It’s hard to believe, but I’ve now been part of this community for over 7 years — 7 years and 83 days to be exact — since joining Hive on August 18th, 2017. That means I’m now in my 8th year here and within the overall Web3 landscape.
To shape the future, one must also keep in mind the past. Looking back at the years ('23/'24), it’s been both rewarding and challenging. I’ve learned a lot from my past mistakes and have grown in meaningful ways — personally, spiritually, and professionally.
"Hard times create strong minds."
Contractor
But as important as the lessons are, it’s also been tough, with things not turning out as I had hoped. In 2023, I invested many months working with Splinterlands/Genesis League Sports. I offered my time voluntarily after they requested support due to low funding and layoffs, believing it was the right thing to do and that this loyalty might be valued. However, when I eventually asked about compensation, they unfortunately decided to move on without me.
Splinter Royale
Even after that, I still believed in Splinterlands’ potential and remained active within the community. I went all-in on developing Splinter Royale, an auto chess brawler game-mode adding a new twist to the world. I even created multiple proposals to fund further development, but none of them succeeded.
With limited interest and support from both the community and the company, I realized I needed a new direction. I still valued the world of Splinterlands, with its amazing artwork, lore, and community — especially a core group of dedicated players who spent hours playing Splinter Royale — but things needed to change. Building a game is already difficult. Building a game in Web3 is even more challenging, and then being completely reliant on another project — that's overkill.
Ethgard Legends
To find more stability and independence, I ultimately decided to pivot and rebrand the game as Ethgard Legends. I’m more passionate than ever about Ethgard (Legends) because I believe deeply in the potential of onchain/Web3 gaming.
However, the Web3 Gaming landscape has changed a lot over the years. Expectations are now higher than ever as more AA and AAA studios have entered the space and with many projects having already been developed over the years. Meanwhile, some of the simpler, financially successful games are heavily based on Ponzi-like tokenomics or gambling elements. Based on my experiences and seeing the negative effects these systems can have when they aren’t carefully designed, I’ve decided to take a different approach.
I’m focused on building a game with real gameplay value, where onchain/Web3 elements are used in ways that actually add to the experience, not just as a hype vehicle or gambling mechanism. This approach takes time and dedication - especially for an indie project developed by a single person. But things are developing fast, especially with the most recent update: Ethgard Legends - Alpha Game Client V2.
"The Peoples Guild" Podcast
Recently, I shared more about my journey and vision on The Peoples Guild podcast (@thepeoplesguild). We discussed Hive, Splinterlands, Web3 gaming, and more. You can listen to the full conversation here: Episode 115 - A RealWolf Conversation.
Activity on Hive
During the interview, I also realized I haven’t been as active in posting and engaging on Hive as I used to. Most of my time has been focused on developing Ethgard Legends, which has naturally shifted my priorities.
This shift has also affected my witness position, as I haven’t been able to be as outspoken or active in Hive-related work. In the past, I spent a lot of time writing posts and sharing ideas, but often, these ideas wouldn’t get implemented, making it hard to justify spending so much time in that direction. So now, I’m focusing on projects I can directly influence.
Still, my dedication to Hive hasn’t changed. In the interview, I also talked about my original goal to build Ethgard Legends on Hive. I actually started developing it here, but eventually had to move to an EVM-based chain, because Hive doesn’t have native smart contract support. For Ethgard Legends to be as decentralized and onchain as possible from the start, it needed smart contracts. And for stability and longevity I decided on EVM compatible chains - which ultimately still was a hard choice I had to make facing all the challenges I mentioned above. Maybe in the future, things will look different.
Hive = Community
That said, I still believe Hive’s greatest strength is its community. Even if I ever had to step down from my witness position, I’d still be here, as this community has truly grown on me like a family over the years.
With this said, the witness role has been essential in providing the means to keep building and I'm not planning to stop running my nodes. So, if you find value in my presence and the projects I’m working on, I’d be very grateful for your vote.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey with me so far. Here’s to many more years on Hive.
Wolf
Do you believe that my work is valuable for Hive? Then please vote for me as witness.
You don't give a flying shit about hive. You only got active here after being kicked out of top 20 witness and losing your free cow cash flow. Cock sucker. Now go spam some more memos while you power down and dump every last penny to support your bussiness endeavors on an another chain.
