Eliminating the leaderboard might help. By measuring it as a race, it becomes a race, and now the goal is the metric.

Maybe just have a cool advent calendar thingy like a digital tree that gains an ornament for each day you complete. Each ornament can be themed for each puzzle.

Of course I hope it goes without saying that the creator(s) can do it however they want and we’re nothing but richer for it existing.

▲ wging 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That 'digital tree' idea is similar to how AoC has always worked. There's a theme-appropriate ASCII graphic on the problem page that gains color and effects as you complete problems. It's not always a tree, but it was in 2015 (the first year), and in several other years at least one tree is visible. https://adventofcode.com/2015

▲ squigz 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> By measuring it as a race, it becomes a race, and now the goal is the metric.

It becomes a race when you start seeing it as a race :) One can just... ignore the leaderboard

▲ amiga386 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I've ignored the leaderboard for its entire existence, as the puzzles release at something like 4AM-5AM in my timezone; there's no point getting up 4 hours early, or staying awake 4 hours after bedtime, for some points on the internet.

Instead, getting gold stars for solving the puzzles is incentive enough, and can be done as a relaxing thing in the morning.

No matter what you do, as the puzzles get harder, you won't solve them in a day (or even a lifetime) if you don't come up with good algorithms/methods/heuristics.

▲ m000 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I disagree. Having a leaderboard also leaks into the puzzle design. So the experience is different, even if you choose to ignore the leaderboard as a participant.

	▲	orphea 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		`> Having a leaderboard also leaks into the puzzle design.` Is it your opinion? Can you give an example? Or did Eric say that?

▲ Waterluvian 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That’s also completely true and something I often say about gaming. You don’t like achievements? Just don’t do them. Your enjoyment shouldn’t be a function of how others interact with the product.

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Almondsetat 6 hours ago | parent [-]

"Just ignore it" doesn't work, psychologically.

	▲	Vespasian 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I never, in all the years of participating in AoC did take a look at the global leaderboard. Even before LLMs I knew it was filled with with results faster then you can blink. So some of us, from gut feeling the vast majority, it was always just for fun. Usually I spent at least until March to finish as much as I did in every year.
	▲	mlhpdx 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Oh, i’m quite sure it does. In fact, it’s a central thing in so much of psychology. The only difference is how you get there. Some people can just ignore and others take more effort.
	▲	squigz 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Lots of people play games while ignoring the achievements. Many people do - well, did - AoC while ignoring the leaderboard.
	▲	thunderbirdsBoy 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[flagged]