Splinterlands has reached a level of success that has thousands of new accounts signing up every day. Who are these new players? What are their goals? What are they doing to reach those goals? And will they be here for the long run? All of these questions can be answered with just a quick look around the Splinterlands social media presence and I'm here to help break this down for you trying to understand the larger trends this game is experiencing.
Over the past 3+ years Splinterlands has been a game played primarily by those who discover it while researching new crypto projects, something they are passionate about. That's all over now. Splinterlands has entered the Age of the Locust. This is something that happens to every major crypto-gaming projects as it grows and see's it's popularity bring in new people.
What is a Locust?
Here is one on Splintertalk:
Reddit seems to be the primary Locust Hive:
Of all the Locust posts I';ve seen this one has to be my favorite:
What is a Locust? A locust is a small very hungry insect who has been blown into our ecosystem by the allure of a free lunch. They've heard about Splinterlands on one forum or another and now they are here to tell us why Splinterlands not being a daily free lunch for those not willing to invest time, money, attention, or interest means it is a broken and worthless system.
Or maybe it was a great game until 48 hours before they joined and now some recent change has turned Splinterlands from a bonanza into a scam and THEY. ARE. PISSED. RollerCoin has a MASSIVE problem with Locusts and has since i've been involved with it. A normal Locust Post for RollerCoin will usually hit one or more of the following criteria:
"Hello I am a new f2p player"
Asks a question who's answer is on the frontpage of the games website.
Asks a pointed question about how the game pays or plays (this question will also be basic af)
"It seems to me that" the game was a free lunch until recently but now that I'm signed up the game is wronging me.
"What am I missing here?" / "Can someone please help?"
Anyone giving actual answers to their questions or the help they request will be rewarded with a bitter breakdown about how the game is unfair.
Locust, if you are reading this, id like to explain. When you sign up for a game, invest no funds, and play it for less tha a week before burning down because you are not yet wealthy you have not made profit because you do not deserve profit. Profit comes from an INVESTMENT appreciating and becoming something you can leverage. When you do not invest your time, attention, money, or interest in a Play2Earn experience that's just what you will get back: Nothing.
This is not a flaw in the system, this is the system working.
Something about this situation and the dozens of nearly identical Locust Posts I've been seeing on Splinterlands socials reminds me of an extremely dark passage from a favorite book of mine Wisconsin Death Trip:
Those who are willing to do absolutely nothing beyond make demands rare find satisfaction and, when they do not, often make some pretty hostile decisions. I think in some way the Locust knows just how incapable they are, are deeply ashamed, and are looking for a free lunch they know they don't deserve. Even when an amazing opportunity like Splinterlands shows itself, well, that's just some sort of further insult.
When a Locust finds themselves in a barn with multiple hundreds of pounds of steaks, just standing their, you really see their true colors. The Locust would rather spend the night butchering cows to spite the Farmer who would not give them a handout than work a single day. Somehow, the Locust are also so foolish they do not understand that cows are made of food. Everything they are begging for is right their in front of them and, somehow, that seems to be the most insulting piece of all. They do not want opportunity, they don't believe they can care for themselves, so they need charity.
Finally, after the Locust show's their ass and makes it clear what a fool they are, they will ALWAYS sign their work. After all, them not getting everything they demand immediately is a deep insult to them and, if more people knew, maybe the Locust would get some sympathy.
Ironically, the only thing a Locust hates more than a successful Splinterlands player, is a Splinterlands bot. As someone who has not spent any amount of time in the Splinterlands they do not yet realize that bot accounts are both fully allowed AND free wins 80% of the time. This is a really clear demonstration of the Locust mindset. Bot's are just aboutthe only people they are going to be able to beat as a new player with no cards and no experience but ... they demand they are removed from the game. Cool.
Locust, if you have read this long I'm impressed and happy to pass along an olive branch. It sonds like what most Locust are looking for is some sort of idle game that someone could "play" by checking it once a day and taking in money. This ideal project should be playable but not require you to play it. There needs to be a lot of gameplay, quests, seasons, and other gamification styled mechanics while also providing the ability to take your earnings in a variety of popular coins. Ideally, this game should be 100% free, not require any initial investment, and have some elements helpful for low-input players life referral systems. Lastly, the game should give them free money on Day 0, before they have played a single game, as some sort of proof or quality.
This project exists, it's been up and running for months, and it's called RollerCoin. You can use this link to sign up and IMMEDIATLY GET 1000 SATOSHI of BITCOIN. It honestly doesn't get any better than that.
Thanks for reading yall, if you have any questions please just let me know and I'll be happy to answer them quickly!
Looking to hang out with other Crypto-Gamers? Join us over at the The Crypto-Gaming Guild discord. We are looking for game captains and folks who can help organize. If you are interested, please step up!
The games we are currently focusing on are:
Rising Star
Splinterlands
RollerCoin
UpLand
Neon District
Alien Worlds
Lost Relics
eXode
Well said. Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure! Thank you for the read and upvote!
Thanks for sharing! - @ashikstd
I think you summarized the longer term players' thoughts pretty well.