First Step to Cure Addiction: Accept It
Yes, You are an addict!
Splinterlands community have an addition problem. Addiction to winning.
Therefore, folks have addiction to the substance that makes it easy to win.
They have addiction to bots and battle helpers.
So, to search for a solution I went to the internet and serch for addiction cure helps. The first hit that I liked is https://www.discoverynj.org/am-i-an-addict-quiz/
Think you may have an addiction problem? Have you ever asked yourself “am I an addict?”
We are taught in school in science class, that to solve a problem, the first step is to identify the problem. To identify the problem, one must ask some basic questions about addiction to automation services that is available to Splinterlands. I found a standard set of simple questions at the same website. They are below, I have just edited them to fit our current problem.
- Your feelings when using substances (Read Bots/Battle Helpers) (e.g. craving, guilt)
- How often do you use it (Bots/Battle Helpers) (e.g. daily/weekly/monthly)
- How much do you use (Bots/Battle Helpers) (e.g., drinks per day/week)
- What consequences may have resulted from your substance use (your community, your friends, while chatting on mav-chat or tavern) (e.g., legal trouble, relationship problems)
The first point: It is the feeling of elation of constant winning, or high percentage of winning, getting SPS, crushing your opponent, climbing on leaderboard, while eating dinner, doing work, talking to your family, doing chores......whatever that is, but not really playing the game! Yeah must feel great you Timbers? John cubed?
Yep, that's the modern leaderboard. Don't worry we will change it.
The second point: How often do you use a bot or a battle helper? Everyday, eh? That is an easy answer.
The third point: How much do you use the bot/BH? Well all the time. Because it is easy and it helps you win!
The forth point: Consequences? What is that? Well you come on discord, and curse the good people and explain how it WILL NOT work. Tell people, how there are 4 human players playing 8 accounts manually (oh sorry, with the help of XBOT) eh @dexy50?
Sorry this was an old one, at the time there was not violation. Just lies. Now XBOT do not support Modern, so these 4 human players are using Battle Helpers until we BAN their use.
So they are addicts. That is the conclusion.
Solution
It is easy to point to a problem, not easy to find a solution. I am not an easy person. I like to find solutions. First is reach out to the community. Talk to some of the people that you know who play manually and ask them how does it feel to play manually. Maybe play 100 games manual in Modern Human league. Find the sheer joy of winning and losing. Maybe reach out to a community member after he/she have just destroyed your team and say GG. Laugh and talk together. You will see you will feel better.
Admit that you were missing out on human interaction. Reach out to a fellow human. You will see that you are feeling better. Then consider voting YES to the two upcoming proposals by @davemccoy.
Interesting analogy, even if it's a bit cheeky lol. There is no denying that bots/BHs have made life easier for players but that goes against the whole concept of a game. As others have said, there are passive ways to earn in the Splinterlands ecosystem but the game should not be one. It should be fun, challenging, and of course rewarding.
100% agree Aftersound!
Yes. I understand and appreciate many individuals might have other addiction and it is a serious business. However for me this particular addiction to easy win and farming as quite similar and it needs to be mitigated
Fun way to make the point. But I agree we've forgotten how fun this game can be. That's how we grow!
Thanks for making the point AZ and for doing your best to explain to people why its important!
The analogy is the best I can come up with. I have discussed this with others offline and most are in agreement with the problem. It's similarity to many vices are uncanny
It really is going to get interesting if people can't use any of these aids. Most seem to get comfortable using the tools and out of convenience, do not build their personal toolkit. They are reliant. Remove the ladder, and they are just left holding the ball.
Do those Timber accounts hold significant SPS too?
They got no SPS.
That's why Dave's proposal will pass.
Bot masters are largely extractors. They didn't buy or accumulated any SPS, so now that will bite them big time. They will lose.
That's interesting
The problem with your analogy is that it assumes that all Splinterlands players depend on these gadgets to get by, and the sad reality is that the vast majority of human players don't want or have access to those tools.
