I Have a Tract+Bonuses For Free!

Ever since I started investing and playing Splinterlands, I haven't thought of cashing out, even partially.

Looking at how things turned out for the game and business Splinterlands is, and the foreseeable outcomes for it, I probably wasn't wrong about it.

Throughout the time, even when I sold stuff in-game was only to buy something else I wanted or needed. On very rare occasions I used the funds elsewhere.

Paying Off My Initial Investment in Land

A week or two ago I decided to put up for sale one of my land plots that I received as a bonus in the lottery that followed the presale of land. So, the cost of this plot for me - zero.

Why did I receive it? Because I participate in the presale and for every dollar put in one would receive a lottery ticket for some extra bonuses. I bought a tract, in the second presale, because I didn't catch the first one.

I remember at the time there were quite a few people expressing discontent after the first presale and how it was handled. I was one of them. In retrospect, this seems such an incredible small issue if one bought at $10 or at $14 or even at full price of $20. But one couldn't be sure of that then, I suppose.

When I bought my tract I had to come up with some extra funds, because I didn't have enough DEC for it. That amounted to almost 1000 Hive. Sure, back then Hive wasn't worth nearly 50 cents.

I didn't actually use my Hive, I bought Hive with Litecoin. Why I did that, since one can make purchases directly with Litecoin on Splinterlands? Because I had a good amount of DEC and kept piling up, and one could buy the tract with either DEC or credits, not a combination of the two. And I decided for DEC.

So I sold one of the bonus land plots. I keep calling them plots, but they are plot claims actually. Whatever, it's shorter, I guess. The asked and received price: 1000 Hive.

As I said earlier, I set the order more than a week ago, at some point I was reluctant that it'll be filled any time soon. But it was. Today I remarked the extra 1000 Hive on my Hive-Engine (LeoDex) balance.

Which practically means that I got the tract and the lottery bonuses for free, since DEC was earned by playing. Yes, I do the math at the end of every month, and I can hardly believe my eyes when I see how much my Splinterlands assets are currently worth.

Who's Lucky? It Takes Time or Money to Make Money.

Anyone thinks or wants to say "Lucky you!"? Especially if you are new to Splinterlands you might be tempted.

Too bad, because that's not luck. I wasn't betting on the lucky horse, I was riding it (i.e. playing) and feeding it (i.e. investing). Playing every day for a long time. I joined when Betas were released, probably Q4 2018.

There was a gradual evolution in my journey on Splinterlands.

I remember it had been a very long period of time when I got stuck in the Gold Leagues. I thought I'd never reach Diamond Leagues and looked at the players from the leagues above either as super-players or deep pockets. Which some of them were.

But at some point I did it once - reach Diamond League that is. I wish I could say once I did it one time, I could repeat the performance the next time. But more seasons came by until I reached it again. It took more leveling up of my deck and constantly reaching Diamond I (at least), to be almost sure of another Diamond League place next season. Why Diamond I? To spend the least amount of time playing in the Gold Leagues the next season, where cards are limited. Of course, for that, Champion League III is the best, because you start the future season directly in Diamond League III. If you can manage CLII, you have a league down buffer in case you lose a few matches at the beginning of the new season.

Another thing that helped me during my time with Splinterlands was my inclination towards ownership rather than renting. While one can make profit with rented cards, the owner earns from both price increase of the cards over time (what we have for some time is an explosion of prices, but the tendency was there even before), as well as from renting out cards not used (currently I earn more DEC daily from renting than from playing the game).

Short Recap. Long Term Vision.

I remember when I started my journey on Splinterlands (which had a different name at the time), only ranked battles and probably the daily/seasonal quests were available. But in the alpha's time, no gameplay at all had been created yet. Later came the tournaments, the teams and brawls, and now SPS. And, of course, in-between and with the prospect of a great future once developed, the land presale. I haven't even mentioned bridges to different ecosystems, multiple liquidity pools for DEC and now SPS, and partnerships struck during this time.

These stirred some short term gains and then some frustration recently, especially for newcomers and... profit maximizers:

I know SPS airdrop creates FOMO. So does the lack of products to buy on the primary market at the moment. But remember this is still a long term game. I joined the game in 2018, but it's likely I'll still be with it in 2025 if the team (and the DAO) keeps things going.

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta