The financial rewards are not my motivator, but those have been curiously addictive for me.
It is an incentive for everyone, as it is needed by pretty much everyone. I am yet to meet anyone in all of my travels who is outside of the financial economy completely and I know people who live alone in the forest and have very little contact with the outside world.
I remember making my very first 1/2 cent - it had taken three months of posting, commenting and upvoting until I earned anything at all.
This is a common experience, but it seems to be that those who are interested in learning and developing, as well as adjusting themselves, tend to end up doing better by 6 months in. It is a long time for some, a short time for others.
Since HF 25 my curation rewards have doubled, from half a hive token to a full hive token. lol. I make 30 cents a day, and feel happy about that.
For the first six months I was hear there was a 2x curve in play, meaning that I earned essentially nothing on my curation, even though I had thousands in HP (SP at the time). After HF19 when it was flattened, I started earning really for the first time. all conditions change.
I got here right after that was changed I think. I had just started earning a bit on the small paying posts that I supported (because they were in my part of the pond) when the convergent curve hit. Suddenly I could make nothing on curation, and my posts made even less too. I know it was supposed to modify behavior, but I resented having to modify my own behavior (stop upvoting small accounts, stop upvoting comments) just to make a few cents a week.
I wonder if trying to modify behavior isn't futile, and if those regulations/modifications don't always harm the smaller swimmers here. A lot like real life. This recent fork seems to have helped some, and I am back to upvoting very low paying posts. My posts don't seem to make any more than they did pre-HF25, maybe even less. I know it's early and things are settling down.
BTW, I really appreciate your frequent support of my posts!!!