This proposal and request is being written by @yabapmatt, co-founder & current President and CEO of Steem Monsters Corp., the company behind the blockchain-based game Splinterlands (formerly Steem Monsters) that has been operating on the Hive blockchain (and previously the Steem blockchain) for the past six years.
For years, Splinterlands has prided ourselves on operating a profitable business and on being able to provide significant value back to the Hive community who have made this all possible. We have purchased millions of HIVE tokens off of external markets, we have burned millions of HIVE tokens to create accounts, we have funded and initially designed and built two of the most widely used tools on the platform - Hive Engine and Hive Keychain - and we have brought thousands of users and tons of attention to the Hive blockchain during that time.
It is with extreme humility that I am now asking the Hive community for help.
How We Got Here
In the crypto bull market mania of 2021 and early 2022, the company leadership at the time decided to expand massively and branch out to building many other game products and a blockchain-gaming platform (all on Hive, of course). This was done under the assumption that the bull market would continue indefinitely (or at least for quite a while longer) and that the more products the company could put out, the better.
As it happened, the bull market ended abruptly in mid-2022 and the company quickly went from being highly profitable to having significant losses while having also taken on many more projects than it could support. This was, unfortunately, allowed to continue for over a year until September, 2023, when the company's board of directors voted for a change in leadership and strategy.
At that time, the game platform project and all of the games other than Splinterlands were split out into a subsidiary company (Invennium Corp), which is being led by @aggroed. I became President and CEO of Steem Monsters Corp, with my sole focus on turning the Splinterlands game into a profitable and growing business.
Raising Capital
As part of the plan to turn the business around, we are going to need to raise capital. There are a number of options to raise capital for the business outside of the Hive ecosystem, and we are pursuing all of them regardless of whether or not this proposal is funded, but if the Hive community chooses to help fund Splinterlands, it will be an opportunity to ensure that Splinterlands remains on the Hive blockchain and is not forced to move to another chain.
It is important to understand that most outside sources of capital that invest in the crypto/web3 space are either directly or indirectly affiliated with other blockchain platforms. In fact, most of the other top blockchains have specific VC funds and/or grant programs to encourage projects to build on their chain.
Nearly every investor call I've been on for Splinterlands (and there have been many over the years) has had a lengthy discussion about why we use Hive instead of the other more prominent chains with much larger ecosystems and market caps, and often - despite our best attempts to explain the benefits of Hive - the investors are only interested if we were to move the game to their preferred chain.
I have no interest in moving the game to another chain, as I truly believe that Hive is the best chain to support our mission, but if we're unable to raise the capital we need from the DHF and/or other investors who support us staying here, then it is possible we could be forced to do so at some point in the future.
We can already see this happening with projects like Ethgard Legends, created by top Hive witness @therealwolf, which started as a Hive game but has now moved over to Base chain. I know that Base has some significant incentive programs for projects to build there, although I don't know if that was the reason behind his decision to move the game.
Either way, this is a big missed opportunity for Hive in my opinion.
Funding Request & Use of Funds
All that said, I am humbly asking the Hive community for 500k HBD in funding, paid out over the next 6 months (2777 HBD per day), in order to help fund the ongoing development and operation of the Splinterlands game product right here on the Hive blockchain.
I have and will continue to do everything I can to keep the overhead costs of running the business as low as possible to ensure that nearly all of our funds go towards building the best possible product that brings the most amount of new people and exposure to the Hive blockchain as possible.
To some of you this may sound like a very large sum, and it is relative to most of the other projects on Hive and most of the other DHF proposals, however it is actually quite small in relation to the multi-million dollar grant programs available on other blockchain ecosystems with which we are competing, and it is also quite small in relation to what Splinterlands has shown it can accomplish in the past and the value it can bring to the Hive ecosystem.
We are currently working on improving our onboarding experience to increase the conversion rate from new players signing up through spending money in the ecosystem, and once that is done later this year we are planning to launch a major marketing campaign - hopefully coinciding with the beginning of the next major bull market in crypto.
This is primarily what these funds will be used for - hiring a top web3 marketer and running a number of marketing and promotional campaigns to bring a significant amount of attention and active, paying users to the Hive blockchain through Splinterlands.
It is also important to note that Splinterlands will not sell the HBD received from this proposal on external markets. Instead we plan to swap it for our in-game token (DEC) on Hive engine using the liquidity pools there. We are able to convert DEC tokens to USD when needed to fund the marketing campaign and other expenses through our in-game Credits system, so that means that any HBD received from this proposal will remain within the Hive ecosystem unless the Hive engine liquidity providers choose to withdraw it from the pools and sell it themselves.
Hive Needs to Compete
As a member of this community for nearly seven years now, it has been extremely sad to see Hive continue to fall in relation to other chains by nearly every metric, especially considering it is superior to most of the other projects in so many ways.
As a long-time Hive stakeholder, it is my belief that we need to use our resources to get as many great projects building in this ecosystem as possible if we want any chance at maintaining relevance and value in this space.
The DHF may not have as much available as other VC-backed chains, but if we are able to allocate that capital effectively to projects that generate a significant return back to the platform in terms of new users and visibility then we can compete with the best of them.
I think it's fair to say that Splinterlands has proven in the past that it can deliver, and although we have made some mistakes recently, I hope it is clear that we are acknowledging them, we are fixing them, and we are doing whatever it takes to get back to being one of the top web3 projects in the world and showing everyone in the space the value of being a part of the Hive ecosystem.
Thank You For Your Support!
I sincerely hope that the Hive stakeholders choose to support this proposal - both as the co-founder of Splinterlands and as a large Hive stakeholder myself - but either way, I want to end this post by thanking the Hive community (which includes everyone reading this post) for your support over these last six years.
When we put up that first website for the project back in 2018 I never would have imagined it would get to this point, the amount of support we would get from this community, or the number of amazing people I've met and worked with as part of this journey. It has certainly been a life-changing experience and I hope to one day be able to contribute back to the Hive community as much as it has given me. Thank you.
-- @yabapmatt
P.S. I look forward to getting to meet and talk with many of you in person at HiveFest in Croatia! I can't wait for the event and I am proud to once again be able to sponsor the event both personally and on behalf of Splinterlands.
Splinterlands and projects alike are quite important for our blockchain and I see this as a reasonable ask to help support it. People generally seem to underestimate the cost of things I've noticed. Anyway, this proposal has my vote.
People don't realize how much it costs to build games, especially in web3.
Personally, after building CS for nearly three years now, I spent 155 K out of my pocket, plus 140 K from past sales. And we're just a small team of seven, with a commitment mostly part-time/free-time.
I can't imagine their operating costs, even when reduced to the bone.
PS. Direct link to vote this proposal: https://peakd.com/me/proposals/splinterlands
Sounds about the same size as us, best of luck with everything!
It's a for profit company. This is nothing but a short term bailout.
They admitted they have lost track of and mismanaged funds in past. This is ridiculous. Without many supporting this having a financial reason (holding splinterland assets) this would not be supported
I don't think it's just about the assets, I hold no spl assets for example but I do think they have potential to be a great onboarding project for hive once they do better as they've proven that in the past. Ofc I think they could've done more to convert the players into more hive eccentric users but there was talks about improving there and they've acknowledged that funds were misused and there's been changes in the team around that so I hope it goes better for them in the future for both them and the players and hive.
I just don’t buy it. They’ve admitted total misuse of funds in past and I think this is rewarding a company that frankly is on the outs due to there extreme misuse of funds to there own admission…
That said I do agree not all are voting because of personal assets and I know you especially aren’t. I believe you truly believe in it helping our platform and I respect your take 100%. I just don’t see them bringing much to Hive at this point and I see and hear from many here they are tired of the mismanagement and have checked out. But again I very much respect your sincere opinion! Cheers! 🍻
Yeah, I guess I don't see it as "rewarding" them but helping them out when they're down and in general there's a lot of funds going to way less impactful things from the DHF in my opinion from what I've seen over the years. I don't know much about spl these days, haven't had time to look into things deeply as I've been busy with my own things but I trust the person I believe is in charge now, yabap, and I hope whatever funding they may receive from hive will help them out. I also know that they've also asked for funding from their own DAO and are powering down all the hive they bought at much higher prices which is something I realize must suck as I've been in the same situation often so I can emphasize with that and realize they really must be desperate/in a dire situation and I'd hate to see the project just die off/go away.
It's difficult to tell how much impact this funding will have and when the markets will decide to let overlooked decentralized projects get some funding but I know there's many projects on Hive kind of in the same boat, either waiting/delaying things or trying to cut costs in any way they can. Don't know which will survive/make it through and flourish after but all I know is that Hive itself will survive thanks to the work the blocktrades team have put into making it as scalable and easy to run as possible.
Maybe unbundling the use of money will help people to understand, think that there are games with good development that require less to maintain.
Yeah, I think @rivalzzz had some good questions in this comment section regarding that.
I support the proposal. I don't agree with some of the commenters that the tone is threatening --- reality is the game isn't free to run and develop, the current economic climate is garbage, and funds are needed. Salaries aren't cheap with the increased costs of living. It reads that SL is backed up against a wall right now, like all businesses that focused on innovation and not on some backroom deals.
Granted, the game needs some development and there's a lot of good ideas in the comments here. I'm reading this and I see this is what the money is for.
Half a million doesn't go far in this industry. That's sponsorship/visibility in two major conferences. I know Matt isn't a fan of conferences and this isn't what he'd allocate the funds to.
