RE: Thoughts on the Latest SPS Governance Proposal

Thank you Yabapmatt for co-founding this incredible DeFi game we come to enjoy and love on a daily basis. A game that continues to define how a DeFi and DAO experience and experiment can potentially be evolved over time. As a big supporter and fan of DeFi game I don't believe this change will meet my personal test for the best possible way to evolve and sustain a DeFi economy. I am writing this super late and have not fully thought this out as DeFi is brand new, complicated and may need more intellectual capital than I have available right now. I feel if I don't provide this response now I may forget. So...

I believe there are 5 or more elements to consider for this important change:

1. Proof of Stake (SPS). I believe once SPS staking is implemented it will resolve some of these concerns.

2. Proof of Time (bots and humans both deserve their time as well -- which is the best part of Splinterlands scaling economy). Implementing this proposal may decrease the lower deck players' proof of time. We should design changes to either maintain or increase a bot/player's proof of time. I believe Splinterlands should reward proof time with an annual soul-bound card given out as part of each season end reward for players to combine and max. For conversation purposes only and not intended to be used this way: we can have regular max foil for those that combine 13 cards and it's converted to max gold foil when 18 cards are combined. This will be special each year along it's larger deck like Chaos Legion and smaller deck like Riftwatchers. Players and bots should receive other benefits and merits for proof of time like extra stuff and goodies that will reward their gaming experience and loyalty. Yes, even bots. We can appreciate bots more as world's population declines or as Henry Ford's employment model adopts to DeFi.

3. Proof of skill -- implementing this proposal discourages of the one of the best aspect for why we play games to begin with: beating a stronger player with a weaker deck and ability to flex this, sharing this win within the community, guild, friends and possibly that opponent who tried to outspend us. This is one of the purpose of ghost card tournaments and creating a level playing field. Rank play has even a better experience. In fact, I'd argue we should reward a weaker deck beating a stronger deck by rewarding those players/bots more! This is the dream for millions of players around the world to accomplish this feat. We should reconsider other features like perhaps the tiering should be modified or expanded. For example the jump from Gold to Diamond is the largest and possibly most expense as a percentage money spent. Maybe we can expand to add a Platinum tier to help ease this economic jump. We can dive more into which player league will benefit most with this proposal and how fair that is, e.g. Diamond and Champion at a later time. I believe there are better changes within the Splinterlands framework that the developer team can tweak compared to diminishing the proof of skill.

4. Proof of entertainment (fun value). All games need to provide some form or level of entertain value even for idle clickers. I believe our mobile and Web2 peers have evolved and proven this over time. Players of all genre and generation will continue to define and evolve what constitutes entertainment. And this may change with new generation of gamers. We can look at the history and pick elements we all would love to add to Splinterlands as either quality of life improvements, distractions or serious thinking like picking the best cards for deck based on give rule set. I don't believe Splinterlands will appeal to all genre and player base but bots can be embraced as an economic model for success. Other new aspects of the Splinterlands family of gaming experience will continue to be added and may appeal to those that feel left out, e.g. Tower Defense, GLS, land play, Runi and more as they're announced.

5. Proof of DeFi (intrinsic and deflationary nature). Deflation is important in the card market and DeFi economy. It's why so many care about BTC and now Eth post merge. Ability to combine cards in Splinterlands is important to the game's success and fundamental to its origin. From my perspective it's also the least valued and most controversial when it comes to DeFi gaming as only a small percentage will benefit as the game and economy grows over time -- just like our real world. Yes, everyone will "benefit" with their share of the return. The rich will get richer -- one of the fundamental laws of money. Unlike previous monetary models and theories like keynesian economics, Alexander Hamilton's treasury management or current SWIFT banking system, DeFi has the potential to change the bankless and un-bank population at a macro level. This is where a game like Splinterlands shines and why I buy into Aggro and Yabapmatt's long term thesis. But not at the expense of the above 4 elements. The priority should be focused on the top 4 as DeFi will continue to evolve as it matures with growing pains - like tying algorithmic stablecoin (e.g. DEC) to products. Land and other new features may resolve this. Sometimes patience is the better approach or strategy with more unknowns as a risk consideration. I believe this will have a larger benefit compared to diminishing proof of skill.

I hope my lack of sleep response helps to move this conversation in a meaningful way and not distract from Yabapmatt's genius and vision for Splinterlands.