New Account for Splinterlands Posts & My Goals / Thought Process
I have set up this new Hive account @yabapmatt.sps to post things related to Splinterlands and SPS governance proposals. Even though I haven't posted anything on my main @yabapmatt account in years, I do still hold out hope that some day I will have time to blog about various non-SPL topics so I thought it would be good to separate out Splinterlands posts to another account. Anyone can easily verify that this account was created by @yabapmatt on any Hive block explorer and be assured that it is really my account.
As mentioned on a recent Town Hall, I would like to start submitting some SPS governance proposals personally, as a player and community member, rather than on behalf of the Splinterlands organization for two reasons. First - I see myself as a player and community member first and foremost and I try to make sure I always approach product design and changes from that perspective rather than from a "business" perspective (although, in the long run I think those perspectives should align). Second, my thoughts are not always reflective of everyone in the organization (many of whom are also very active players and community members), so I don't want to presume to speak for them or make them feel pressured to support proposals that the organization is making.
With that being out of the way, before I post anything else I would like to talk about my overall vision, goals, and how I think about growing and improving Splinterlands in general. Hopefully that background will help in discussing future ideas with the community, which I would like to do more of going forward. Again, this is me as a player and community member, and when I say "we", unless otherwise specified, I mean everyone who is part of this community.
To start, I want to be very clear that my ultimate goal and absolute top priority is to bring as much demand and utility as possible to all Splinterlands assets, sustainably, over the long term. I believe the path to achieving that goal is through building the best possible products and being very careful and realistic about how we - the entire community - allocate our limited resources. That is what I spend the majority of my life thinking about and working on, and that is what guides my decisions and thought processes that I will discuss below.
Tokenomics vs. Gameplay
In order to succeed, we need to be very realistic and honest with ourselves about why people play Splinterlands and spend money in the game rather than the multitudes of other games on the market.
Even though many of us might like to believe otherwise, I believe that the reality is that it's more about the tokenomics than the gameplay. By tokenomics, I don't mean how much ROI you can earn every month, but more generally how players can gain value for themselves sustainably over the long term by participating in this ecosystem, and having fun while doing it.
That doesn't mean that gameplay isn't important, though. Gameplay is very important. Splinterlands absolutely must be a fun, engaging, and challenging game for it to be successful, but we have to understand and clearly acknowledge that gameplay is not what gives us our edge. It's not our defining thing. It's not the thing that makes us rise above and stand out amongst the hundreds of thousands of other games competing for attention.
What makes Splinterlands different from every traditional game, and from even most other blockchain-based games, is our tokenomics. I believe we are ahead of nearly every game in the entire world in this area, but we need to be constantly experimenting and improving in order to stay there.
Long term success requires both great gameplay and great tokenomics. Gameplay is the product that drives value to the tokens (both fungible and non-fungible). Tokenomics without a product is unsustainable. The question then becomes how to split resources between those two things.
Blockchain-based game tokenomics is an entirely new field in which we are still very early and just barely scratching the surface of what is possible. We need to experiment and figure out what works and what doesn't and we need to do it before anyone else does. On the other hand, creating fun and engaging gameplay is a very mature field with plenty of resources and examples of exactly what works and what doesn't.
I have seen a number of blockchain-based games take the route of focusing mostly on gameplay because they know how to do that and it's easier. It's not hard to find game designers and developers with decades of traditional game experience, but it's nearly impossible to find any with decentralized tokenomics experience. What ends up happening in those cases is that you get a decent game (often a clone of a popular existing game) but with basic tokenomics sort of bolted on top of it, which makes for a clunky and disjointed experience overall.
I believe that we should take a different approach. I think we need to build the gameplay and the tokenomics to fit together and support each other from the ground up. I want Splinterlands to be the first real game that fully embraces the decentralized, web3 ideology at its core with an economy that fairly spreads value among all participants. Part of that means having a fun and engaging product - the gameplay - to support the tokenomics, and I recognize that. I am a gamer and I am here to build games that I love to play and not defi apps.
