I was showing my wife Splinterlands tonight and the look on her face when I mentioned how much I have spent on cards over the last two months was pretty priceless. but then, so was the look when I showed the current value and then the value of people's accounts that started back in the day.
She asked me -
Why didn't you start playing?
Interesting question - considering that when we met a decade ago I used to game a bit and she really didn't like it, so before she moved in with me, I stopped cold turkey. I actually didn't mind at all though, as for a while I had felt that I wasn't getting much out of playing anything.
It was because of this that I didn't get into Splinterlands originally, because I both knew that I used to game a lot and didn't want to fall back into the habit and, I felt I wasn't going to get anything out of it. After all, I was earning through writing and doing okay at it, so I didn't have time to waste playing. Silly me from a wealth perspective, but I am not disappointed that I was able to spend all the time writing instead of battling on Splinterlands.
I have always been pretty keen to see SL do well though and I am glad it is, but it wasn't for me and I never even logged in to see what it looked like. Actually, I still hadn't when I bought my first packs and it took a month or more before I started playing at all. Now, I play a bit each day (most days) and I get my ass kicked. I don't do it for the rewards though, as if it was for that, I would do far better just renting out my entire deck.
This is not a post about gaming though really, it is more about how our feelings impair our thinking. Rather than me looking at Splinterlands seriously as a potential investment opportunity, I chose to ignore it as much as I could, even when friends were telling me to buy a few packs here and there. If I had?
But I didn't.
However, we are all colored by our feelings about various things and this stops us from trying, even if we do not have any idea about it at all. I tell my daughter all the time to try new foods and every time before she tries it she says, I don't like it.
how do you know if you don't try?
Yet, I am the same and perhaps we all are. Many people say they like to try new things, but there are many conditions for most people and what the major one is, is the cost. The cost might not be money, it might be injury or pain or something other, but there is always a cost of some sort to take an opportunity.
When it came to investing into Splinterlands, I was cost averse, as I am a tight-ass and don't like to spend money on anything and most of the time I have been on Hive, money has been very tight. It seemed counter-productive to buy into a game I wasn't even interested in playing. Back then, the cost of getting invested was much, much lower than it is now and if I had put in the equivalent (which I wouldn't have) I think I would have owned the game - now, just a bit player.
We hold ourselves back and at the time, our rationale is sound, because our feelings tell us that we are doing the right thing. Every bad decision we have made, felt right at the time and we felt okay making it. Some people just make bad decisions over and over again - *like the people who have a "relationship type", keep picking assholes, and blaming them when things go awry.
Our choices are colored by our past experiences and as such, we are guided through life making decisions that hide much of the world from us. If we aren't interested in horse riding, we probably don't spend our time in riding stores looking at riding boots. Though, we might go in for a riding crop to satisfy a kink. This means that things that we do not prefer, we actively ignore, even if we don't know anything about them yet, making preference of them impossible.
But, it isn't possible to pay attention to everything, which is why we have preferences to act as filters in the first place, so that we can get more of what we want (even if it isn't) and less of what we don't (even though if we knew, we'd want it).
This is also the problem with our attention being directed to so many things at the same time, getting pulled this way and that so we don't have the attention or time to spare to investigate something thoroughly enough to see if we prefer it. Plus, we end up getting drawn into low-value activities that are often quite passive, because we are inherently lazy and our brain wants that good feeling of doing the right thing, without having to do any work for it.
There is so much noise in the system that it is very hard to pay attention and single out individual sounds that we want to concentrate on, let alone commit to following down the path and investing into it, with a guaranteed cost and the potential for loss. This is also the loss of opportunity too, as investing into one thing, means not being able to invest into another.
I think I am not the only one in the world who struggles to stay abreast of everything that is going on and I don't spend much time looking at what most people spend a lot of time looking at. I hardly read the news, don't spend any time on centralized social media, don't game (a bit now), don't watch a lot of show... And still miss the majority of things that have value, because my preferences are what they are.
If I had made "all the right" decisions over the last few years, I would be a millionaire many, many times over - but, so would we all. The thing is, most of our decisions are made out of our awareness as a consequence of those we make in our awareness. Each decision we make, excludes countless others that we likely have little to no visibility on. Once we do get visibility at some point in the future, we can say "I should have" but that just isn't the way it works.
What I do "know" is that part of the reason that so many of us in this world struggle, is that we pay attention to the noise rather than what we should be paying attention to. I know people who are unhappily struggling to make ends meet, but know what is happening on seemingly all of the reality shows - noise.
In a world where we are constantly connected to a conduit of information being fed to us, plucking from the stream what is truly important becomes a battle.
while my wife looks back at what could have been, if I had started playing back then, would she have seen the future potential for us both to retire early - or would she have been pissed off at me for wasting my time?
Why didn't I start playing.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
The noise in this post is a picture of the living room carpet.
