I ran an experiment today. I gave my 6 year old son the power to issue "points" on an iPad app to everyone in our circle of family and friends. Points could be awarded to anyone for helping others, doing a good job, completing a task etc.

It started off well, he wanted jobs so he could complete them and gets points for himself, he watched everyone closely and awarded points fairly to everyone for "doing a great job". He seemed very proud of the responsibility and was very productive.

However a few hours in, he realised he could just start awarding himself points without doing anything. Soon he was awarding himself and his friends free points with their scores sky rocketing into the lead

To make matters worse he started creating rules that we had to follow and requested his favorite things in order for the rest of us to gain points and favor with him..

By days end he had issued more than 6500 points and he just gave up on it as points had lost all meaning and value