I know that the Splinterlands team absolutely plans to constantly improve the gameplay and add new types of gameplay when and where they can, but that is only one piece of this project and I think it's important that it is prioritized accordingly. That is what I feel is realistically the best way to achieve our long term goal.
Again, the tokenomics is where we have the advantage. It's where we shine. It's our opportunity to beat the competition and become a leader not just of the blockchain-based gaming market, but of the entire traditional gaming market as well.
I also recognize that some people may not agree with this, and that's totally fine. This isn't for everyone. Splinterlands is a big experiment that is constantly growing and changing with a very uncertain future in an attempt to blaze a trail into the future of gaming. Some people may not be interested in something like that, or disagree with our plan to try to get to our goal, and for those people there are many other great game products, both traditional and blockchain-based, that may be a better fit.
DEC
I talked about us needing to innovate and be a leader in this space in the previous section, and while we are doing many new and innovative things in Splinterlands, one of our biggest innovations, in my opinion, which extends to the entire cryptocurrency space and not just gaming, is the concept of the product-backed stablecoin.
Stablecoins are an incredibly important piece of the crypto ecosystem, and all of them are backed either by other assets or by algorithms, or a combination of both. The algorithms have repeatedly failed, some quite spectacularly, and the ones backed by other assets also have their drawbacks. We are pioneering a completely new way to back a stablecoin - with products - which I believe could single-handedly bring a huge amount of attention and value into the Splinterlands ecosystem.
The only problem is that we haven't gotten it to work yet. This is because there aren't enough products that are priced in it for it to maintain a stable value. For it to succeed and have the chance to bring the attention and value into the ecosystem that I think it can, it doesn't just need to reach "par" value, it needs to have significant and constant demand so that it stays at or slightly above 1000 DEC per $1 USD nearly all of the time.
For that to happen, we need as many products as possible priced in DEC, and preferably where the DEC is either burned or is locked up and off the market. The Splinterlands organization has been doing everything it reasonably can to help make that happen, including foregoing significant amounts of revenue by accepting DEC at par for packs despite it trading significantly below that on third-party markets, but the company can only do so much due to its need for non-DEC revenue to pay employees and other expenses.
The DAO is in a unique position where it has a significant amount of products to sell, and since it does not have expenses it can hold on to any tokens it earns indefinitely. In order for this to work, the community needs to be aligned, and the DAO needs to help out. The Splinterlands organization will continue to do everything it can to drive more utility to the DEC token through in-game products, and I sincerely hope the community understands the importance of this opportunity and helps to support these goals through pricing the DAO's products in DEC as well going forward.
Change
This entire project is basically exploring a completely new and uncharted frontier, so it's unrealistic to expect that initial implementations or initial plans will be the best way to achieve our goals - they are merely the best that were thought of at the time. As time goes on, better ways will be found to achieve the goals of growing the utility and value of the assets over the long term, and it would be silly not to implement them just because they weren't thought of earlier.
I, of course, realize that people make decisions based on how things are currently implemented or how they are announced, and it can sometimes be difficult or annoying to deal with changes, but like it or not that's just part of what comes with this type of project. Everyone who participates in this ecosystem should be 100% clear that things will change quickly and often any time there is an opportunity to improve the product and achieve the goals, and that should be taken into account whenever making any decisions regarding the game.
I would also like to note that this is not unusual. It is a common thing that many startups and organizations do when they're trying new things to give them the best chance of success. "Fail fast" is the saying and it means that you need to try as many different things as you can and figure out what has failed and what has succeeded quickly and then repeat.
Obviously, it's best to stick to what was announced as much as reasonably possible and not change things just for the sake of changing things, but whenever there is an opportunity that will likely lead to a better overall product we, as a community, should not hesitate to move forward with it just because it was previously announced or implemented in a different way.
As a player and community member I personally wouldn't want it any other way.
Conclusion
I want to reiterate the overall goal of driving as much demand and utility as possible to the Splinterlands assets sustainably over the long term. This goal drives everything that I do, and any future changes or proposed changes via governance proposals that I make are because I believe that they will help to achieve that goal.
