Edges are a very potent carrots (kudos to the IMMs who did all that and continue to tweak them). People want them, and will sacrifice time and enjoyment to obtain them if they must.

Things that can earn you edge points should probably:

1) Not take away from time spent playing your char (as opposed to grinding alone)
2) Encourage some behavior that is positive for the game.
3) Not make you feel like you're being punished/taxed

One of the few ways that meet these criteria is an age based system. I know it's been suggested before, but it's worth looking at some of the likely benefits.

If you want that edged out char, you begin with one that you plan to play for a long time.

This would encourage:
- better thought out chars with better roles
- Chars that are around longer
- Fewer throw-away chars
- People to have and play fewer chars
- Better interactions if you know you want this char to last.

It would also be nice for chars that are long-lived to have something on that green-horn power ranker that just appeared in your range. And it makes sense that you would pick these skills up over your many years of study.