fake internet points dont matter at an individual level on this platform - up/down votes on posts affect the weight metric about how they get displayed in the feed but dont really seem to matter too much either.
as others have said, it’s a mental/cognitive thing - but it’s also social to the extent that each online community has its own social rules, some unspoken, that everyone mindlessly obeys because if you dont you’ll get shadowbanned/silenced by power tripping moderators.