I'd say that it's been my experience that the imms seem more eager to drop the punishment stick than the reward stick. It's the same as any workplace where we have a group of people in middle management who want to impress the upper management by showing how well they police their underlings. "See, Imps? Look what I did! They were breaking the rules for just a second and I caught them! I'm on top of it! Hooray for me." It's that kind of imm attitude that has left a sour taste in my mouth to the point that I stopped playing for a year and a half and only recently started playing again (mostly because I'm getting divorced and I'm that bored in my spare time). This, however, may not be indicative of all of the lesser staff, but the few who go out of their way to flex their imm or heroimm might create an irritating atmosphere.

There may be a couple of solutions to this particular problem because I am certain not just myself and the original poster have experienced this. As a player, if you see someone doing some kind of really stellar roleplay, pray about it. As an imm, if you happen to be watching someone doing something you like, how about a quick emote to show it? It doesn't have to be imm experience or anything tangible, but sometimes when people get that pat on the back and an "attaboy!", it's enough to motivate people to step up their game and work harder. Just like the workplace, a player who feels appreciated is going to help create a better atmosphere for the rest of the playerbase versus a disgruntled player who'll either quit and go play something with graphics or just decide to be a #### to everyone.

Something else that might be preferable to receiving a bunch of prays that people are doing good is a Facebook-ish "like" command. Someone's "likes" would only be visible to the imms and you as a player would never know when someone "liked" you or how many you have. It's just a heads up to the imms that this person is affecting the game environment in a positive way and should be looked at from time to time.