Survival Mode – Do We Need More Space to Refine?
This is a poll request submitted to allow the community to build consensus around running a potential proposal to give Survival Mode a longer rewards runway. The request stems from a Team Possible weekly call where many discussions related to the game, DAO and community happen on a weekly basis. Here is the requested poll:
On a recent call, something came up that we think is worth discussing more broadly with the community.
Survival Mode is still very new. We’re learning how people engage with it, how bots are interacting with it, and how rewards are flowing. Because of that, a question was raised:
Are we trying to refine the mode while it’s fully live — and is that the best way to do it?
This isn’t about saying something is wrong. It’s about recognizing that we’re still in a learning phase.
The Primary Consideration
Survival has a relatively small reward allocation. If we distribute rewards at full pace while we’re still experimenting with structure, we may reduce our flexibility to make meaningful adjustments later.
So the broader question becomes:
Should we intentionally create more space for testing and iteration?
There are a few possible approaches we'll explore below.
Other Important Considerations:
What Are We Optimizing For?
Before voting, it may help to step back and ask:
- What role do we want Survival to play long term?
- Is it primarily competitive? Strategic? Experimental?
- How important is reward intensity during this early phase?
- There may be options we haven’t considered yet.
Option 1 – Alternate Seasons (On / Off)
One idea suggested was running Survival every second season.
That would mean:
- One season live with rewards
- One season paused for review, discussion, and potential adjustments
This could give breathing room for:
- Reviewing data
- Gathering feedback
- Implementing changes more thoughtfully
At the same time, some players may prefer consistent access to the mode. The “on/off” rhythm may not suit everyone.
Option 2 – Keep It Live, Reduce SPS Temporarily
Another option is to keep Survival active each season but reduce SPS payouts for a defined tuning period.
This could:
- Stretch the allocation
- Reduce short-term pressure
- Allow refinement without fully pausing the mode
Since most engagement currently appears to be in automated brackets, lower SPS rewards may not dramatically change bot behavior. However, it could impact manual players more directly — which raises its own considerations.
Option 3 – Adjust the Reward Mix
Rather than simply reducing rewards, we could explore adjusting the mix:
- Lower SPS
- Add or increase Glint
- Consider stronger incentives for manual play
This might support progression while limiting extractive pressure during the tuning phase.
Option 4 - Alternate SPS/Glint Seasons
A different approach that could blend the other options would be to have "on/off" seasons for SPS rewards while keeping the game mode active every season.
This could:
Allow us to explore if players engage without SPS incentives.
Stretch the allocation.
- Reduce short-term pressure.
- Allow refinement without pausing the mode at all.
It may still encourage "on/off" behavior with renters while having owners maintain the same behaviors as there's no cost consideration. The data gathered could help shape future decisions about whether or not the mode is sustainable without SPS funding.
Option 5 - Change Nothing
Some may feel nothing needs to change at this time.
Option 6 - Other Suggestion (comment)
If you have a better or more productive idea, choose this option and comment below.
I like the idea of reducing the sps signficantly and adding in decent glint rewards.
I may need more glint, but I swear I'm not biased
My concern is that we will end up changing stuff with insufficient data. Splinterlanders are not known for their patience. 😁 I would like to know from the team how much data we could actually get in one season. And is it enough to be statistically significant, before we stop messing around with stuff.
I'd be fine with 3 or 4... I think I like 4 slightly more because I'd like to know if people would participate without SPS rewards, but either is fine with me I suppose.
Option 9. Remove survival mode reward pool permanently
Okay to allocate glint
That's why I think option 4 makes sense... see if people will even interact with it without SPS rewards.
On second thought; no not even glint after the trial period. People are doing tons of stuff with glint.
I agree with this (although I voted #3 because I thought it fell under that umbrella).
We can have fun rewards without SPS. It can even go beyond glint.
Yeah, i prefer GLINT for sure
Hmm... I feel these aren't mutually exclusive.
Frankly 1-4 are all fine to me. I just don't like option 5.
Give us glint and remove all SPS. But I am fine with a mixed approach as well. Ultimately, Glint should become so valuable, that SPS is not required any longer. And I believe we are already there.
These are all strong solutions for us to improve the efficacy and value of survival mode as a format. I like 3 as the best idea and I think that survival might be able to exist solely as a Glint format without giving out additional SPS.
I also agree that we should try to incentivize human play over automated play by providing a hard split of resources among the two groups of brackets and then giving out rewards based on CP share of the two different survival modes.
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