Hive, P2E and the Zero Sum Game

Now as usual the title might be the best part of this post. The title and maybe a witty line somewhere. I don't know.

I was perusing Peakmonsters a bit and aching for a way to get my Zintar Mortalis to Level 5. Before about 6 months ago I never really grokked Splinterlands. I knew I should level up my cards and try and gain in the leagues and I know to play my daily quest.

I did not really understand the mechanics behind card value, their collection power and the rarity aspect. I knew I had cards that were worth a lot and I think I pretty much sold at the peak value for about 5 of them.

Way earlier I sold a ton of golds to probably buy a load of shit but we live and we learn.

The point is that now I kind of understand the mechanics behind the scenes, I still screw up and as recent as Chaos Legion rewards cards did stupid shit like buy levelled cards at $24 which are now only $3.

You never know though. On one side of the coin I want to get as many levelled cards and summoners as I can but I also have no liquidity.

Again I possibly fucked up, and so far have bought 140 packs and yes I open them so that is at minimum a $2 loss each pack.

So essentially with Chaos Legion and my lack of control, I have lost easily 50% in value. Literally, I buy packs knowing I will lose on average about $2, poof into thin air.

I guess that is the crypto side of the game talking then, the money side. If it was some bullshit yu-gi-oh or whatever games people tend to pay for, I would not care. Like that is what the toy costs, pay for the toy and be happy.

It is logical, the pack contains 5 cards and only 1 rare guarantee. I should be buying single cards. I should.

It is a gamble though because there are airdrops of legendary cards. Although these first couple were ok cards like Baakjira.

Which really is selling very cheap at $13 or so, the next ones are supposedly Summoners. Those are the pricey cards, also averaging at about $13 apiece for the older ones and $4 each for the new ones, and you need 40 of each to get to a worthwhile level. Even if you focus on 2 main splinters that is still, quite a bit.

Anyway, that all sounds like nonsensical ramblings, throwing numbers out like puke.

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In general these games.

These games are called play to earn, and many are free to play. On Hive specifically another many will know is RisingStar, login, click, login, click.

There is more to it but I think most know the login, click part. Another is Dcity and there are more but really none that have the streamlined onboarding of those. The rest I have seen offer up no real motivation to play not even just by being simple to start.

I may be wrong, I don't care. I will grok it one day and then my opinion might change.

So, in general, these games let you play, let you earn and depending on how many assets you have let you earn more. Like a loyalty card. Like Hive Power since we are here.

The pattern though is the same across the board and to be fair we have it super easy with our Hive games for the most part.

I have tried getting into wax things but it is a lot more convoluted, and games on BSC are at best gambling stations with the exception of some who do try but need time to grow.

HODLing is very much a part of this, and when it comes to normal I want to bloody play and have it all then HODLing can be extremely hard.

A very good example of one where you should almost exclusively just be grinding away would be Gods Unchained, there is almost no reason to try cash out in that game. Same with the Gala Games options and obviously Sandbox will possibly not be a game place but more a slave away place.

I don't have many assets and have also narrowed my portfolio a ton, but regardless although I don't own anything in some of these games they all have the same 0 sum outcome.

When a new business starts it can expect, usually not make a profit for quite some time. It is the same here, but how is this profit defined.

I think that is what makes me feel a bit like FUCK this, because there is a point where you want to take something out, or grow a bit quicker but you do not or cannot put more in.

For me, it is realizing that I have hit a limit and either I divert more funds to say Splinterlands and really it is a good time to buy but it will be for the next year anyway. So I should just chill.

If I hit that wall of growth and I know it is not wise to make rash decisions like powering down a ton to fund something etc. Then I (literally I just realised this) , I should set goals and realise that my time is the other asset I am putting in, it is the other one that albeit slowly but without fail will allow me to progress.

Really what I am saying is to realise that HODLing is also growing, and all that stacking sats bullshit. Expand maybe to other avenues, take time to understand the markets a bit more.

Where does the value of your assets really come from? Focus on a workflow to have these things fund each other. ie. manage the games you play to earn like a business. That means don't just take profit but also don't give up and denounce profit.

I am quick to do the latter, I essentially will throw everything back into a game or project and write it off. It seems odd but if I don't think something or someone holds value to me I will give them everything back and then some if only to nurture resentment.

If you define your goals then those will be seen as "profit" and I guess for others that is soooo simple, but I am not a goal person so I will try that shit. Pat myself on the back.

Ok, so I think this has been quite longwinded. So here is a picture of my assets in Splinterlands being down by over 60% from the I guess ATH which includes the $1000 Peakmonsters so kindly informed me I have put in over the past year. So yeah I maybe felt like venting a bit.