Thanks for the free money, I just voted for @smooth :)
Thanks for the vote
You just got my vote Wolf! Do you think Hive will have EVM compatibility in the near future? And if it does come to Hive would your Ethgard Legends be also available here again?
Thank you, @seattlea. I'm keeping my eyes out for progress in that area. If there is stable EVM compatibility, I'll def. will utilise Hive more from a technical perspective.
Congrats on the 7 year milestone! That's 4 years more than me hehe!
7 years! Congrats, Wolf. We will be getting ya our vote
Thank you!
Wow, 7 years anniversary? Congratulations to you! All the best in all your projects!
Thank you, @ngwinndave. Time flies by. Onto the next 7 years!
Wow congratulations for those eight years, because they are easy to say, but it is a marathon of perseverance and believing that a vision is possible 💖.
Although I am new to Hive (I have less than 1 year 🙊✨️), I am very happy to see this kind of publications because they inspire those of us who are starting here and still working to build the foundations to be able to have a presence in Hive that leaves a mark and helps others to build for the community 🐝
PS: in advance I apologize if my message is half understood hehe is that English is not my first language (although I'm starting to study it I help me with the translator 😅)
Greetings and thank you very much for the support to my profile 🫂
XOXO,
Heli 🌟
I also already left you my vote of support for witness 🙌🏽🥳
I wish you many more years here 🎂.
Hey @helicreamarket, you did well and english isn't my native language either. 🙂 Thank you for the kind words and the vote!
Congratulations with your 7th milestone! Just in October I celebrated 7 years anniversary too!
By the way earlier missed this Ethgard Legends game post, so I hope to open something new for myself in closest future!
Thank you - and happy 7 year anniversary to you as well! :)
I didn't even know you were involved with Splinterlands... Like you I moved on from them a little while ago - with a sad heart because I had some good times. Anyhow, I'll be checking out the podcast and Ethgard's Lgends, too.
p.s. you got my vote, small as it may be, for a while now :)
pps. congrats on the almost over 7, 8 years
Thank you, @oceanbee! I hope you'll find something in the podcast of value for you.
Since I joined on July 25, 2016, this is already my ninth year on HIVE, and I feel like I have accomplished nothing. Sigh!
Crazy how fast time flies - congrats on the ninth year! I know that feeling though, most of my Hive accomplishments were done within the first few years.
Good to see another game evolving on hive - 2025 will be ours.
¡The Way It Is!
Great journey bro
Hey mate, that's a great achievement to make it to almost 8 years on chain, I listened to the podcast and found your views about how the marketing trends are changing, very interesting. never heard of alpha hunters before.
Looking forward to seeing more progress on the Ethgard Legends, I played it and really like it. Can you send me a vote for my witness and I will do the same.
Thank you! The marketing side of Web3 is quite interesting.
I'm more of a builder than a marketer, so keep this in mind as I share my perspective. Most of these alpha hunters mainly have profit as their target, getting in early and selling out for a gain. Some even take it a step further, front-running or getting paid to promote before sharing it with their "audience." There are even entire apps built around finding these "gems" (like AlphaBot), which is essentially the same concept as the old days of hunting for ICOs, and later, Airdrops or Forks.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make money, but when that’s the whole focus, the actual product often becomes irrelevant, and what remains is just hype and speculation - which doesn’t really align with my principles.
As for the witness vote: I don’t trade witness votes. I’ll keep an eye on your work, and if I feel you’re doing a stronger job than someone else I’m currently voting, you’ll definitely have my vote! :)
It is a balancing act, on the one hand you want your game to succeed and for that you need funds, but on the other hand you don't want to come across as "just in it for a fast buck"
I hope you didn't misunderstand my request for a witness vote (i think I worded it badly). It is not a vote trade. If you check you have had my vote for a very long time. I am standing on my own merit as a reliable witness that is supporting a decentralized blockchain by owning and hosting my own hardware.
Still a bit confused when playing the alpha on Ethgard Legends I will spend some time going over the docs. I am happy to do some alpha testing for you.
Is this why you powering down?
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 39/49) Liquid rewards.
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@danzocal(5/10) tipped @therealwolf
Congrats. I’m sure you know a lot about Hive.
Hi Wolf,
After much searching, I finally found the complete message that you sent me. I have a lot to learn about the Hive blockchain so, perhaps you could answer a few questions for me: