Introduction
Splinterlands is a popular online collectible card game that combines elements of strategy, card collection, and competitive battles. The game's ecosystem is carefully balanced to ensure fair and competitive gameplay for all participants.
Xbot is an automation service for Splinterlands that automates battle, manage rewards, card renting and battle helper. Battle Helper is an assistant that helps you choose the best team possible for any Splinterlands battle, whether it's Ranked, Brawl or Tournament, cited from Xbot
State of the Game Ecosystem on Prevalent Battle Helper
Personally, I catergorised Splinterlands into
- Defi Space ( Land, card rental, assets trading)
- Gaming Space ( rank play, tournament, brawl)
Defi space is for investors that do not have spare time to engage directly to the Splinterlands gameplay. I think that automation tools are great additions in the defi space to generate passive income.
Gaming space is for gamers that would like to engage to the game actively while earning income. The prevalent of the automation battle and battle helpers will eventually lessen the player engagement and can be detrimental to the Splinterlands game ecosystem.
Battle helpers proponents may argue that the emergence of public battle helper is to provide a level playing field against private battle helper that are only accessible to a selected few. Two wrongs don't make a right. The easy accessibility to a public battle helper will only accelerate the downfall of the Splinterlands gaming space. The blatant usage of the battle helpers will attract passive investors that has no interest in the gaming. Battle helpers discourage players from investing time in learning the nuances of the game. Instead of experimenting with different strategies, players may resort to relying on Battle Helpers to consistently win battles. This hampers the development of a dynamic and engaged player community that actively seeks to learn and evolve.
A game without community interaction and engagement is as good as dead. Passive investors do not care about gaming UX/UI, lore and game strategy. The gaming space will deteriorate to a card staking game. It will be a competition of who having a larger card collection since everyone is using the battle helper.
Again, for those that argue battle helper is not as good as skilful human players and require tweaking, I will unveil the performance of battle helper that battle helper's addicts trying to conceal in the following topic.
Performance of Battle Helper in the Tournament
For this unveiling, I will use the Xbot battle helper from a perspective of a passive investor that has no interest in gaming other than to earn rewards.
My card collection for this demonstration can be found in the following link.
OMG-SP2 Card Collection
I do not have a complete card collection but it is decent for this demonstration.
As a passive investor, I do not care about the game play and I will blindly select the team based on the top team recommendation (Highest ELO) from the Xbot battle helper.
Armed with the Xbot battle helper, I participated in a few regular foil tournaments that offer good prize money.
- Modern League of Champion
Tournament link: https://splinterlands.com/?p=tournament&id=427cabddc319768d33b69664b73de309f135b02e
Result: 17th position
Rewards: 349.5 SPS
2 . Ninhelm Wild Gold Invitational
Tournament link: https://splinterlands.com/?p=tournament&id=6a12a6976207707a8d2bda6c566c990ee0964ff8
Result: 3rd position
Rewards: 1220 SPS
Above is the battle result that will often seen in the tournament when both players are relying on battle helper. This will make the tournament uninspiring, but it does not matter for passive investor where the only objective is to earn reward by any means.
3 . Poseidar Wild Silver Invitational
Tournament link: https://splinterlands.com/?p=tournament&id=a1c64ed9b938943cb770bf8e428d77a9bb41f72e
Result: 10th position
Rewards: 270 SPS
Post Tournament Analysis
In just 3 days from 3 tournaments, I earned 1839.5 SPS for a game which I have no interest in learning and interacting where my role as a passive investor is to gain as much rewards as possible using battle helper. The battle helper is just that good in tournament without any human tweaking of the suggested lineup. The current blatant usage of the battle helper in the tournament deprive genuine gamer that appreciates the gameplay offered by Splinterlands. Battle helper serves as a cash cow for addicts that want to extract the game economy at the expense of genuine gamer. The addicts will grow their card collection and adding more accounts amplifying the extraction process in the tournament scene.
While I oppose the usage of battle helper in the tournament and brawl, it is not specifically directed to Xbot. It happens that it is the most recognised public battle helper with a great performance. The battle helper could only be even better from now and eventually no human players will be able to compete against the battle helper. While currently there is no reliable method to detect the usage of battle helper, it is up to the developer of the public battle helper and Splinterlands working together to ensure a sustainable business model within the gaming ecosystem. What good is the battle helper, if there is no game to use it.
Battle helper addicts will only look at the short term gain and satisfaction of instant gratification in reaping the rewards. We do not need these addicts in the gaming space. Defi space is more suitable for these people that are chasing Return of Investment (ROI).
Conclusion
While the intention behind introducing Battle Helpers might be to enhance players' experiences, the potential drawbacks they bring to the Splinterlands game ecosystem are significant. The negative impacts include the erosion of fair competition, the weakening of strategic skill development, and disruption of the in-game economy. To maintain a balanced, engaging, and competitive game environment, it is essential to carefully consider the long-term effects of external tools like Battle Helpers on the core principles and values of Splinterlands.
I hope that this serves as a wake up call for Splinterlands the company as it affects the company survivability.
o.o. we don't need battle helper. it is hard to detect which is why they should pause tournaments and save it for in person tournaments. its just being farmed by private bot/ battlehelpers and maybe a few actual good players.
One tournament that i think is long over due are those alpha gold foil tournaments. i think they farmed SPS enough~.
It's tough to balance things out when moneoy si being made people will focus on trying tom ake as much moeny as possible. but these types of people are not the ones we need here in splinterlands as you said it will affect the survivability and ruin the game economy.
aggy also said many times before earning in splinterlands was INVESTING + SKILL + TIME. with battle helper the skill part i think is removed from the equation. As for time well i think its reasonable to play daily on noe account with the energy limitation daily and if uc ant play we have bots to play if u have one.
I don't see how u think its to enhance player experience. Id be ok if the battle helper suggeste dbetteer teams at end of battle or what couldve been improved but if its during the actual battle then i think theres no use there.
Yes, Battle helper is removing the skill element. It has become more investor friendly than gamer friendly in a gaming space.
I do not think it enhances player experience. I pointed it out from the initial intention of the battle helper creator. Whether the tool is good or bad depends on the people that use it.
I don't see anywehre that it's good. if it's analysis of the battle after completed and not using during the battle then that's fine to me. but i dont see how this tool is good at all while using it in battle?
Post battle analysis tool is fine. It supposes to be a learning tool. Now it is strictly a money making tool.
not sure how its a learning tool if u can use it in battle. if u really wanna learn u can play without it or get a coach. battle helper has always been a money making tool. even the thought of its creation was based on the idea of extraction. i dont get how u think there was any good in it
In my opinion battle helper is nothing else than a bot where you actually enter the line up. These battle helpers have become so strong that human players have almost no chance to beat them (you kind of showed it in your post). I'm definitely in favour to make sure that there remains a place within the game where humans play against each other. Great post!
I have picked this post on behalf of the @OurPick project and it will be highlighted in the next post!
It looks like human is the helper for the bot to submit the team.