I look forward to engaging with the community more in the future as a player and community member to discuss ideas and I hope that this post helps to get everyone on the same page about our goals as an organization and helps to drive the discussions in a constructive way.
Finally, I want to sincerely thank everyone reading this for being a part of this community and coming along with us on this crazy journey!
NOTE: All rewards from this post will go to @sps.dao
Great article Matt. Thanks for for diving deep and explaining your thought process.
I completely agree that tokenomics are the most important part of Splinterlands and we shouldn’t be ashamed to say it.
The narrative from the community has waxed and waned over the years, but sentiment generally follows asset prices.
When we enter a bullish phase those that haven’t experienced that will find out pretty quick how spectacular it can feel around here.
We are forging new ground and it’s not always going to be pretty, but what has been built here by the team and the community is something truly special.
Thanks for all your hard work through all the salt.
You are an amazing person.
I Really !LUV this Goldmatters Guy, Especially on Twitter, and Yes I do know that GOLDmatters !
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Thanks so much. I am so appreciative of people like you who support my effort to raise awareness of Splinterlands through daily content (for over 1.5 years now!) on twitter and other social media :)
It is a Good Thing since we have been here since the Beginning and Thank You Brother !
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Hi @yabapmatt.sps @yabapmatt
Firstly, I think posting your thoughts here is a great idea, so thanks!
I may well be any permutation of naïve, mistaken or misguided, but would like to present a different perspective, which is based on the idea that the three games are the drivers of the tokenomics and not the other way round.
Why? Because if you took the tokenomics away, you still have three games. If you take the three games away, you have literally nothing.
When I first discovered Splinterlands, I played the original card game for a month without spending a single cent and fell in love with those three minutes of fun with the zany, irreverent characters and great gameplay that SPL1 is.
Then decided this was a game with legs and got my spellbook, although I wouldn't have on that, never mind pour in a small fortune, without the blockchain.
This one game alone is enough to drive massive success for the company, and for we players, but we have three very different but interlinked games with three quite different player bases, with varying degrees of crossover between them. For example, I ply SPL1 every single day, have never played SPL2 or Guilds, and am hoping to find enough time to play SPL3 or Land!
SPL1 is a casual game, more akin to candy crush than civilization, and the one that can drive both mass adoption and a revolutionary economic model.
People who like SPL1, the original card game, are into short fast games.
SPL2 (guilds) is a kind of hybrid game in that it requires teams who all play short fast games against other teams, so a bit more nerdy.
People who like SPL3 (land) are obviously into long complex but slow games.
In this scenario, separate the three games and make spl1 a gameplay only app and it will drive itself forwards and the economy up.
Let's sell fun and make money, not sell money and have no fun. I am definitely not saying the tokenomics isn't vital but market making is no substitute for fun.
You have made something amazing, that can both be fun and literally rewarding for millions of us...
I think we're mostly on the same page here actually. You're right that gameplay drives the economics and not the other way around. I acknowledge that in the post when I said "Gameplay is the product that drives value to the tokens" and "Tokenomics without a product is unsustainable".
But - it's actually a bit of a circular relationship, because the economics in this case is what gets the attention for the gameplay and makes the gameplay so much more exciting and interesting than other games.
You're right that if we took away the games we would have nothing, but if we took away the tokenomics we would have a game that no one would know about or play. So really both of them are super important, but the economics piece is the new thing that no one really knows how to do yet, and that's what's the most new and exciting for players with Splinterlands vs other games.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this. How, specifically, would you suggest we separate the games and make "spl1" a "gameplay only app"?
The relationship between the games is indeed circular, but tbh I truly think saying it is the tokenomics that gets attention is selling the games short lol!
I guess it is partly a question of how you define the games.
Whilst it is true that I would never have spent a penny on splinterlands without the assets being on a blockchain, I also wouldn't have invested without playing the free version for a month and finding it to be the most fun game around on w2 or w3, and wanting to be part of that.
For me, that is our primary distinctiveness.
You guys have built a great game but fundamentally there are three very different games that have vastly different audiences. It follows then that they should be presented in three different ways.
Which brings me on to your question.