As promised I won't upvote you, lol, but it sounds reasonable what you are writing here! :-)
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An excellent explanation of the challenges that Hive faces and how we can help one of our flagship projects that has contributed so much through this difficult time.
I was just at Lou Kerner's crypto VC event in Tel Aviv and noticed that the VCs were focussed on specific chains. So I can confirm what you are saying.
You got my vote.. thanks to @azircon for reminding me.
No brainer. We are spending over 200,000 Hive since the start of this year alone on a stupid rally car that returns no ROI whereas we know Splinterlands is tried and tested the biggest attraction to Hive. You have my vote.
Lol yeah a good reason for a vote
$WINE
Thanks for the $wine. very sophisticated. I like it. What year is it? Does it have the nice deep punt?
It was. It's not anymore. This is a bailout of a for profit company. This won't end well. And I gotta wonder how many supporting this are doing so because they hold splinterland items and have that value in mind. This is a for profit company that has been around 7 years, this is a bad choice.
Splinterlands was multiple times the biggest DApp in the HIVE Ecosystem at it's peak and to this day it's easily the front runner Game DApp on HIVE.
I'm biased as I own a lot of Splinterlands assets myself, but Splinterlands definitely deserves support from Hive for what it offers back to the community.
Very strong community, lovely people, great team and an amazing product.
I play Splinterlands every single day!
Hi Matt, I'm glad to hear you are doing what you can to stay on Hive - the absence of optimal marketing has long been a massive hindrance to the value and growth of Hive generally, so I am always interested to make the most of any move in that direction.
As you may recall, I launched a proposal via @strategizer not so long ago that aimed to perform crucially needed market research in order to establish some baselines for future marketing drives, not only of Hive itself but also for the various dApps. In general, the dApp creators supported the idea and voted for it - but in the end it didn't get funded. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to even get any feedback from some of the larger stakeholders.
As I recall, I didn't receive any comments or input from anyone at Splinterlands and although Aggroed just apologised to me for that yesterday, I would like to gain clarity and clear a few things up before voting on your proposal. I obviously want Hive and Splinterlands to thrive - especially since I worked for quite a while on marketing Splinterlands TV.
a. I found during my drive to promote @strategizer, that there is a massively obviously divide among Hive users when it comes to marketing. There are those who do not have any professional experience in the field and who think it's fine to just brainstorm and hope for the best.. and there are those who have learned from the extremely well established digital marketing industry norms that while experimentation is all well and good, it is necessary to operate within a framework that is grounded in the scientific method and that is prepared with some degree of research, in order to not waste the marketing budget.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the divide here is extreme to me and in some cases it is highly alarming that so much budget is being spent based on whims and vague concepts.
I know that you have said that you want to use the DHF funds to pay for an external marketing agency - however, the funds given to ignite marketing previously are a clear example of how this can actually lead to next to zero benefit. This is, to my mind, partially due to the complexity of web 3 and the willingness of agencies to take money regardless of whether they really know what they are doing or not. The best way to handle this is to ensure a continual process of close monitoring, analysis and refinement right throughout the marketing and growth process. I know from experience that many agencies are nowhere near cut out for this, yet to the untrained eye they seem very professional.
Can you provide me with any insights into how you intend to tackle these issues and also explain whether or not you are open to feedback from the Hive community on such high level decisions as which agency to use - or at least which priorities to focus on when picking one?
b. I don't know if you are aware, but Inleo's marketing proposal, which was funded a few months ago, was based on the idea that they would repay the funds if they didn't achieve certain growth goals - are you open to that kind of approach with your proposal?
c. I personally think that what Hive needs as a high priority is a rock solid on-boarding system that has professionally written educational text and videos built-in which leave no room for misunderstanding when new users approach Hive and try to orient and set up a presence. Are you open to developing this kind of feature set for Splinterlands and open sourcing it so that other dApps can also benefit and everyone can combine forces to grow the eco-system in multiple directions at once?
Thanks for your time Sir!
Hey @ura-soul, great to hear from you! I am very sorry I missed your proposal. Please feel free to reach out to me directly in the future if something like that comes up, or anything else really.
I know first hand about how expensive and completely ineffective "marketing agencies" can be. When the SPS token first launched we hired a marketing agency to promote it for a little while and it was exactly as you said. I prefer to hire someone directly who is part of the Splinterlands team to lead the marketing effort rather than an external agency. This person would be responsible for working with the rest of the Splinterlands team and the community (which is our biggest asset) to figure out how to make the largest impact with the least expense.
Since taking over Splinterlands last September one of my top priorities has been massively reducing our expenses and squeezing as much value as possible out of everything we spend. I would never just throw money at a marketing agency. The future of the company, my livelihood, and my reputation are on the line here.
Assuming we get the funds to do so, whether from the DHF or elsewhere, we will interview a lot of people (and possibly some agencies) to try to find someone who I am confident is an expert in web3 marketing specifically and who will think outside the box and come up with new and creative ways to get very obvious and significant results. We've also already been working on implementing a lot more analytics and tracking within the game to make sure we can quickly and easily measure the results of anything we do and I will cut the cord quickly on anything, or anyone, that isn't getting results.
As for your two specific questions:
Repaying the funds isn't something we can realistically do. We are going to need to spend the funds on the marketing efforts, so if it turns out to be unsuccessful at achieving the growth we are looking for, we simply won't have $500k available to repay. I understand that this is a risk for the Hive community. The proposal is asking for an investment that has potential risk as well as potential reward. Ultimately it all comes down to whether the Hive community thinks the reward (i.e. a highly successful application on Hive that brings in lots of users and attention) is worth the risk, and whether or not they feel the Splinterlands team can deliver.
I really think that the best way forward is for the vast majority of new users to onboard through an app, like Splinterlands, rather than onboarding to Hive more generally as most Hive users do today. That experience is typically pretty different depending on the app, but I am very open to at least open-sourcing the back-end code that we build to help other apps build similar onboarding experiences. Once users onboard to Splinterlands, which includes creating their Hive wallet, setting up Keychain, etc., then over time they will be exposed to more and more of the Hive ecosystem which I think is more natural. Not sure if you saw the follow-up post to the proposal but in there we specify that we plan to teach players the basics of Hive and encourage them to explore the ecosystem as part of our revamped onboarding process.
Hope that helps. I understand that this is a big proposal, and definitely no hard feelings if you (or anyone else) decide that it's not a good opportunity for the DHF. No matter how this turns out we'll still be here doing what we can to try to build a breakout web3 game on the Hive blockchain. Also, not sure if you're going to Hive fest but if you are it would be great to catch up in person.
Hey Matt, thanks for replying here.
I actually did message you directly about the strategizer proposal via Discord, as that's the only point of contact I had - also Aggroed, but got no replies. Is there a better place to message you? I don't think I'm part of the Splinterlands slack any more.
Can you clarify what you meant when you said that you would hire someone from within the Splinterlands team? Maybe I am misunderstanding, but wouldn't they already be being paid by Splinterlands? Do you mean that you want to direct someone from your existing team to then find an external agency?
As I mentioned numerous times during the Strategizer discussions, I am all for DHF money being used to market Hive, but as someone with a few years of experience marketing online (plus having also built my own social network previously), it's very clear to me why the significant spends to date have not achieved anything measurable (and the people involved continue to employ the same thinking). So it was especially frustrating to see the community reject the only logical step to correct this (an internally directed research project). I know that your business depends on your actions here and also know that having a centralised effort is beneficial in these situations to direct energy and get tasks completed - so on this alone I expect you guys to do better than Hive itself has done so far.
I have tried to on-board numerous people to Hive, even people with crypto experience - I even wrote them guides.. None of them are users today. I see that part of this is caused by the complete failure of all Hive sites to provide education about the blockchain and UI systems - leaving users confused and de-motivated. At some point I will solve this myself if no-one else does.
Sure, I will probably be at Hivefest - yes, I agree, it would be great to meet again. We actually chatted a while over dinner in Poland IIRC. Thanks for reminding me actually, I need to book some tickets! ;)
I look forward to your response here. Cheers!
I am very sorry about that...I just searched for you in Discord and saw that you did indeed message me about that. I guess I must have missed it. I turn off Discord notifications when I'm working and sometimes I come back to a deluge of messages and things can fall through the cracks. Please don't hesitate to ping me again in the future if I don't respond to something, or you can also message me on the Mattermost Hive chat. I get a lot fewer messages there.
Sorry - I worded this poorly. What I mean is that I want to hire someone new, who would then become part of the Splinterlands team. I think someone who is directly part of the team as their full time job will be much more motivated and get better results than someone at an agency who is just assigned to the project.
I have had similar experiences, which is why I don't think direct onboarding to Hive is the way to go. Even if better education options were available, my guess is that most people won't be motivated enough to spend the time to consume the education materials.
Instead, I think Hive should aim to have lots of great apps, and users will onboard to an app that interests them and then will naturally over time start learning about Hive and exploring more of the ecosystem just as a result of them using an app that is on the platform.
There are definitely a good number of people that discovered Hive and went on to participate in the ecosystem just because they played Splinterlands (I know this anecdotally, but it would be neat if someone could do some kind of analysis to determine how many accounts that started with Splinterlands went on to participate more generally on Hive). If those same people were onboarded to Hive directly, my guess is they would probably not be interested, but because they were exposed to it through something they are more naturally interested in it was a smoother experience.
