If the Shard is a bad environment, then I'm pretty sure almost every other place in existence is a bad environment. I don't really see any of the things you mentioned too much. The reputation, I can kinda get, since I've mentioned before that in a few isolated circumstances I posted specifically to get rep, unfortunately. I said in a reply to one of your SUs that I like to watch the number go up on the leaderboards, and I don't know if that influenced your writing of this post, but when I said that I didn't mean "I care and want my reputation to grow!" What I meant was that, as people give rep for things, I like to see bigger numbers for the sake of the fact that I like numbers growing bigger gradually.
Then again, you could mean like winning the day. Yeah... I personally agree there. I think it kinda sucks that there's that thing. It's a fun thing to have, and I don't think it would be bad normally, but there's the fact that there's a counter on the profiles devoted to it... Idk.
Anyways, what did you really mean when you said those things? I would really like some clarification because I'm probably misunderstanding what you're saying here.
Edit one: idk about my phrasing... hmm.
Edit two: okay, ima just restructure this fully. *muttering under my breath as I angrily type about not being a jerk when I'm not trying to be.*