The sad reality is that most new players are faced with the belief that they are playing on a level playing field. None of them know about the bots, nor other backdoor left open to bots by the developers, but they think that it is a game where it only depends on the player's skill. When in reality it is economic interests that take precedence when making decisions about what is best for the game.
Is it reasonable for a new player to face a team with three legendary cards in the bronze league? But, the prevailing criterion is the maximization of profit, and so we see how players with more than a million CP are playing in the bronze league, stealing what little these players can obtain at that level.
With the removal of the CP minimum to move up the leagues, we now face not only bots transferring their cards from one account to another, but also the greed of OGs transferring their cards to multiple accounts to take advantage of all the leagues.
But the greed does not end there, but also during the waiting time because they have transferred their cards to other accounts and cannot use them for 48 hours, they decide to rent those cards that cannot be used in battles, dealing a heavy blow to the unsuspecting newcomers . Players who do not understand the economic dynamics behind this game are at a serious disadvantage.
Despite everything, splinterlands is still a great game as long as you know how to shit the economy of the game. You learn to enjoy fighting and defeating all those bots you have to deal with. After all, it's just a game, and if everyone could understand that, maybe splinterlands could find its place in the attention economy. But, right now it's only greed that's drawing attention in this game.
Yes lots of that is true. Greed is equally addictive as the desire to win
I don't understand anything as I don't play this hive game. But going through the blog I found out that people are really obsessed with winning, and they can do anything to achieve their goal.
I even think that we should be in social media and society as we are in our life and if we are not everywhere as we are then maybe we are lying to ourselves or society.
Don't know why I am writing this, but it clicked for me after reading this article.
Don't worry this is a trading card game that we play and people are very passionate about it. It is play to earn game, meaning you get paid to play. However it is not really easy and requires a lot of initial capital to make it fun. Say $1000 to $5000 :)
Well done, you told me, who knows, I would have followed this line in the future. What are the things to earn money. I just love posting and that's enough for me.
I guess there is something big I am missing out on this huge game which I need to start participating as soon as possible. I have been told splinterland can really be addictive
I gave up playing a while back for various reasons, including lack of time. I still earn a little from the game by renting and staking. It was frustrating to play so many obvious bot accounts, but I would beat some of them. I never used the bots myself. I get that some people just want the money, but I was playing for fun. Good to see they have banned bots in some parts. That took too long.
SL team has always been bot agonists. It is their root of minimalism governance. Only now when it went completely unstable that they are implementing some changes.
It may be too late for some who already gave up. I felt those running the game were always after my money. They don't get any more from me now.
they are a bit. This is a commercial operation, a profit making business for them. They need revenue and they need to pay people. They have about 50 paid employees
I’m new on this platform, maybe a little explanation would work please
https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/what-is-splinterlands
By far the most exciting thing to me about this change is the trash talk immediately after a battle with someone you know. I enjoy the human aspect -- discussing the strategy, talking about the placement decisions, and rubbing their nose in the smell of defeat.
Trash Talk Is Back!!!
yes, without trash talk 1-on-1 games are no fun!
Addicted to every other thing in life except battle helper. Probably just gotta give it more time and usage. 🤣
Well I say it's a saving grace that you are not addicted to it.
This is just an elaborate way of bullying a community member? (dexy50)
You must've been really upset after the conversations with him.
I've looked at the Discord conversations. You said things like "I will remember your name", which is aggressive and just weird. Your general tone is rude and aggressive - I've seen a couple people in discord pointing it out.
And he wasn't cursing anyone.
I think you're the one that should consider AA - because you're addicted to salt
Here is the problem you have. This is my blog. This is my rule. And here you WILL behave:)
For the record this is what Xbot founder view to Xbot user. He is saying the users clearly have a problem.
Please follow his advice.
Nope
Let me show something to you :)
You don't exist.
Goodbye