Community gardens is such a lovely idea in theory, but in practice the gardens are often picked and not replanted, and I've seen a lot of frustration over this both in chats and notes left on the ground in the gardens (which range from polite "Try to replant!" reminders to "Why is everyone in these gardens such a jerk!?" rants).
It seems to me that the absolute genius of Glitch is that it makes it more profitable to work together than against each other. You can see this all over the place, from the bonus rocks when you mine with someone, to the random kindness objects. But that mechanism is missing from community gardens: the game doesn't reward you more for being nice, so many people (understandably) choose to forgo the time and expense of replanting.
I figure a brainstorming session is in order: what kind of mechanics could make community gardens a truly communal activity? I have a few ideas, but I bet there's way better ones out there. What do you think?
My ideas:
- you could get bonus imagination for planting in a garden that is not your own
- badges for planting in other people's gardens (similar to the Bowser badge for replacing other players' fuel cells)