This is actually a pretty good idea...

I wouldn't look at it like a role playing game (or any other kind of game, to be honest), but it would be a great way to reward contributers with 'status' for their dilegence.

Practicality limits, though, probably mean that this type of system would be incompatible with Gnutella. To keep track of that kind of information ('scores' for each file, I suppose), a centralized server would be required, and we all know what happens to centralized servers. Also, such a system would be simple to over-ride with other gnutella clients that don't restrict leeching. Also, if the allowance information was stored client-side, you have problems with memory hacking. If they're stored server-side, you have problems with packet filtering. Encryption would keep out all but the most dedicated hackers, but then, why bother when you can go get Gnute and leech all you want?

All in all, it's a great idea, but simply isn't practical enough to lay on top of Gnutella. Perhaps a new protocol might be implemented to take such scoring methods into account?

Xin-Fang