Last year, I wrote about altruism in online communities. Status and recognition were considered to be the currency in which community members were rewarded in exchange to their contributions.

But what if you had an actual economy? What if community members had access to an exchange to real or virtual currency?

As we’ve seen with virtual world Second Life, the presence of an economy has destroyed the concept of fair value and the social aspect of altruism. The result has been a community where the power lies with the rich and the rich protect their status by giving little and taking much. As a result, they impose a high barrier to entering the community’s elite and discourage the notion of sharing to those who enter the community later.

Play into your community members’ egos but don’t play into their potential greed.