What resources are required to turn off the "reputation" feature of a vBulletin message board?

Factual Questions
1

I’m moderating on a vBulletin message board that has no end of headaches because users get into all kinds of ridiculous fights over reputation points. The mods, and most of the users, would like to see the rep system turned off. The administrator won’t do it, and won’t say why.

Does it cost money? Is it technically difficult? Does it take a long time to implement? Is it hard to find instructions on how to turn off the reputation?

Because if there is a simple step that a vBulletin administrator can do in order to shut down the rep system, we’d sure like to know about it - thanks in advance for insights. (Mods, feel free to move this to IMHO if I’m in the wrong spot, but I think this is a simple technical question rather than a matter of opinion.)

2

It’s a case of clicking a button in the admin area. Takes roughly 0.00002 seconds, costs $0.00, and expends 0.0000000001 calories.

3

Oh, to add to that information: rep is on as default on a new vbulletin installation. So it takes more effort to turn it off than to leave it on.

4

Just did it on a site I moderate in response to this thread, took 10 seconds. Now, we wait to see who notices first and how loudly they yell.

5

It’s easy, but is your administrator a bit of a technophobe? That might be the problem.

Or he might have bought into the idea that gameification is mind control. Gameification is this idea that you can use the aspects of gaming design to improve non-game software. In this context, this would mean giving people points to provide motivation to do things. It does work for some people, and that gave an illusion to some that they were somehow master manipulators for figuring this out.

And, yet, every forum I’ve seen that is large and lasts a while winds up shutting it off.