I think this is the case for pretty much all blockchains. I personally don't just go and use other blockchains, but I will use them if there's an app I want to try out that is built there. To me, that is why Hive is falling so far behind. There are either not enough apps that people want to use, or people just don't know about the apps that are here because we don't promote them like other platforms can. This is what this proposal is all about and what I think Splinterlands is in the best position to provide right now - getting the word out to the broader web3 community about a fun and engaging game on Hive as a way to successfully onboard lots of new users to the ecosystem.
Ok, understood - I realised through that proposal process that the proposal system desperately needs better communications and notifications built in - the PeakD team took up my suggestion of adding in notifications for new proposals, but I'm not sure how much that has helped.
Ok, thanks for clarifying.
I am thinking more of the type of education info that is built-in to the UI as is found in triple A games, so they can't be totally avoided, but are non invasive, intelligent/dynamic and are also potentially gamified or at least truly useful!
Most of the people I invite are creative people and/or smart - they love the idea of hive but are repelled by it's details unfortunately - anything that can be done to increase retention, should really be done - as otherwise traffic driven by any marketing efforts are like pouring water into a sieve. I know from my own social network that it there is a desire to get users as fast as possible, but if that skips over the on-site optimisation needed to retain them, then it's counter productive.
As far as your proposal goes, I am for it. I just want to make sure that there is something in it for the rest of Hive too. I know you have highlighted some ideas already in that direction. Perhaps the most obvious opportunity in that direction I can think of is to nudge Splinterlands users to become Hive bloggers and to get them using generic Hive social networks to do that, rather than directing them to Splintertalk - do you think that's possible?
I will vote on this now. :)
To clarify a few things, as myself and the project I'm building were somehow mentioned in this proposal:
The primary reason I chose EVM over Hive is fundamental. Hive does not support EVM smart contracts - yet. Smart contracts are the backbone of decentralized games, and EVM is the de facto standard VM. One could build their own L2s, but that's a lot of redundant work. Ethgard Legends is currently on the Base testnet, but it could technically be Arbitrum, Ronin, Oasis, or any other L2/L3 EVM-compatible chain. I've also not received any grants from Base. Their only incentives so far are gas-credits.
The secondary reason is that I believe EVM is the future, and becoming a proficient Solidity Smart Contract Developer has been a personal goal of mine for a few years.
Now, to also clear up any confusion about the rebranding to Ethgard Legends:
The primary reason the game rebranded from Splinter Royale to Ethgard Legends, besides the clear lack of funding and support, was for independence. As you can see from the new proposals, the future of Splinterlands is sadly uncertain. While I hope everything works out, building a game is difficult. Add in the technical challenges of Web3, and it's even more difficult. Making the game also dependent on another ecosystem, where the "mother-game" is struggling itself, is quite simply too much.
With this said, Hive is still like family to me. Being dragged into this as an argument, as the first official response and mention from Splinterlands to the project I've been working on for over a year, would be funny - if it weren't so sad.
PS: I know that VSC is being built on top of Hive which has planned EVM support. I appreciate their work - I really do. But for Ethgard Legends, I need a production ready EVM-compatible L2/L3 now, not in a few months or a year.
@vaultec
I was only trying to highlight what I believe was a big missed opportunity. Both Hive and Splinterlands should have done more to keep your project here.
I appreciate the explanation here.
Yup, and instead of building out your own L2 on Hive, you could also use ZK Rollup on Polygon (via their CDK) or an L3 solution.
Pay us or else we move!! is what I am reading. I feel the words can be better phrased as "we will be forced to pursue other chains alongside hive." I understand that you are VC-backed, but if investment is your concern, then you need to be more clear on how the funds are going to be used to avoid any future mismanagement. To be clear, no one is asking for specifics, but a general use of funds: X for marketing, X for development.
Also, while I absolutely adore what you and aggroed have made since it introduced me to Hive and set me on the path of game development, it pains me to say that the ask is too much.
We have a full Windows launcher, an interactive Windows game and another roguelike coming at the end of this month with mobile releases coming next month, and this is at a fraction of your ask. Games in web3 take money, yes, but I have seen more cases of mismanagement, and I feel that if you are sincere about not repeating mistakes, you will share with us more details on what you are going to do with the funds and how you are going to ensure no misuse.
If this is uncomfortable, then that should not be the case, as you have obviously made pitch decks to investors, and they ask for even more details.
I truly wish for a revival for Spl, but I love Hive more than Spl.
That may be what you're reading, but that's not what was written or at all what was intended or what is the reality. We have no plans to move off of Hive whether or not we get support from the DHF, however it is important to understand that if we are not able to support the game on Hive going forward then it's quite possible that we may be forced to move by a future investor or purchaser.
Yes, it was seriously mismanaged which is what got us in this position. Since then, the company leadership has completely changed for precisely that reason. I don't know how we "ensure no misuse", but since the change in leadership we have reduced expenses immensely, stopped putting resources into anything except the core Splinterlands game product, and are working on improving the onboarding experience so we can start running marketing and promotional campaigns to bring more users to the game, and therefore to Hive.
It's definitely the impression I got. Respectfully you are a for profit company who's been around for 7 years. If it's not profitable now it's likely not going to be later. Respectfully a for profit biz shouldn't be getting these funds. Respectfully my opinion
Not to mention in reply above you admit funds at your company were totally mismanaged! This is crazy
Everything u said! I am so against this. It’s a for profit company and this just isn’t gonna end well.
Ill support this ofc. My recommendation would be to try and use some of the money to develop connections in the web3 gaming space, beyond standard marketing practices.
Also... if you can do try and foster a bit more the idea that the SPL community is in fact a part of the Hive community and in a decentralized ecosystem each of the members are responsible for the wellbeing of it.
If Hive fails or succeeds it did so primarily because of all of us that are a part of it."
Seeing some of these dipshits trash Hive on social media while being a part of Hive seems in direct opposition to the positive changes we all want to see.
Couldn't agree more. We're a battle-tested DPoS chain genuinely owned by the community.
I was first drawn to Splinterlands because it's such an excellent demonstration of Hive's capacity.
I have mixed feelings that make it difficult for me to decide.
I would vote for the proposal for:
I would not vote for the proposal because of:
Would you vote for the proposal out of appreciation for what they have done, or because it will help Hive in the future?
I'll see how this plays out to decide if I support.
Yes it sounds like a threat, also my questions is, where was development for over 6 years? After blockchain gaming craze I don't see that if the project can support itself it will make sense to carry on with the community money without even saying what is going to be spend for.
Splinterland at some point suppose to have all kind of range of games with different cards but similar concept yet they passed opportunity.
It's hard to know exactly what the money will be spent on, because it will be on whatever we feel gives us the highest chance of success, and that may change over time as different opportunities present themselves. We have specified that the intended use of most of the funds will be on marketing and promotion for the project.
We don't currently believe that updated graphics is what is holding us back nor is it the best use of our limited funds. Our current focus is on improving our onboarding experience so that we can make sure we can capitalize on the marketing and promotion that we plan to do.
It wasn't intended to be, and I apologize for it coming off that way. I really really don't want to move off of Hive and have no plans to, whether or not we get support from the DHF, but the reality of the situation is that we may not have a choice.
This is not entirely accurate. The proposal that was rejected was an option for the SPS DAO to pay the company to run a promo card sale, and have the DAO receive the funds from the sale, rather than the company running the promo card sale on its own and receiving the funds. The community preferred to have the company run the sale and keep the proceeds. Your bullet point makes it seem like the Splinterlands community declined to help fund the company which is not the case. I would also point out that the SPS DAO voted to pay the company $250k last year for the development of the Rebellion presale, and there are also two proposals outstanding right now from the company to the SPS DAO which I expect will likely be passed.
I understand that you can shift where the team and community feels good about, but you still need a basic plan.
You can't ask for 500K and say, hey we will keep you updated how we spending your money.
Give us some kind of plan. If you want to hire a Marketing company then let us know more details about them, who are they, what projects did they work on before, any ideas how they are going to promote not only SPL, but also Hive since the money will be coming from Hive community.
Thank you for your response, I appreciate it.
I agree on these points, for me it is difficult to judge the amount of money, as I don't know the costs of the operation, the team, and I also don't play.
But I know how important the game is to Hive, I've already tested it and I know that many people joined Hive because of splinterlands.
But I would also like to see the roadmap and plans for using the budget.
Development? Team? Marketing?
Without a roadmap, it is even difficult to monitor whether what was promised is being fulfilled.
This is very interesting. I did not expect a DHF proposal from Splinterlands, as I assumed they had raised enough funds to continue for years.
Having worked for several gaming companies, I can attest that building a game is very expensive. Here are some average monthly costs for key team members:
A small team of 10 professionals would roughly cost about $55,000 per month.
After reading the comments, I agree that SPL players should be more involved in the Hive ecosystem. The Hive community has been promoting SPL for a long time, but have we received the same level of promotion from the SPL community? On Web2 socials, we mostly see SPL players promoting SPL, not Hive, while many Hivians proudly promote SPL.
My question is, what will happen to Hive if SPL migrates to another chain? How significant will the impact be on Hive?
I believe SPL should stay on Hive, but @splinterlands and @yabapmatt should provide more detailed information about their plans. Since this involves Hive community funds, we need to know what SPL will deliver and how the funds will be used. Will Hive gain more users, or will Splinterlands see an increase in its user base?
Don't forget how it all started and that Hivians were the first investors, promoters and community builders of SPL. It's fantastic how the game has grown, but you guys can't say Hive never promoted SPL when a lot of us did.
