Splinterlands is a web3 trading card game that naturally appeals to 3 groups of players:
A: Gamers
B: Defi or Web3
C: Collectors
Much time is spent in making the game a great game. The team does a fantastic job of making a complex high-end game that is very enjoyable to play for the enthusiastic gamers. While it does appeal to the high-end dedicated gamers, the team has lost its way over the years in appealing to the brand new gamers. The complexity of the game has outpaced the new person's ability to keep up, thus the need for a New Player Experience (NPE). GRADE A-
Splinterlands has also done a reasonably good job of creating a strong and integrated web3 aspect, where Defi is possible and there is a real economy. While there have been missteps, overall the game is very advanced relative to its competitors, and over the first 6 years the company has learned from their mistakes and improved/refined the process. GRADE B-
Splinterlands has never really focused on the Trading Card collectors, in fact they only did the Gold Foil cards based on the community requesting them after the Alpha Set was released. What is surprising is that for a TCG project - (TRADING CARD) Game - they've managed to attract a fair base of collectors. Many large card holders are in fact collectors, and if you look at any specific card you will see that more than 1/2 of that trading card is still held by someone - even though it rarely if ever gets played in battle or used on land. Splinterlands has much room for improvement in this area, and in fact this aspect is the easiest 'fruit to pick' in terms of attracting new players. GRADE D
Many times people have argued about "what Splinterlands is", and I've seen endless debates over the years. To some its all about Defi (cryptobros), to others its about the game (gamebois). But the sleeping group all along has been the collectors (they're sooooo not focused on, they don't even have a derogatory nickname in our discord).
However unbeknownst to the team and undeveloped all along has been the collector. The collector class has accumulated a decent amount of assets over the years without any real attention to the things they care about. No limited numbered versions, variations other than gold foil, or even any special chase cards. Essentially nothing that the existing TCG companies use to successfully attract and retain their collector base.
In times like this where the Defi aspect has been in a bear market and attracts very few new funds, and our appeal to new gamers has been limited due to a poor NPE and a dwindling gamer base that has had natural attrition, it would be great if we finally appealed to the unsung group - the Trading Card Collectors.
I know it would take some thought and definitely some creative minds to make it happen, and I also realize we have many things going on with a limited team. But because I care about the project, I hope they consider appealing to the unknown 3rd group - the collector - at this critical juncture in time.
We have unused weapons in our arsenal, and when I go into a battle I want to bring all of those weapons so I can achieve a positive outcome. We have the IP with our beautiful artwork and immersive lore, so why wouldn't we? We are selling our self short otherwise.
Aren't collectors already a subset under 'whales'? At least for those who remain to stay and continue. I guess collectors would be coming from existing user base, so appealing to them would help on the retention. Improving NPE would still be the growth driver, I believe.
I think Magic the Gathering (MTG) is the best benchmark/model for Splinterlands given that it's a CCG (Collectible Card Game). How to encourage collecting? Here are some examples:
a.) Develop a Trading market - technically, it should just be a transfer of assets between to players. What is needed is a market that can connect demand and supply for a swap.
b.) Art - In MTG, the illustrator/artist is always credited which eventually created a following. How does Splinterlands commission artists for the cards - no one knows hence does not create additional value.
Not in my opinion regarding large collectors primarily, the collectors that are here range from small to large investors. And they are here despite there being such little attention to the issues collectors normally focus on.
I think there are many various CCG/TCG games, and yes MTG is a model as well. I also believe both the ideas you pointed out could be helpful, especially if they made a concerted thrust into expanding the collectability aspect.
Your vision is fine and would be a natural thing to do if we really focused on collectability as a focal point. I'm a believer that they aren't even close to doing that, we literally haven't changed a thing about our cards' collectability since we introduced a gold foil version 6 years ago.
I think we are going to move forward with numbering at least 1 promo card, so that's a start. Hopefully we expand on it and do many things that are done in MTG and other games too. There's a big world of card collecting, and doing whatever will attract those people I think would be a big positive going forward.
Thanks for the reply ScioN!
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