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It does come down to things being on ones radar. Most missed opportunities are simply because we did not see them mentioned or when we did we did not see the potential. I keep reading there are hundreds of coins out there all trying to be the next bitcoin, but I only know the names of maybe 5, yet I see post talking about older coins that are now worth $100.00 or more, but like everything they get buried in the noise when they first come out or in the hype with to much noise all about how great it is or is going to be.
I tried several of the games out, even invested a little in Splinterlands, and yes I could have had a lot of good cards if I was willing to try and keep up with something I was no longer having fun in. I sold, made a small profit, and now this week am back re-trying the game out. So far just the free cards and the daily battle task. Will I decide to re-invest, not sure, it really is not that passive of an income stream, more of a passive aggressive investment where I need to do something everyday.
The daily beginner stuff is okay.
There are a lot of should haves, when one uses a crystal ball to look back. Should I ahve not sold my STEM, should I ahve bought Utopis, or held a little steem abck? lots of 20/20 vision looking back, the important thing is to not let the decisions to not do something you may or may not have any idea was out there, bother you.
Regrets are always going to be there, but there really is no turning the clock back or asking god for a do over, no matter how much we want to fix it.
So true.
I tried splinterlands before. Twice. Spent $100's of dollars, and with regular playing it might become thousands of dollars.
But didn't think it would blow up like that, so sold all the cards cheap.
I am trying a few battles daily now, with rented cards, and buying a few cheap ones.
If I am still interested/involved in the game after a few weeks, I might buy some more cards for the long term.
There is no turning back clock, but we can look back and make better decisions in the future. The benefit of missing the opportunities maybe🙂
I know many who did similar - some who had gone in very heavy at the start and then sold early too, just because they needed a little cash. I didn't even start.
Yepp, I bought when those heavy players were selling heavy.
Bought yodin zaku at 20$ I think. It is somewhere around $600-$700😅
Lol, I like the "passive-aggressive income stream" :D
It is right though, as the game requires activity - which makes sense considering the kind of game it is with an economy, The sense of "missing out" if not taking part can take some of the fun out of it for some people. I know one who I talk with and is heavily invested, who rented out all his cards because he wasn't having fun as he felt if he didn't play, he was losing and it was stressful.
Life is a series of mistakes and consequences - there is no actual getting it right, other than we don't see how wrong we got it.
At least by renting them out he gets a stress free income from it. I don't know if I will buy back in, I still find the waiting rather annoying and then after waiting almost 3 minutes the other person surrenders. Still when I got nothing better to do or I am waiting on something it can be a small profitable time passer.
lol😂
Choosing what to pluck and what to leave becomes a skill, which unfortunately no one tells us how or that we even have to learn, it only becomes apparent when one takes a step back and reflects on the nature of things, but many never find the time to, the noise has drowned them, it is their reality.
I like reading your posts on the different decisions you make when it comes to investing in Hive, and the different Dapps, they hold so many lessons especially for those of us starting out, and we think just withdrawing and using the money on some other needs is much better than giving it time to grow into something.
Cheers!
It is also the case with bad things that happen, when at the time we are "damaged" but looking back, we learn things that have helped us because of the damage we have taken. Our view of the world is always heavily redacted.
I want to be debt free and largely non-reliant on anyone/thing for my income - the only way that happens is to invest and not be in the centralized system completely. I don't know how possible it is, but that is one of the mistakes I am willing to discover :)
I don't know, but I get a feeling that if I am married, I won't have the guts to show my wife I am spending thousands of dollars online in a game. Even if I was making good money.
Lol, there would be a rant or two. You just play games😂
True. So many people think that they should have done something else before, because of the conditions and factors right now.
Like so many people think they should have invested and held bitcoin when it was under $1000 or under $100.
But if bitcoin had failed, people might have regretted, wanting to go back and not to invest.
I think you never miss the opportunities. Not really.
Bitcoin is still here. Everyone has already seen it's potential. Anyone can still buy and hold for 10 years.
Similarly, almost everyone here have seen splinterland and hive potential. Anyone can still get in. And in the next few years, they can reap the benefits if they stick.
Maybe, missing the opportunities gives us perspective to which opportunities to take next time, and which ones to ignore. Missing opportunities might be a good thing😅
My wife just kind of "let's me go" since I don't use IRL money for any of this - it is all internet fake tokens.
This is always the case. People are happy to invest into the sure thing of the past, but they still won't invest into the risk of today.
Yeah, I think it is. Often it is the lessons that hurt that bring us the most value in the future and missing opportunities is one of those. Also, a lot of the things we think hurts us now and we are upset about, tend to be "blessings in disguise" down the track.
Even if I get older, I still want to play games Splinterlands or any arcade/console game. However, I also feel that it's not the time for me to play game anymore. I don't know whether it would be right to spend spare time on games rather than anything else.
Nothing wrong with playing, as long as it doesn't take away from more important aspects of life.