I really appreciate all of the discussion and questions coming out of this proposal in the comments.
I'd like to see the Team earn some revenue from game transactions. Is the reason they don't do that for "tax" reasons or a fundamental promise?
If they receive some consistent income, beyond pack sales, it can minimise the need to ask for handouts when it gets difficult.
I know it's not directly related to the proposal but it is a question I have considered during the Splinterlands journey. Maybe others have the same question (or maybe it has been asked before).
Splinterlands is good...
I vote YEP; I hope it stays
Always shall I play.
#haikuforyou
Thank you Matt for the proposal, which is obviously very important for the future of the project. In general, I like to support projects, whether old or new - with this proposal, which involves a large, long-term daily sum, I would like to get a few questions answered or ask questions that seem important to me and possibly others too:
So if the proposal doesn't turn out in favor of Splinterlands, how strong is the development team behind Splinterlands to convert all assets, tokens, NFTs and core smart contracts to another chain and would the costs for this even be affordable?
Should users who are for or against this proposal expect to find out more details about the marketing plans? These should already exist.
If another agency or whoever is hired here and this is being passed off as a marketing campaign through the Splinterlands books, shouldn't detailed payment details be included here if the primary goal of the proposal is marketing?
There are many open questions that many people have accumulated over the long term of Splinterlands and are specifically expanded upon with this proposal, so I'm looking forward to talking to you personally in Split about such topics.
We have no intention of moving off of Hive whether or not this proposal passes. If the DHF chooses not to support us, then it is more likely that we will at some point be forced to sell the company or take in investment from outside sources who may want to move the game to another chain, at which point I will not be able to prevent that. In those cases the funds and resources to move will come from the purchaser/investor.
I am not a marketer and we do not have any marketers on the team currently, so we do not have a specific plan for marketing. The goal is to use these funds to hire an experienced web3 specific marketing person or company who we will work with to build out a marketing and promotional plan which we can then share with the community and implement.
This is not a proposal to implement a specific marketing plan. This proposal is to provide general funding to the Splinterlands company and we will use those funds in the way that we feel gives us the best chance of success. We currently believe that will be via a significant marketing campaign as we mentioned, but ultimately it will be up to the company to decide how the funds will be used.
I've voted for this, a bit late because I was on a bit of a break.
Splinterlands is like an anchor tenant for Hive (if you know anything about retail and shoping centers). The relationship is a bit complicated because Splinterlands is a huge part of the traffic of Hive (which is an expense) but it's also a major reason for the chain to be kept going. I came to Steem then Hive through @apshamilton and he brought me in via @splinterlands.
Everything I've done on @v4vapp and @podping stems from this. Indeed I believe there are only 4 unique functioning uses of blockchains which can't be done any other way: finance, gaming, uncensorable text/social and my own Podping notification system. The last of these, @podping, is 100% inspired by seeing all the
custom_jsondata which Splinterlands puts on Hive.But I understand Hive is competing with a bunch of VC megabuck funded chains who will all offer big $$$$ to move the game to their chain and take a % and pump some other chain up (and then dump it and cash out). And much of the $$$$ value they receive will be spent on stupid fees running another chain.
Hive doesn't have the VC megabucks but we have the DHF: we can help out.
But in return Splinterlands should do more to make it known that it is only the UNIQUE properties of Hive and the truly decentralised, community ownership structure of Hive which makes Hive special.
That's what I ask to see back from @splinterlands in return for my vote. @yabapmatt @aggroed.
Flagged to bring attention to my concerns. When you first started, you would take time to talk to the little guys. I've been playing since day 1 (and still do). I invested heavily and made a profit with this game, no lie. But some people stopped answering DMs and seemed to only cater to the bigger whales instead of the 'Hive community' you keep prodding on about. Like @coldbeetrootsoup, @spiritsurge, and several others, I would like a more detailed spending budget outlined. I cannot vote for the proposal otherwise.
This whole thing is very confusing, really. Is it because so many people have stopped playing with all the weird changes over the past few years and certain other things that never even popped up? Where are the guild boss battles? Where is the role play element?
DEC-B? Why.
Glint?
And now - vouchers just to play a season?
I like you @yabapmatt, you have done a lot of good for Hive, but this proposal is very vague. It almost seems more like a threat than an ask for help.
Are we missing an opportunity?
I respect that opinion, and a few others have asked for the same. It's not something we feel we can provide right now because we just don't know specifically how this will be spent other than that we plan to improve the onboarding experience and begin significant marketing and promotional efforts. We will use the funds in the way that we feel is best to bring in more players and grow the product, but we don't know exactly what that will be or how much each piece will cost at this point.
That wasn't the intention at all. It is actually a big worry of mine that we will be forced to move the game off of Hive because we have to sell the game or take in outside capital and I really don't want that to happen. I was just trying to point out the unfortunate reality of the situation.
Yeah, this gets our weight behind it.
Got my vote!
I find it ironic that quite a few people are coming out of the woodwork to complain about Hive and this proposal, yet have little to no stake despite being here for years.
There are leeches everywhere, and would go wherever they can leech off someone else apparently.
It'll be interesting to see if the Splinterlands community itself has enough HP to pass this proposal.
Talking about how other chains offer "better" handouts. Here the consumer or in this case the gamer has the ability to be the provider, and the support (in this case $2777 per day) comes at no real cost to that consumer/community, provided they've staked some HP and participate. If that potential was fully understood and realized, it becomes clear (at least to me), that deal is hard to beat.
I will not be supporting this proposal. I don't play the game. Was never my cup of tea. I liked seeing it here though.
Several years and thousands of people. Surely the Splinterlands community has enough HP to pass this and if not, I'd have to ask all how that's even possible. For years we're told it brings value to Hive, so where is it? The amount of fan art I've seen rewarded over the years for example. Surely rewarding/supporting that endless stream of content (which doubled as free marketing)would lead to receiving support in return for something like this proposal. Surely a game that paid players just for playing would lead to having the ability to support a proposal like this. Surely, after all these years, there's something to show for it. If not, there are some valuable lessons to be learned.
It takes roughly over 15% of the total staked HIVE in the entire system to get a proposal passed, so I think that's an impossibly high bar to expect of any project. I would venture to guess that there is no other project on Hive whose active users have more HP combined than the Splinterlands community.
I directly address this in the post:
We have purchased millions of HIVE tokens off of external markets, we have burned millions of HIVE tokens to create accounts, we have funded and initially designed and built two of the most widely used tools on the platform - Hive Engine and Hive Keychain - and we have brought thousands of users and tons of attention to the Hive blockchain during that time.
That being said, if you don't feel that this project has contributed enough to the Hive ecosystem, or will be able to contribute enough in the future, to warrant support from the DHF then I respect your opinion and your decision not to support the proposal.
This. I'd be shocked if the Splinterlands community isn't able to push this through.
I'll hang back. I don't know enough about Splinterlands and the community. Sure, you've done some great things in the past. Currently I'm not even sure if the Splinterlands community wants this. So I'm waiting to see how everyone feels about it, so I hope they show up.
My position has already been explained here so I won't repeat myself, and I also don't expect you to read any of it but if you want to, you can. It'll help clear up where I truly stand on this.
If it gets to the point where everyone has done everything they possibly can and still need help, that's when I'd feel confident supporting this is a good idea. It would be incredibly irresponsible of me to vote blindly or speak for a community I can't say I'm a part of.
My words again. The value can be observed when your community steps up to help on the day you need them the most. I want to see them participating in this rather than me participating so they don't have to.
P.S. The Hive Keychain Development Proposal is something I already support.
good to see your still here :)
That actually made me smile. Thanks.
good to see you're still here seeing good :)
me too
Its interesting that you think that the Splinterlands players should have enough HIVE to be able to pass this on their own. That would mean Splinterlands players have more HIVE than non-Splinterlands HIVE owners. Please note those players would also own all their ingame Splinterlands assets too.
Its up to you how you draw your valuable lessons in life, but its kind of a weird way to look at it if you ask me.
I don't think it's weird and your defensive tone makes me think you're misinterpreting my intention here.
The decentralized nature affords everyone the opportunity to have a say. So let's say a gaming community showed up here, on Hive. Thousands of them, eager to support a new project. A project that needs funding. That funding comes at no real cost. Each individual still owns their HP. If they want funding, they'd have a better chance of receiving it if they had their own HP. For instance, why should I support it when I don't even know those people and don't care about their product. It's not up to me, it's up to them. Since it's such a great deal and can lead to projects receiving funding, I think this behavior should be encouraged.
So yes, I stand by my words and think it'll be interesting to see if the Splinterlands community has enough HP to pass this. It's a valuable lesson in the sense other communities can see how communities and projects get funded here. That could lead to more interest in the chain and the token.
It's not Hive's fault if this proposal doesn't pass. The Splinterlands community is at fault. Hive is an inanimate object.
I don't want to support this because I'd rather encourage and see you all support yourselves. It's a good deal and should be embraced. Your success is not my responsibility.
I think there's enough support behind the Splinterlands community to pass this. If not, well, wtf? There's thousands of you. What happened to all the money? And now you want more? Those are some of the questions I'd be asking.
There is absolutely no way the Splinterlands community has enough HP on their own to pass this. If that was the case, Splinterlands would basically own the platform and we could ask for much more and always get it approved. That would be very unhealthy.
