Axie Infinity and Splinterlands' Solution To The Bot Problem Are The Same But...
Not too long ago, the Splinterlands' team announced (through a post) that they would be removing the DEC reward for Novice and Bronze III.
And even before the Splinterlands' team announcement; Sky Mavis of Axie Infinity announced that they would be removing the ability of accounts with MMR of less than 800 to earn SLP.
The reason why both teams of developers of two vastly different games are doing the same thing is to combat bots that are eating both games' reward pools.
But although their methods are almost identical, the effect to their players, especially new players are not the same.
For example, once the Sky Mavis team remove the earning capabilities of accounts with less than 800 MMR; many of their players with weak Axies and could not afford to invest several more hundred dollars into the game would most likely quit Axie Infinity.
Moreover, coupled with Axie Infinity's high barrier of entry, new players and investors would have to think hard before playing and investing in the game.
In comparison, Splinterlands have low barrier of entry which was largely thanks to the rental market that allows new players to rent cards to that could help propel them in the higher league.
Even if the new change was to he implemented, new players just needed to rent 2 common (dice and untamed) gold foil cards for a few cents a day to get the required 1000 CP and start earning DEC.
Players of Axie Infinity on the other hand didn't have such an option. And it was this lack of option one of the reasons that majority of their player base was so against the plan to remove the rewards for low MMR players. After all not everyone could casually invest hundreds if not thousands of dollars to get powerful Axies to be competitive. A lot of players (old and new) are even planning to leave the game if the devs push through with their plan.
Splinterlands also has its fair share of disgruntled players that are against the implementation of the new change that would remove the DEC rewards for Novice and Bronze III. But considering that getting 1000 CP was very easy very few if any of these disgruntled players threaten to leave the game.
It's easy to see that the devs of Splinterlands are handling the issue of bots devouring the reward pool a lot better than the devs of Axie Infinity. Although the new change would still affect new players, it will not affect their ability to earn in the game.
Not only that, but the update that is to come for Splinterlands, where rewards are going to be calculated based on the cube of a player's rating instead of the square of it, will change dramatically distribution of those same rewards without affecting the entry point for new players. Yes, new players will earn a lot less, but at least they can have a decent entry point where they can try the game, see if they like and want to improve on without a massive commitment.
Splinterlands devs are making pretty much all the right moves, and I really have to praise them because of it. They could easily turn the game into a money making machine, but they have demonstrated over and over that they care a lot about the economy and the long-term prospects of Splinterlands.
I couldn't be more bullish, and even bought more SPS today at ~$0.58, which I find very low.
I think that although the aim of this update is to makes bots' life harder, I wouldn't underestimate that the impact will be even harder on new players in general, making the game harder to be remunerative for new joiners (so also discouraging them unless they put real money into the game).
Also I would consider how bot accounts are still contributing to the splinterlands economy first buying the spellbook, and secondly being active renters/buyers of the cards market.