probably he didnt use static in the source code 

I think the main motivation is reputation/approval. Beside from geting actual help to solve a problem. And to measure that in rank point medals or what ever is a good think. Thats basically how stackoverflow works.

How about polling system? keep anon and OP should still have glance how ppl react to their work. It's up to you to give detailed post or not.

I third that idea

I dunno. I've been pondering this topic (here's another spanner in the works). If your games so good then why do you need appreciation? If your games not so good why do you need appreciation? I really dunno - I like appreciation but I don't write games just for that... or do I?

When I write software, I want it to be used. Games can be used by anyone. You'd think posting games on a game development enthusiast site would garner some good feedback. That none of the games are good enough to warrant positive comment is nonsense. I think some of us here are quite full of ourselves. No one expects games in the JGO showcase to be triple A. We do expect them to be fun. Appropriate feedback on that is not hard to give. You can simply post why you didn't (or did) have fun. Common courtesy like prefixes such as "I felt that..." are sufficient to keep things civil, and by saying WHY it isn't fun for you, the author gets something useful. If you really can't say why you didn't have fun or you are just too busy to be bothered to post, then don't, but don't blame the games themselves for it.

Just to throw out another idea, what if there was a standard form for Showcase feedback (and perhaps a "Feedback" button next to the "Reply" button)?

Something like:

    Standard Showcase Feedback
    I played your game on <insert system here>.
   
    Bugs to report
    <insert details>
   
    Suggested improvements
    <insert details>
   
    Other comments
    <insert details>

Would that make it easier to provide feedback without feeling obliged to lie through your teeth and say how much you enjoyed the game?

Simon

Haha, that is illusion: only one of them has ever sold in any numbers even vaguely deserving of the term "success". I rather agree with you: when I look back at them all I ever see is crap and problems that I wish I could redesign.

Cas

I think we should create a section where we all try to say good thing about each other so we can feel the love

You are a good person and have exceptional personal hygiene.

God should have written better specs or not have outsourced the moral subsystem of humans to low paid holy entities in the first place. Also he should've bothered to exist.

Group hugs! 

Cas

I tend to comment on 3D games only. And we don't have much of that kind nowadays in the showcase section except for Flesh Snatcher (which i actually played more than i've played any other game from the showcase in the last months) and of course TUER (which was always there and will stay forever... ). I just don't know what to say about the 100th tower defense or jump and run game with mediocre pixel art or those games that suffer from "kevfication", i.e. that run in a little window with pixelated graphics...i appreciate the work and ideas that people invest to make such a game, but they are just not my kind of games.

Maybe you just have something against circles?

Man, that's what I got out of that blog to. I couldn't finish it because the writer was so self absorbed.
What a time drain.   

I usually don't comment on the showcase, because most of the game are just so-so.