Games with a purpose seem to work when useful things are also fun or can be made fun; indeed, to the extent that people sometimes do fun useless things, and there are fun useful things, then I certainly agree that we should be moving as much of the fun to “useful stuff” as possible.
Schemes based on markets can work even if they are not fun (e.g. even when participants are algorithms and companies offering professional moderation services).
Games with a purpose seem to work when useful things are also fun or can be made fun; indeed, to the extent that people sometimes do fun useless things, and there are fun useful things, then I certainly agree that we should be moving as much of the fun to “useful stuff” as possible.
Schemes based on markets can work even if they are not fun (e.g. even when participants are algorithms and companies offering professional moderation services).