I only play on my laptop, cos of the bigger screen space. Frankly I would not want to use the current app at all.
I know there is also a problem with apple and google fee gouging so how about an app just for SPL1, the original game, and the one, the only one, of the three that could pull a mass audience due to its combo of fast fun and brevity.
Take all but the gameplay out, with all the transactional stuff in the website only, and I would play that app a lot.
Nice simple design, no clutter, no complexity, just a great fun game that is always the same but crucially always different.
Just let people have fun, whether they want casual fun by simply playing for free, as I did at first, or want to take it further, as I went on to do.
The original game is brilliant and deserves a player base of millions, at least.
Simplicity always beats complexity, indeed complexity is often just simplicity reiterated, so let's take your wonderful creation and make it simply wonderful.
And as popular as it deserves to be as an archetypal new casual game.
Or not, lol.
Matt, I'm sure you know you have earned a ton of respect from the whole community. It is well deserved, and while it might seem impossible, you deserve more respect.
I believe you have a lot of empathy in how you view things, and that makes you receptive to pretty much every complaint. We are a tough crowd as a group, but your patience and tolerance is a huge factor in keeping us together. Thank you for taking to heart so many things and continuing to move us forward.
I'm super happy to see you doing this form of communication, I feel like you are getting back in the trenches with us.
Looking forward to what happens next and happy to go on this journey to see what we can achieve!
it is true that the economy is the advantage to web2 games.
but a game can live without economy and inspire millions of players.
but the economy without a game is just a bubble and bubbles burst eventually...
in what do we invest? in a game!
what are the customers of a game? players!
what is a game without players? garbage!
just because mcdonald regularly distributes burgers to its investors, it would not survive in the long run without customers.
it can try to keep the investors busy in the ball pool as long as possible and still suck as much money out of them as possible.
but sooner or later mcdonalds will have to close if it doesn't get customers at some point......
There are no Mc Donald Style investors here or do you see SPS as being the share-holders asset? It is mostly players who invest here in assets and all these assets are used to the fullest of their capabilities in the hope of growing their assets and/or the value of their assets. I fully agree we need players but everybody knows that. You can attract by the attractiveness of the game (lots of competition there) but you can also attract by the tokenomics of it when those game-assets have a steady rise in value, that's where SL is better at and that's what Matt is saying.
Btw, i did a friend request on Discord, that was mostly to find out where you get this most amazing GIF's all the time :-)
yes no investors in mcdonald style that's true.
but for example in my country splinterlands was spread mainly by youtubers who make investment content and not by gaming youtubers. it's clear that you then get mainly people who eigendlich only want to increase their money and have no interest in the game and eigendlich never planned to play a game. these people I would tend to classify more in the category investor rather than in the category player or not?
but we need more people who come primarily to play and not primarily to earn.
because we need a healthy balance between the different types. but it seems to me that the balance is pretty much out of whack and the people who have come primarily to play are clearly in a minority position.
I mean if we had more people from the gaming area than from the investment area in splinterlands then such a bot question would not be so close.
oh sorry I look no more requests because of all the scam requests^^
Great post Matt. It took me back to the "old" days when there was time and space to "hang out".
It's good to see you writing "as a player and community member first and foremost" which seems to be where you are most comfortable.
It's been a wild ride these past few years and I admire your resilience, especially given the level of impatience shown by many of the community. It's not easy being first to market and designing in a completely new environment. Hats off to you for sticking with it.
I look forward to reading more of your thoughts here and hope you can carve out some space, in the not too distant future, to post on your main account again. Keep doing what you love most!
Matt, it's an honor to have parterned with you on this project and still years after we've started at the inception point of this industry we're still growing and building here with the most innovative designs we can deploy.
When I think of design I think of community, economy, and gameplay as the pillars we build on. Community is the way and forms in which we interact with eachother and how we're incentivized or instructed to do so within the game like the guild system. Economy is deeply connected to the tokenomics that drive all of the incentives in the game. Gameplay are the myriad of ways that we get to use our assets in fun ways that engage and entertain us.
