would have otherwise been not cheating?

Now, I'm not saying that upvoting yourself or using some form of upvote service is a bad thing. And it is certainly not cheating as cheating doesn't really exist in the content production world. But as an artist would you be more proud that you produced mediocre art for lots of money or you produced mediocre art for the sake of art itself? I'm not sure want your answer is, but you can probably guess mine.

There was this one game I played when I was in middle school called Locomotion where you would start a transportation company and build different vehicles and infrastructure to transport goods and services. My one issue with the game was that the game was too easy.

One you reached a certain tipping point, it became easier and easier to make money and less and less fun to play. The part of the game I enjoyed was the tension of not knowing whether or not your business was sustainable enough such that you could pay off your debt. When you have like a trillion dollars, it's not so much fun anymore.

But I keep making video game references and Steem is "real" life. I guess. But you are literally writing to entertain and share ideas with other people. It's not like you're really working and delivering a quality product. The people that actually do this for a living are miles beyond anything I could ever write.

But back to upvote services. I don't need that. So why use it? I want to play the hard version of Steem. Guaranteed money is boring. I don't treat this as a job, I treat it as a hobby. Perhaps that's a luxury but it's not like I don't have a real job to also do concurrently with my writing and curating.

If I wanted to really make money, I would have advertised that upvote bot I build that algorithmically filtered content and gave out proportional upvotes to content creators since apparently that's the shit now. But unlike user authority it wasn't as correlated with reputation and having a ton of SP and was more activity based. But that project was boring and I would rather consume content than build a machine to do that for me.

Besides, by not committing to any projects, I can do whatever the hell I want to. Like randomly flag trending or write about splitting larger tasks into easier to manage bite size pieces. The freedom is good.

So, I guess that's really it. I want to earn your damn upvote, not purchase it like some twelve year buying upgrades on Xbox Live. I get that Steem is pay to win, but I'd rather look good losing and taking satisfaction in the few times that I do win rather than just winning all the time because I start a few feet from the finish line.

Besides, while you're not looking, I'm becoming better and better at what I do because I get authentic (although limited) feedback from my microscopic audience. I actually get criticism and push back from time to time while the perennials get a bunch of people showering them with praise. I don't want more praise, I want more criticism. My post isn't interesting if that is the only thing you have to say about it.

So, if you want to take the fast track to the money, be my guest. This platform allows you to start as far away from the finish line as you want. And I don't want any artificial help. At this point, I know I can't beat the bots. I've lost. That race is over.

I'm just crazy enough to play the rigged game the right way. Or at least my way. I get that folks don't like playing rigged games and that's why no one is around, but I think for the first time, I really have to thank the greedy assholes. You make playing the honest game really hard. And I kind of appreciate that.