LEO community passed theirs. Some of them are also part of Splinterlands community. I don't see how encouraging the Splinterlands community to get behind this and support their own project with their own money is a bad thing.
I'm not saying that encouraging the Splinterlands community to support their own project is a bad thing. What I'm saying is that it is impossible to pass it with just our support. I doubt we'd even reach 50% of the necessary vote power.
And I think, after this many years and that many community members, that could change and together you can work towards self sustainability. Building up that foundation could have started several years ago but since it hasn't, perhaps today would be a good time to start.
I think it's coming from the wrong place to assume players hold HP, most I assume hold ingame assets and ingame currencies tied to spl. the @steemmonster account afaik even provides people with delegations, or did so in the past so they can play the game, now we moved onto RC being delegated itself which makes HP delegations obsolete for this task.
It would sure be nice if the game would place more notice or encourage players to become socially active on chain which, even though my opinions may be quite outdated, I didn't see much of in the past when on the website. With many users not even being aware that there was this whole other universe of things they could do with the keys and accounts they had paid for to get when diving into spl and with just very few artists and social users already aware of hive getting the benefits of curation.
At the end of the day, if we did have more projects like SPL there'd be a "hidden" cost and hodl pressure building both on the projects and our resource credits which ultimately means you'll need to acquire HP to provide your community with the freedom to transact.
We may have been a bit too early to jump the gun on making RC itself a pool that can be leased/bought, which I'm sure close to no one does at this time and even at the height of things barely anyone did with HP itself aside from leasing it for profit, barely anyone leased it for being able to use the chain or providing your community/players/product users with actions to use the blockchain. So getting to that place where RC is scarce and required may take an even longer time and bigger influx of users to reach now than it did before but in a way that also makes our chain more scalable even if we don't need it currently.
We're just way ahead of things on the backend it feels like and more focus should shift on actually bringing in people here, whether through games or some of our other countless projects that make web3 stand out from web2 with value going to users rather than just the creators.
I know the community exists though, even if they're quiet in the social arena. Just look at all the views Splinterlands posts receive locally. And if Splinterlands decides to go elsewhere because funding, those people go with them. And those people also lose ALL the benefits they could receive if they were to be the ones behind pushing this proposal through. Strong chance they're not even aware of those perks and would follow blindly. That turns into a missed opportunity for them, not Hive. Meanwhile the well dries up fast elsewhere. Put your money where your mouth is here, as a group; you actually have a future.
But only when the potential is fully realized and the concepts understood. And that can't happen without some asshole like me coming along to be like this in a comment section lol.
You talk about bringing people in. That's something I'd like to see as well. If I support this, that's equal to 900 people with 100 HP each. I push a button so they can sit on their hands, enjoy a game, get paid, until this half million runs out. 900 then expect another bail out. And it just goes on like that.
Communities have strength in numbers. So I insist they get out there and flex.
I don't disagree with some of the things you said, that's also why I would've wanted more players to be active on chain so they can diversify or at least earn more HP and broaden their horizons with the activity that's possible here. It'd be a bit much to expect them to vote the proposal into funding, though.
I don't disagree with what you said either. Didn't touch on it simply because I've said things similar over the years.
So, Hive would be the planet; the ground everyone walks on. On Hive, much like the Earth, we have several communities. Splinterlands being one of them.
We're missing the roads, in a sense. Splinterlands isn't the only community that makes it difficult for people to travel and enjoy the sights and sounds of the other cities. Often the communities aren't tied together, acting more like distant islands with very little trade.
That can change of course, but I've noticed the problem for several years now, pointed it out several times, got nowhere, and only saw the problem get worse.
I don't think it's a bit much for them to be able to support themselves. Had years to prepare. And I'd rather see thousands of people stepping up to the plate and taking action rather than just a handful of large stakeholders. All that does is create the illusion the project is popular and on its way to bigger and better things. If the community itself can't put their money where their mouth is and back this on their own, they've nothing to lose and will just carry on with the same habits that placed them in this position now. If it's such a big success and valuable, why the easy out? Doesn't make sense to me. We're all part of a community here somehow. Splinterlands is my neighbor. Why are they asking me to gas up my mower and mow their lawn in order to protect their property value? Mow your own damn grass. And don't tell me with all those people living over there you can't afford gas and don't have enough able bodies to get the job done lol.
These communities have strength in numbers and can do so much more for themselves but won't if they're bailed out so easily every time. I'd like to see the projects succeed combined with communities being the reason they're so successful.
My message to this Splinterlands community is this: If this is something you want, get in here and participate no matter how much HP you have. Nobody exists here to hold your hand. Your hands exist so you can use them.
Just revisiting this post, checking up on the progress and whatnot.
Perhaps I misspoke. To clarify, this is what I said.
I'm not saying it's their sole responsibility. What I'm saying is it'll be interesting to see how far they can push it up, alone. I was under the impression they had a lot. Interested in seeing what they're capable of, as a community.
And I'm still thinking there's a lot more out there somewhere but we're not seeing it due to lack of interest in participating. Some are unaware. Some are inactive. Many contributing factors which I am aware of, of course.
My position wasn't and isn't something like, "F you. Do it yourself."
I see that support trickling in though. I see a good range of HP levels. I think there's more to come yet, from the Splinterlands community.
And I'll support this once I feel confident they did their best. Got a trick up my sleeve as well. Can double my voting power since I vote for the return as well. 180k sitting on the table for them. But only if they go first.
Does that make me less of a prick? lol
I'd love to see these systems running at their full potential.
I wasn't being defensive. I think its fine for you and everyone to vote how they want too, so no worry there either.
I certainly don't think it is Hive's fault if this didn't pass, nor do I think it would be Splinterland's fault if it didn't pass. Sometimes there is simply no fault, and things happen how they should happen.
My point is that if every project that asks for funding must have their users own half the total token, then there will only be ONE project that could ever get funded. You might not see a problem with that, and maybe that's how you think every funding should go so you vote no to everything... and that's cool if so! Cheers
I say similar things to content creators who feel they deserve more support. They're free to encourage outside money to enter this ecosystem and support their work with votes. It's a great deal to the consumer. They actually earn to be supportive. Same goes for the Splinterlands community. They could support this with their own HP, and earn on top of that, plus see their project get funding.
And if I see thousands of people step up to the plate to support this but you need 90k HP to get pushed over the 29 million HP required to pass this, I might change my mind and support it because then I can actually see the value.
That's a fair way to look at it. Cheers and thanks for the dialogue on this!
All good Dave. I didn't write that expecting the response to go smoothly lol.
Good luck here. And for the record, I do have a lot of respect for this project and the community behind it.
To get a proposal funded you need way less than 50%. Not even 10%.
Thank you for explaining this, my premise was definitely flawed from the beginning on this!
No, They would just need enough to get over the return value.
Thanks for pointing that out by the way. I saw the error but felt I didn't have the time to take the conversation in that direction so let it slide.
Yeah, it is a side case. However it is also good to remember that considering the length of Splinterlands on Hive, some could have transferred earnings into Hive also, not just the other way.
Splinterlands community had several years to prepare for a day like this and could easily (EASILY) rise to the occasion. If this is what they want, the power is in their hands. Half million dollars sounds like a lot but to each one of these individuals, there is no cost in supporting it. No money? BS. Those cards are not worthless. Find some buyers, transfer some funds, support project, guarantee its future to the ones buying those assets by supporting this proposal. Much easier than trying to convince me a trend reversal isn't necessary and it's somehow my responsibility as Hive stakeholder to support this so they can continue.
Can't build a house without a foundation.
"Not allowed." I spoke to you under that post of yours. Here's another example where in society, like I said there, it's the regular folk who will refuse to take action. The power is their hands but it's easier to point at someone else and expect results from them. If this doesn't go through, "It's Hive's fault!"
No. It isn't. And I don't see this project moving elsewhere as a threat even though the wording here in the post could come across sounding like one.
I'll just view it as yet another group of humans completely oblivious to their full potential.
thanks for the clarification @tarazkp!
Probably, you don't know, these proposals accepted by approx. 20% of total active HP.
So, since SPL played a big role in the up stick and after the down one, as well, I just suppose, they should have 20% of total active HP.
In reality, I know, they don't have, as they don't really know Hive economy part, never was intention of SPL people to 'educate' them.
I also think, the DHF proposals should have at least 40% total active HP approval rate (more likely 50%+), but Hive in this point of view, simply not decentralized at all.
In that case, people could block the nonsense money flows, like financing racing car, croatian holiday, never seen, hidden Hive movie etc.
Since DHF Hive, money created out of thin air, and put huge sell pressure, it all should go back for ads, marketing, community building, spread word in web2 through influencers, streamers etc.
Whoever get this money, they don't even bother to make a real financial report (look what valueplan, and leofinance is doing), even if they promise. They max make an amatur post without real numbers, details, and they call it professional project management...😂
Lots of people should be SACKED OUT asap from the project management, near to DHF money, even just for having the smallest chance for Hive.
But it's just a buddy circle, (how politicians, big corps, oligarch circles) not a coincidence this Matt guy finish his proposal with the Croatian holiday... i mean wtf real business that have with proposal? nothing.😉
so how things go, just take it, it's a one way street, and who are onboard, in the circle, care about the small amount today in their pocket, not actually use DHF money for the right purpose, and take the big money tomorrow.
Less than 10% of all existing Hive+HP combined vote for the return proposal.
Problem is not a lack of decentralization. Problem is that not enough people care.