I didn't start playing because it was exactly the kind of thing I would really get into and I have a lot of other things I also want to be doing (art-wise) that takes up a LOT of time so I feel like I made the decision to go with the hard work that isn't financialoly rewarding over the game that is grindy but potentially financially rewarding XD
stupid decision financially but that's how my preferences roll XD
I haven't played for a while as there's been a lot going on, will probably start again at some point when I feel like I have some time to play in (and then probably stop again soon after as stuff builds up x_x).
On your closing question, if J is anything to go by, probably the latter ;D
Score!!! :D
But, it isn't all about the rewards (I keep telling myself)
Definitely for my wife. After we were divorced and I was a millionaire - she would be annoyed.
If you had been playing, she'd probably get mad at you for going back on your words. But now she's asking the question.
Some questions are best answered over a period of time with better realization.
Maybe she was right to tell you to stop playing, maybe she wasn't.
I'm not on splinterland but I heard its a seemingly fun place to be at.
You are not the only one in this shoes. Most people prefer to listen to noise and not take the necessary actions that are necessary. In this case, you can say that they haven't prioritized their activities.
She would have complained. She has "allowed" me to write a lot though, because that is considered a worthy pastime :D
This is the problem with the noise - Each sound makes itself seem a priority to pay attention to.
And no positive results would be seen, just time wastage
i totally do this sneakily. i am playing a bit too much sometimes, but i show my partner how much it worth, and occasionally i get some crypto money and buy some nice stuff for the house, and tell her that this is money from the games i play, which is technically true as i play axie and splinterlands, and i sell all the SLP from AXIE every month. I can say that sometimes she thinks i am too much online, but i take some days offline to compensate.
It is about finding some balance and then also, using some gains. The using gains is where I have failed the most, as I don't use any :D
I told you, now when market is high i change rewards in stablecoins, when market is low i let it in same token (btc eth whatever). tends to work most of the time. And when i have major expenses i also send some of stablecoins to bank account. But i can only send less than £12000, over this i need to pay capital tax.
I try to play now, every day if possible, 5 to 10 games.
It is fun when you are earning much!
This is the first online game I learned to play.
I think I play too many games - it takes me forever to finish a quest :D
Really?
I think the first online game I played was Total Annihilation back in the late 90s - but not sure.
Hehehe, I put a time limit!
Otherwise, it will consume me 😀😆😜!!!
I don't play and have never played any. Boo me.
I play every day... I wish I could play more, given the earnings.
But life is a priority!
Back in May I talked with my wife about buying a tract. She is a particularly risk averse person and doubly so with money so putting $1,700 into a game AND crypto at the same time was a pretty firm no. This is not to say that finding that $1,700 in the budget would have been simple but finding it wasn't the problem, the risk was. Over the weekend I shared with her what they are currently selling for and found that I was not at all mad. Life is full of opportunities missed, successes, failures, missteps, course corrections, etc. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" is bullsh!t. In this case, these are only missed opportunities through hindsight. Further, I'd wager there are thousands of other missed opportunities that you still don't know you've missed.
Yet again to right. I also avoided the early entry into SL for very similar reasons. As a founding member of Wizards of the Coast and a very minor player on the team that created Magic: The Gathering I know all to well how that little addiction goes. Now, having almost nothing to invest with at the moment, I could wallow in regret. My choice is to feel positive, as @taskmaster4450 suggests, about the potential of play-to-earn as an expansion of the potential for crypto.
Really a shame you don't have a picture of your wife's 'look' to add to the post, that would be priceless.
Blessed be.
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Very good points. I didn’t like SL I am okay to say, for reasons like yours. I decided anything which didn’t make money was optional, so Iopted out. I even rationalized my continued ignoring it when people said they were doing well financially with SL because I wanted to build my stack and I thought I was doing better then them with author rewards and curation.
We chose to ignore what doesn’t interest us, and sometimes layer on rationalizations to justify our decisions. I know I do…. Sigh
But the joy I get from writing is immense at times, under whelming at others do to the desire for external validation in the firm of upvotes. Perhaps I have traded one habit gaming for another writing.
But so far it hasn’t been a completely bad trade, and shows some promise.
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STOPBlockchain Gaming is next booming sector after Defi and NFT .you may see how Axie infinity or my defi pet started from cents and in just few months after launching ,reached to dollar value. Splinterland is something more unique where investing is never regreting. Hope you challenge me playing next time🙂
I really wish I was an early Steemmonsters adopter when it was first announced years ago on Steem. In fairness, I had zero experience with battling card games like Magic the Gathering and other similar card games so I didn't really understand it at all and I never bothered signing up. When I finally gave Splinterlands a try, I surprised myself by learning that I enjoy these sort of games. Who knew?
Ha Ha I ask myself that same question LOL
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I probably should have tried, but, I was already stretched for time. Now I kind of wish I had tried, but, now? It is a little late, so I will watch on the sidelines.
No regrets. There will be another best thing and we will both jump. :)