There's other places to play games. There's other places to get tokens. There's other places to have friends and community. But there really aren't a lot of examples out there that let you do all of those things at the same time. We have passionate albeit salty people in this community. We have tokenomics that drive decisions and at times has produced millionaires. We have gameplay that has lead to 3 billion games played by a company started in a virtual garage without funding and without famous ip.
I think we relaly have it all, and what we need is time and a little luck. Feels like we're on the precipace of something really breathtaking and it's a pleasure and honor to serve this community at your side as we bring about a web 3 revolution to gaming.
Cheers,
Aggroed
!1UP I fully agree with this idea. It is necessary to have an attractive and fun gameplay for players to start and feel the desire to continue playing, but for this to work properly it is necessary that the entire economic and tokenomics structure be "round" so that the money flows in a sustainable way!
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really appreciate the hard work you have put into thinking all of this out. It was obvious (I guess not to everyone) that there would be road bumps.. My biggest concern in this regard is the way too high inflation for the SPS token - 1M/day... is way too much. But then I think of the long term plan and that is what I think also distinguishes SPL from most games: you actually think a long way ahead! So I remain hopeful that this economy will shine much brighter in a year or two
Thank you Matt. This reminds me of the visions you shared in AMAs well before SPS and leading up to SPS launch.
There are many in this community who were not present during that time, these posts will help.
Thank you for all your hard work and your persistence through the toughest times, and deepest salt mines, to forge a path forward!
Well, not really. One can easily go and check, that indeed @yabapmatt.sps was created by @yabapmatt, but that could be exploited if there's an account creation service where @yabapmatt account is account creator.
And then it was also upvoted... but still it could be upvote trail or other voting service.
So actually a proof good enough was a comment you wrote using @yabapmatt account.
Anyway, good to see you around posting :-)
Good luck!
His official account shared or reblogged(as they say) this post. That was all the proof I needed.
Thanks for building a really cool ecosystem to hangout and play in. You have provided a lot of enjoyment for myself and family over the years, looking forward to many more! :)
edit: looking forward to your proposals, re changes
Thank you for the good work and dedication.
I really appreciate to see you writing "as a player and community member first and foremost" as there were things that you can only see as a player and hope that the creation of this account also help on reaching and engaging small investors like me who has no access to mav chat but might have also offer ideas that could improve the game.
You have created something special and with too many intangibles to list which has a great deal of value too. This platform means different things and fulfills different and unique needs for many. If you can figure out ways to bake that value into DEC then this train is unstoppable. I will state the obvious though and say no matter how value is realized more has to come in than go out. More value has to stay in than goes out. Strategies to minimize/limit/even stop the leaching of value (tangible or intangible) that we all have added and continue to add will hopefully also be top of mind. I am onboard your train along with many and you have the great and unenviable role as conductor. Plan to be there with you when we reach the stop/town called nirvana. Stay brave no matter what and for what its worth much respect and gratitude from The Choonie.
Splinterlands has Changed my Life..........
Thank You Matt and Aggy !
I spoke to a friend who is a busy father and gamer. He shared a great deal of regrets for not having enough time to play Splinterlands.
I explained recent changes in the tokenomics and the roadmaps for these, and well, he's looking behind his couch pillows for things to throw at SPS.
I hope he finds some stuff. A lot of the stuff you speak about and propose is really big-brain stuff, and it takes a little bit of time to sometimes connect the individual dots to see where you're planning to arrive in the future.
It is a future that I hope to be a part of for a very long time. You've changed so many lives with this game, and have the potential to change many more.
In since Alpha and while I regret I passed up the investment chance early on it was a huge ticket price for me at that time. Still super happy with how many assets have performed but overall just enjoy playing the game and interacting via what I always wanted a game to be. Real value like I was building something over time while having fun doing it. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on a more personal level on all aspects rolling forward as the more viewpoints, information and understanding for upcoming changes in the game along with proposals is critical. Keep up the awesome work, great discussions and overall just a kick butt game built on hive. It's appreciated on many levels thank you.
Truly appreciate your thoughts and candor, and I hope you continue to speak your mind, follow your vision, and stick to your guns.
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this wild and crazy ride.
Thanks, Matt.