Yes I didn't know that only 20% was required to pass the prop. Thanks for the detailed explanation.
follow dalz, he makes good stats, he is one of the witnesses. rarely he makes stats about SPL, too. so good to read his posts. (if you are an spl user, good to share it amongst them, so they will get a bit more info, how Hive works, currently stands)
about the active HP (and need 28-30M for proposal accepting):
https://peakd.com/hive-133987/@dalz/what-is-the-share-of-the-hive-power-that-is-actively-votingcurating-or-june-2024
excellent info, thanks Pokermaria!
What are you on about dude? Freechain was seen at a festival and at last Hivefest. It was picked up last month by one of the former Golden Globes judges to push to international markets.
Because it has wider appeal its not put up on youtube or elsewhere.
Yes, I know, that means 99%+ of active Hive users haven't seen it yet. (anyway, that part is not important.)
I read your last post about it. And no offence, but from average user point of view, it looks like this. The kinda top secret cia movie about area-51.
Atm, it's just another project, what about nobody made financial report, but definitely cost a lot, and have just future promise. And correct me if I am wrong, it's ready since a year. After given time, people go with stereotypes, especially, if that's pretty much a safe bet.
Since there is no 'Hive welcome page' with all-in-one info about how it works, front-ends, dapps, dao, everything, video tutorials about basics, especially about sign-up + regularly updated, I see very small chance it will change things.
AND: it will cost again lots of money. probably that's part of the reason why valueplan raised the quarterly amount to 300k. So I can imagine how much it cost.
Yes, I 100% stand for that Hive need a serious project manager with relevant successful background in web2 marketing with active business network, next to knowing web3.
In the end, atm ii's the same, very few people decide what for the money goes, and I am also 100% sure, they got paid (not coincidence even valuplan last post call them P.M.). They failed to do (at least successfully) their job.
Obviously, for web3, especially for soc media, all marketing, ads must happen online. Very basic, cost effective, and effective. (I don't say ask a relevant person, because I exactly know, that you know, rally car won't bring users, even expensive google ads are much more effective.)
I don't question your intention, but the money what just get wasted, could be used much better. The DAU numbers proving, it's not used effectively atm at all. (Hard to use in any worse way.)
For example, just paying couple of grand for a streamer with 0.5-1M+ active followers for 10-15 hours and sit down, stream live with a whale, regular Hive user, walk through registration, basics + make him/her a community, delegate big amount of HP for a month would bring a lot more users than all the valueplan, leofinance stuff did in the last 1+ year...
Anyway, I don't care much, sold my few k Hive when I've got the full picture, now just should get out with min. loss from the lovely games here... :)
However, honestly, GL, and all the best! Time will tell, I am the totally wrong, or others!
Thats what you called out, thats what I answered. the point of the film wasnt to make a film for Hivers. That was made clear many times. That would be a waste. The point was to have the film picked up by someone in the industry that will push it towards the international market. That has happened.
This not coinciding with whatever timeline you set for the film is not something I can do anything about.
im listed up there. I havent been paid a dime. Not for the car or for Vibes. You can track all payments yourself.
Youtubers, with 1 mil followers charge 20-30k USD for a 15 second promotion. For crypto youtubers double that. I dont know about streamers but I assume its in that ballpark.
How do I know that? Because I talked to these people.
Youre the type of guy that will spread negativity, falsely, on one chain and then move to another so happy you left, until you realize things elsewhere are a 100 times worse. ofc, cognitive dissonance will kick in at that point.
There is nothing better than Hive. Hive is whatever the community make it into.. You wont get that freedom anywhere else. NOT EVEN CLOSE.
But then again... most people are followers, peasants in need of an overlord to do good by them. someone for them to cheer. a benevolent dictator. A daddy. Someone to baby them.
I think its sad that for all the promise crypto is making no one wants the freedom decentralization gives and do something with it. theyre rather complain and do nothing.
I think you misunderstand the situation.
Yes, Splinterlands runs on Hive but most Splinterlanders are completely unaware of and indifferent to the engineering, cos we are playing a game.
I doubt there are many splinterlanders that own any Hive at all.
And now the Splinterlands community can see several damn good reasons to not be like that anymore.
I'm aware many are somewhat disconnected. That can easily change. Becomes a beneficial change for all involved.
If the very people who love the game don't want to support it or contribute to its success, why should I?
You have dipshits fostering a negative attitude towards Hive and not many pushing back. Its a problem. Thats why theres a disconnect.
Its like having an enemy in your bed.
A group of people that are a part of the community actively working against it.
Oh shit. It's the deep state.
You know deep state is so deep that no one can ever know who they are. They might be mole people. Or Pegasuses with thick mustaches made of bronze and sprinkles.
haha. No.
Its a few guys I could name you right now. Just had run in with one of the aholes on twitter today. Theyre about as deep as a drunk Kardashian.
I look forward to the day I too get to use this line.
I have played Splinterlands every single day without fail since discovering it in early 2021. As such, I have apparently been using the Hive blockchain every single day.
As those actions are not published as posts, I get no HP from that activity, despite using hive more than most of you actual Hivers.
To a gamer, Hive is just the engineering it runs on, so not at all interesting per se.
Of course, Hive is much more than that, and its potential is enormous, but the Hive culture is sort of horrible,
You downvote each other in mean and spiteful ways all the time and actually look down on Splinterlanders. I have spent the last year reaching out to Hivers and they almost all just ignore you! One even told me he did not want to listen to me, even though I am trying to grow Hive!
Hive needs to become more open and welcoming, because right now it is realising its potential.
You guys should totally reach out to and support splinterlands!
You have 70 HP. You came to me with some promises of a grand idea that will bring investors and that you will make a game 100 times bigger than Splinterlands. Not even an idea. a PROMISE OF AN IDEA.
I responded very nicely to your grandiose claims that sound pretty nuts if im being honest.
Now ive seen you 5-6 times already talking nonsense that Hivers arent open or welcoming.
What youre doing is sort of horrible.
There's this weird wave of people with no skin in the game or history who approach one and demand support because they'll be the gem who will bring in thousands. They gotta realize they're not the only one and that senior members of this community have heard that line over and over again with most of the time just being a ditch effort for some post rewards before they disappear.
Firstly, I am a splinterlands player and not particularly paying attention to HP.
I came to you and asked you if I could explain my plan and ideas to you and you declined.
I made no promises at all, I just told you what I was going for and you did not want to hear me out.
Similarly, I made no grandiose claims at all.
I have reached out to many hivers over the last year. To give you some credit, you did respond to my request to talk, albeit if only to say no, without having anything like enough info to make any kind of assessment.
The vast majority of you hivers have simply ignored my polite requests to talk, so my experience is that Hivers are not at all welcoming or open.
If that is "sort of horrible", I can only apologise, but I have been truthful and respectful at all times, which you and your fellow Hivers, with one or two notable exceptions, largely have not.
Sorry if that is disturbing, but it is at least true and accurate in terms of what my experiece has been....
Your idea with questions like:
All grand claims. I explained to you that you need to build reputation on Hive that you need to prove to you can actually do any of this stuff.
From the point of view of anyone reasonable talking to someone with 70HP claiming this stuff without even building any kind of reputation onchain is a waste of time.
I explained to you what you need to do and that you dont build a consensus by DMing a random hiver.
You do it by proving that you can deliver even the smallest thing to Hive and building a reputation for yourself.
You saw that as you did and were extremely happy to paint Hive in a bad light because of it in the discord and now here.
I did not say no. I told you what you need to do. Even if I did say no, which i did not, that has no bearing on your idea working or not. An idea thats not even an idea. Just big claims of stuff you can do without previously proving you can do any of it.
Do you go through your DMs on Twitter and give the time of day to random people you dont know in your spam inbox? Im sure you dont. What about those telling you: "I can bring millions of dollars of investment to your project."
I took the time to help you out to the best of my ability and gave you a course of action. You responded with... Hivers arent welcoming and open.
What you are is disingenuous which is clearly why people shouldnt take claims like you made seriously or respond to them. It was my fault giving you the time of day. Now we just have another FUDer to add to idiots like Bulldog to this conversation.
Have you voted for this proposal?
Hive is just a blockchain. That's like asking a tree to hug you back. All over the internet you'll run into shitty people. They should be the least of your worries.
I'd rather see the Splinterlands community contributing to its own success rather than making excuses and passing the buck. No matter how much people want to pressure me or attempt to guilt trip me into it, I won't budge on that position.
Hive is way more than just a blockchain....
I don't understand the first sentence of your second paragraph, and as far as I know we were chatting, with no thought to pressure you or guilt you into anything, so please chill dude! 😀
I'm chill. It's all good.
I support the rapid extraction of value via my tiny stake. It's probably more worthwhile than some of the other stuff passed in the past.
Spend. Spend. Spend!
A while ago you had a token worth about 0.03 cents, not happy you put a wild pass permit to try to reduce the players (you could encrypt something in the custom json that worked to remove bots), now the token is at 0.006 cents... In games Online games normally give daily gifts for people to come and get the gift, in Splinterlands they try to do the opposite... Have you tried another strategy instead of just trying to sell packs infinitely and adding new rulesets?
To get new players, just give accounts for free with a restriction that only releases the withdraw of the token after collecting 10 dollars for the starter pack, do daily events giving something just for people to log in, do a different ranked for these players with few ruleset, maybe make a mobile version with ads to release things...
If the game continues like this, in the future I see the game being sold to another company.
