So first I read "The Music Business and the Big Flip" by Clay Shirky, about how collaborative filtering could transform the music industry. (Read his other articles if you haven't, they're excellent.)

Then I read:

UNDERLIGHT SHOWS OFF THEIR PERSONALITY

Lyra Studios introduces the New Personality Point System.

This could be one of the single biggest additions to Underlight, ever. We call it the Personality Point system or PP for short. Simply said, it is an OOC (out of character) mechanism for the following: rewarding your fellow players for positive role-playing, alternative advancement, and a way for dreamers to perform unique acts. The Reward (Grant) side of the system is completely OOC and thus allows you to reward -any- dreamer, whether friend or foe, for positive role-playing. 

Players may use their Personality Points to aid their character in ways not normally possible, including: 

Permanent Stat increases Bypassing Train requirements to learn or advance an art Evoking arts the character is normally unable to cast

"I'm incredibly excited about the addition of Personality Points, the roleplay opportunities are amazing. Besides that, I just think it is FUN!" ~ Lyra-Zephyr

"This system has incredible potential. Get rewarded for making the game fun for others, what could be better than that?!" ~Lyra-Dagger

(A press release copied from Fatbabies.com, which I find less interesting now that they only update once a month at best.)

My friend Tobias Sicheritz recently argued that Slashdot's collaborative filtering is a good compromise between restriction and the occasional anarchy that comes with anonymity. It looks like Lyra Studios is applying this mechanism to increase the quality of their community. It will be interesting to see if it works.

Links: The fine print about the Personality Point system.