The key to success in web3 is finding a way to make everyone want to stay. How to stop the skimmers coming in with no interest in the project, just what they can take from it.
Its human nature to want to take the money. There are also evil powers at work within blockchain who will basically stab everyone else in the back for a buck.
If someone finds the solution to this, they have won.
Which is why I trust no-one in this space, including Matt and Aggroed. No fault of there own, I just have this inherent distrust for everyone in this space because of the reality we exist in at this moment.
This post by Matt, to me, sounds like a big please let me do what i want and support it plea. But, I will try to distance it from the company to make it sound more friendly.
I really enjoy SPL dont get me wrong.
My first idea to improve it though would be to stop issuing any new cards for at least 3 years. The market is not there for them as we stand today. Its great that SPL gets income from packs, but its diluting out of control. They need to find a way of generating income from what is existing whilst also burning them to create demand.
Maybe cards used on land are burned on to land and can never be used again in game.
Or every 1 BCX combined gives a small stat/skill improvement towards next level instead of just having to get to the full next level. If its 10 BCX to next level, each BCX gives 8% of the stat and the final card completes the last 28%. If its a skill at next level, then each BCX gives a +% chance of it firing until you get 100% chance at next card level. Lets combine all these existing cards and have fewer but better quality cards.
Just my ideas to put value back into the cards. Selling a promo for $80 is fine, but very short term lazy cash grab thinking.
Watching the vote on the anti-bot measures. Please please please add the number of individual voters in brackets alongside the the total SPS votes. Would give a better breakdown of the community votes. Not to be used in anyway for the result as SSPS is the best way for sure, but just so we can see how many accounts feel the way do and also ascertain how much investment they are holding.
If 35% of the SSPS vote is 'no' but its from 80% of accounts we get a clear vision of the population and why they are voting that way.
On the other hand, if the vote is an overwhelming 'Yes' but its from 5% of total voters, we also see some whale pressure.
Just think its a clarity point that is missing.
Very cool!
A product backed stable coin will probably work, even if it hasn't yet; I think SPL can pull it off.
I look forward to reviewing your future proposals!
!PIZZA
Wow, well written. The way you and Aggy and the team have made Splinterlands and the journey from Steem to Hive and how the game has changed many lives including mine makes me feel that you are the definition of success that was meant to be. To be an innovative leader in blockchain technology and for people to earn money and have fun too. Splinterlands is here to stay and grow.
🎯 What a dedication that speaks out of your whole post. Impressive and fingers crossed Splinterlands can get anywhere close to the level you described. All the best and keep that focus!
!LUV
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Key sustainably here, and I'm glad you included it, because it really makes all the difference. There are easy ways to pump certain tokens but to do it in a sustainable way is the true challenge and something I have seen the Splinterlands team have success with over the 1.5 years I've been in the ecosystem.
I'm glad you addressed this head-on because a lot of the people I engage with seem to look over this fact. One of the reasons I've enjoyed this game so much for so long is how robust the tokenomics are (and in turn the secondary markets as well). Of course as you recognize the gameplay is important, as there would be very little demand for the assets if the game weren't fun to play. But I also get plenty of joy from all the different token activities I review on a near-daily basis - Liquididty Pools, Yield from Staking, deciding the best ways to reinvest profits back into the ecosystem, and of course holding a token that provides me a vote in the game's governance. Web3 is a perfect fit for a game that is part game strategy and part token strategy.
This is the core reason I stuck around playing Magic the Gathering for so long - it wasn't just the constantly changing metagames and format environments. I absolutely LOVED the financial underpinnings of the secondary market. Buy low, sell high is rather easy if you can see the changes in strategies and metagames before the wider market. The same is true for Splinterlands as well - if you know how to read the room and perceive the next wave of FOMO, it can be rather simple to stay a few steps ahead of the pack and rack up some easy profits from the first mover advantage.
I'm glad you took the time to engage with us as a fellow player and strategist, and not just one of the founders and developers. It is important that you are able to share your opinions as a player separate from those of the company and I look forward to more of your thoughtful proposals and articles in the future. Cheers!