And about this proposal: If this request were made elsewhere, you would give something in exchange for support, give about 200k packs of Cards to HIVE DAO, so the HIVE community can use this to do some event that can benefit the community.
Or maybe you can give personalized skins with the HIVE blockchain theme, imagine one skin per day for 356 days for each user who has more than 100 HP*, this would make HIVE users in general have to enter the website to get the airdrop, So you need some way to convert everyone into a player. Win Win. Everyone likes things free, but this is a bait to attract players.
I like this type of concept.
This is something we are actively working on as we revamp the onboarding experience. Please keep in mind that it is not as easy as it is with traditional games, however, since "accounts" on Hive have a cost associated with them and if we give them away for free this will (and has been) exploited. That is part of what the $10 spellbook purchase covers. That being said, we believe we can still make this experience work, but it does take more time and planning than you might expect.
I'm not sure I agree with this statement. Many blockchain ecosystems offer grants for projects to build on their chain and the benefit to the grantor is that they get a potentially big project bringing people and money into their ecosystem. This is no different. As for your suggestion of the Hive DAO receiving card packs, this would be up to the SPS DAO to decide as they are the ones responsible for the distribution of the card packs and it is not something the Splinterlands company is able to do on our own. Additionally, I'm not sure how or if that would even work, technically, for the Hive DAO to hold Splinterlands in-game assets.
move splintersland to ronin and you sell 5 million packs in first day.
there are money and people that love games ,this hive peoplea are losers and they will fail in this bull market , i will vote with my 70k hp but will not do anything
Actually, I don't agree HIVEians to be "losers", but I would prefer people to discuss with words instead of downvotes. :-)
The proposal is interesting.
In my opinion, the first and biggest error was to raise the price of packs to 4$ and then even higher with the suggestion, that it could be even higher while berating people who didn't want to or just couldn't pay those prices.
After all, buying a few packs was not enough to be even competitive in Bronze.
Everyone with a brain could have predicted, that this would nosedive the potential for new players, for active players, for future advocates of this game, for multipliers, for genuine and natural marketing opportunities, and last but not least, for a thriving and growing player base.
I for myself dipped out after Chaos Legion, when I felt, that this turned into a money-grabbing operation, that insulted critics and wasn't open to normal players anymore.
I can only guess who was responsible for this shift, but I have a few quotes in mind, that didn't sit well with me at the time, while all the big influencers and the team itself egged those comments on.
The most egregious comment was along the lines of "This game is not for players, who just want to play and not want to spend a whole lot of money before they can earn it back. In a year, everybody who invests big will be better off. We don't want to be a project for everyone but for risk-takers."
Not word for word of course, I would have to dig through my archive, but the sentiment was exactly that.
It was pretty clear, that delusions of grandeur, and resentment against players without deep pockets had gripped parts of the team, and though I loved playing the game up until this moment, I was out.
I hope you turn this project around, I still have all my initial investment in cards and SPS in the game as well as a lot of good memories.
But in my opinion, every effort will be mute, if you don't reverse the terrible decision to raise the price of packs from 2$ to 4 and up, because blending up to 400 cards, is not feasible for 99% of potential players to want to buy as many packs to be competitive.
That's just it.
You could have had a thriving and growing player base even after the bull market in mid-2022. I strongly believe, this is the crux of the problem and I know for a fact that my decision and the decisions of a couple of players, whom I knew then pretty well had everything to do with raising the price, the potential to raise prices again in the future and the smug responses from parts of the team or big players who were influencing the decisions of the team that
"we don't want cheapskates and leeches".
Just my 2 cents. Have a good one.
I have a lot of respect for you @yabapmatt, and knowing how much you turn things over in your head I can imagine that seeing you in the current situation with SL must be very unpleasant.
However, I don't like the tone of this proposal. And I don't like the general sentiment of the Splinterlands Vs Hive community AT ALL. I won't go into the details which I'm sure you already know.
I'll use this comment to throw some questions in the air:
Instead of a ‘donation’, have you thought about proposing that the Splinterlands DAO ‘sell’ SPS to the Hive DAO?
SL receives the funds, X amount of SPS is locked in scrow and when times are better that SPS is sold by Hive.
Instead of abandoning hive completely, why not multichain'?
With the thousands of transactions SL does daily, I doubt very much that going to solana/base/enjin/polygon is going to improve in terms of UX (no matter how little tx costs, we are talking about a LOT of transactions, EVERY DAY). And then, I don't know to what extent we're talking about selling your ‘soul’ to the devil (VC's).
But I understand the point of exposure that other chains have and not Hive. Speaking in purely business terms it is the way it is.
Even if SL gets a bounty (from hive or another chain, it doesn't matter), I don't need to tell you that if the game doesn't make enough money in 6-12-18 months we will be in the same problem.
I will probably end up voting for the proposal (although I don't think my vote will be enough to make a difference either), but I still wanted to express some of these things I had in mind.
Lots of strength.
We have absolutely no plans to abandon Hive in any way, regardless of whether or not we get support from the DHF. The proposal was simply trying to point out that we may be forced to if we are forced to sell the company or take significant outside investment in order to stay in operation. It's actually a big fear of mine that this might happen, and it is the unfortunate reality that I was trying to get across in the post, although it seems I didn't explain it well.
Yes, that is definitely a possibility. Receiving support from the DHF will certainly help our chances of returning to profitability but does not guarantee anything. It is up to the Hive community to decide if the potential reward is worth the risk.
Understood.
All things considered, I will vote on the proposal in the next few days.
Much appreciated your help with the proposal! You are my hero at the moment.
Your unvoting of return will secure the buffer as we are barely funded, you action we be the safety.
Many thanks
Hey azir, no need to say thanks though. I only care about Hive (and by extension about Splinterlands) and for that simple reason I want the best outcome for us all.
Right now I'm still voting for both proposals (Return prop + SPL + prop) since it's being funded atm I won't unvote the return proposal (for now).
I'll keep checking frequently, If I see that SPL losses the funding I'll unvote the return proposal by then.
I think that from Hive we are funding via DHF a lot of things that do not deserve to be funded. Vague targets, no reporting, etc.
I think we agree that SPL has screwed up in several things but it has something that the rest of the proposals don't have. Historical data and therefore results to show.
It deserves at least the benefit of the doubt. Let's hope we're not wrong about this.
Cheers mate :)
Yes. Agree on all that. Sad news is few hive people care about DHF and even fewer can impact because we don’t have enough stake. We can potentially change both.
For that reason we should keep working in a stronger 'middle class'.
But to do this we need something that could be very difficult to materialise: to get more people to see HIVE as a valuable asset to own. And the ‘how’ of this is itself the million dollar (or billion!) question. Topic for another day though.
Hopefully funding for SPL keeps secured. I'm happy to see how the development of this proposal has grown. I was genuinely concerned that the proposal would remain in limbo at 10-20M HP.
I think It's already multichain, right?!
When I refer to multichain I mean the fact that ‘SPS Chain’ is built with a more flexible approach that addresses running on multiple chains (instead of being ‘just’ a Hive L2).
In this way (maybe) Splinterlands could convince some external investor who would only invest if SPS was in Solana/Eth, for example.
Obviously I don't know the details, but this is what I was referring to.
Voted, This is the kind of stuff the DHF was meant for and I fully agree that Hive needs to be competitive and it's losing at that mainly because there's no incentives for people to build their apps on Hive through rewards or grants. This needs to change and applications will do FAR more marketing and promoting then events that cost just as much as what this proposal is asking. If this proposals fails my last faith in hive would seriously be over and I think that stands for a lot of people.
I agree with what the DHF should be used for, but it is a very vague spending outline, so I can't say yes (yet) to it.
I have been very dissapointed by the amount of good Proposals that were rejected by DHF. I even wrote some articles and that is the extent of what I could do. I only have 15K HIVE Power and I stopped buying HIVE a long ago in my disappointment. I don't plan to leave HIVE. But my interest has mostly shifted towards investing in DAPPs which care to expand to more users.
https://inleo.io/@vimukthi/we-are-using-decentralized-hive-fund-wrong-
Hi @yabapmatt
Hive is my favorite blockchain project and Splinterlands is my favorite blockchain game and I have been playing Splinterlands regularly almost every day for over 5 years in addition to being active on Hive.
I will vote yes on this proposal because Splinterlands has done more for Hive than so many other marketing projects that have cost so much and produced no real results.
At the same time, however, I hope that Splinterlands' policy on bots will change and that bots will finally be fought and eliminated because any marketing campaign about a bots-friendly game will fail.
There is no such thing as a successful game that tolerates bots and it should start from this point otherwise I will keep getting the same and recurring response when I try to promote Splinterlands outside of Hive: why do I have to play in a game full of bots?
I've never done a power down because I still see a lot of potential in Hive and I think Hive is one of the best player-side choices but I also think Hive has one big shortcoming that prevents it from attracting projects and developers: it doesn't have smart contracts...on this point any DHF would have the most support
That is exactly what we have been doing. Modern format - the main format of the game and where new players will participate - has had bots banned for a while, and more recently the pass required to play in Wild has helped eliminate a significant portion of the bots from there.
How can you improve the gaming experience of a new player who enters Splinterlands today, buys Chaos Legion cards to play in the Modern Format with real players like him, and then finds out that when the new set of cards will be released he will be forced to play and use his Chaos Legion cards against bots and bot-farms and will also have to pay a seasonal entry fee (Wild Pass) to play against bots and bot-farms?
I will vote on the proposal although I believe that the future of Splinterlands lies in another chain. The way you present the proposal, I think you hope it doesn't get approved, because I'm sure you know the game would do better in other lands.
I think that could put an end to the issue of fictional players bleeding the project dry. But deep down, I would like Splinterlands to succeed in this chain, which is a real challenge. You can count on my help.
Upvoted, because I don't like it if users get downvoted just because of having different opinions.
Thanks very much, friend.
How would "fictional players" exist less on other chains where it's way easier to create 10,000 addresses/accounts?
It's certainly a big problem both in other chains and in Splinterlands. And I think that not enough has been done to address that problem, which causes distortions, both here and in other blockchains. Part of why this support is being requested today comes from this situation.
I support @splinterlands. Hive is design for collaboration and we need to use our resource effectivelly. The VSC project will bring smart contract capability to Hive and it will help Hive compete with other chains. Love to see DeFi, NFTs, Runes, GameFi, RWA-Fi (aka HP Finance) on Hive.
Proposal 315 supported
I would vote for it, if you are more transparent on how exactly the money is spent, with monthly reports at least and also forecasts. I know that level of transparancy is not usual, but I guess before a VC gives you a million he also wants to see some solid data first.
Without, the 500K could fizzle out like a drop in the ocean and in half a year you are nowhere and will ask for more.
By the way profits. Why not use some of your significant profits first, before asking from the community?
It depends on the VC of course, but often VCs are actually betting on the founder or company leadership to figure out how to best use the funds to be successful rather than asking for very specific breakdowns of how the money is spent. We prefer to be able to be flexible with how we choose to use the funds as things change rapidly and it's very hard to predict what will be the best use of funds ahead of time. We provided a general overview of our growth plan, and we will use the funds in the way we think is best in order to achieve those goals.
We have unfortunately run through almost all of our profits over the past couple of years as mentioned in the "how we got here" section of the post. Asking for help from the community is a last resort and one that I am extremely saddened that we have had to resort to.
The @steemmonsters account alone is worth almost 350K$. So you won´t touch it at all but ask for 500K from the fund?
We have unfortunately been forced to power down and sell the majority of our HIVE stake from the @steemmonsters account over the past year or so in order to cover our operating costs. That $350k is not enough by itself to both continue to cover our costs and allow us to bring on a top level marketing person and run marketing and promotional campaigns, which is why we are asking for help from the DHF.
Additionally, we cannot power down all of our HP because we need enough to be able to delegate RC to our users.
You've got my support.
I do hope that more splinterlands players become Hive holders as well.
Voted!
Splinterlands DHF Proposal #315 supported
You say it yourself, the problem they have is that without any criteria, they joined the crypto game boom thinking that it would last forever.
The Gaming community and the Crypto community do not hold hands, if you want a game to succeed you must build community, you must think about the community and that will generate profits, it does not work to create a game thinking about making a lot of money because people will invest time.
Splinterlands is NOT fun, it is NOT optimized and although surely you have a bubble of users that are active and will criticize me saying that it is the best game of their life, the amount of users is NULL compared to other TCG in the market, can it compete with Heartston? NO, can it compete with Legends of Runeterra? NO (and this game is dead), Can it compete with Pokémon TCG? NOT even close, Does it compete with Magic? NO, Does it compete with its direct rival Gods Unchained? NO.
Why is it that all these games I mentioned have more community and active users than Splinterlands? Surely they will tell me that it is because of the support of big companies, and now they will come with the excuse that Splinterlands does not make money and Splinterlands does, that is where they are wrong, because if Splinterlands was such a superior project, the users would come alone, it is impossible that people do not want to earn money having fun and if money can be earned, logic says that the game is not attractive.
In your post more than a request for help, it seems a threat, literally between the lines I read "Either you support us, or I'll have to go to another platform...", it seems absurd and aggressive, but I also recognize that Hive is a platform of few users and little active, even those who no longer use Splinterlands know that a lot of movements are given through the game and that removing it from Hive is to cut a leg to Hive.
The migration does not benefit anyone, it is a gamble, maybe leaving to another platform everything will be better, you get investment and get more users, as they may remain stuck at the same point and lose users who do not know about the migration, what will they do? Ask people to make Tweets with a referral link?
The Gamer community is wide, but the one who knows it knows what a kickstar is, and knows that good games don't need 500.000 USD (Approximate) for their development, there are GOTY winning games that were developed with less than 40. 000, but I guess that for staff and others you will have your accounts, it would be good that at least you take the time to desglozar as they will invest that money, because you could easily take it invest 20% in the game and the rest invest it in a house with a pool for staff to go to relax, Is it the case? I do not think so but with your message is left to the interpretation of the user.
"Splinterlands is NOT fun" says who? Dancing is NOT fun... Drinking is NOT fun... Watching a movie is NOT fun... You might not like the game but it's actually fun for a lot of people. I, in fact, played Hearthstone at a high level for close to 10 years and I ditched it in favor of playing just Splinterlands. Different strokes for different folks...
It sounds generalist but it is not, if you are a regular player of Splinterlands is because you find it fun and that is fine, it is your opinion about the game; Venezuela is a baseball country, where all the stadiums of the country are constantly full because people find it fun, soccer instead has huge stadiums but the soccer community is not big, and for the rest of Venezuelans it is not fun. What is the point of building a 50,000 person stadium so that only 2000 people attend?.
If the Splinterlands player base is so poor, the question is not if it is fun for you who are part of it, it is if it is fun for those people who decide not to come in and play.
Well, playing web3 games in general is a niche in itself so it's normal that SPL's player base has a hard time growing just based on the fun factor. I've got more than 25 years of web2 gaming experience and I know that most of the "web2" gamers still won't touch a blockchain game with a 10-foot pole. That's an obstacle web3 gaming has yet to figure out how to overcome. Moreover, TCGs are a niche of their own as well - not really that mainstream in web2 either, so that also makes thing difficult but definitely not impossible. I truly think @yabapmatt has what it takes to elevate the game to the needed heights both in terms of gameplay and sustainability.
I strongly agree with you that Splinterlands is not fun. The new game Soulkeep pales in comparison to Crazy Defense Heroes (which also has crypto elements.)
The only people who find Splinterlands fun are people who have not played any other games or hope to derive ROI. (Which is probably still easier to do in Splinterlands.)
Remove the monetary value, who is left?
And, yea, some people will find any game fun, but there are niche indie games too, and I doubt the majority will find those games fun.
I'm more willing to play Magic the Gathering Arena without earning money than play Splinterlands (after rewards tanked.) And you can argue that it's play to earn too! Because it's theoretically possible to win USD.
Splinterlands as it remains is far too expensive compared to other alternatives. For a tier 1 competitive deck, it's far cheaper in other games. (Sure those games don't have renting, but renting is a copout.)
For Splinterlands to become fun, that would require several fundamental changes, some of which greatly dilute the value of holdings that people have.
I'll throw in one more competitor of the same genre: Teamfight Tactics.
As long as wallet beats skill, I don't think Splinterlands can see mass adoption especially because the cost is so high. But if skill surpasses wallet, then that means, everyone who hasn't sold tanks to near zero.
If anyone wants to make a serious argument to play Splinterlands over any of the competitive games listed, I'm all ears. The argument must not hinge on the possibility of making money.
You are wrong bro. Im a gamer and I can assure you splinterlands is fun.
Same as football is fun but american football is boring, same as how basketball is fun but car racing is boring.
Eveyone has personal opinions and interests but basing an economic decision on them is just dumb.
Here they are asking for 500K, the games are designed to be fun... If Splinterlands is for such a small community, fun is a determining factor.
I don't care if 10,000 regular users of the game come to tell me I'm wrong, I'm used to work and moderate large gaming communities; I really respect that there are people who enjoy Splinterlands, but I go a step further and talk about what the game has to do to get out of this absurd bubble of 50 people believing they are a crowd.
I hope this would pass. Matt has a clear vision for the future and Hive would definitely benefit if Splintelands succeed.
In order to survive Splinterlands needs some serious funding. This is a very modest ask, I think 3 million Hive would have been a good start... Obviously Matt knows better and I fully support his proposal.
You got my vote, Matt!
Supported proposal 315
What if you fail? Will you ask for another half million? Will you ditch hive anyways? Maybe we will get farming farm the sequel?
Failure is always a possibility, and I will not ask the Hive community for additional help if we fail to deliver this time, nor do I expect that such a request would be approved anyway. As for "ditching" hive, we have no plans to move off of Hive no matter what happens with this proposal, however if we're unable to support ourselves and need to sell the company or raise outside investment we may be forced to, which is what I am worried about.
Getting funding from the DHF reduces the chances that that will happen, but it still remains a risk. It is up to the Hive community if that is a risk they want to take.
Matt, with all due respect for what you´ve created, you´re way to much focused on a technically perfect product and you are neglecting basic business principles.
this proposal is the best proof for it. You´re trying to get money from the hive community because you´re so stuck in the vision of a technically perfect product.
Yes I agree. Hive is the best possible chain from a product and user perspective - and that makes it to the absolute worst chain for business.
There are multiple VCs that are not locked to certain chains and even those won´t invest into splinterlands. Because they put business first - and you can´t do good business on hive in the needed scale. The entire structure of it isn´t primed for that.
Take splinterlands off hive. Find someone to help you in the bussines managment tasks and that can help you identify the biggest synergy between a technically perfect product and a product that sells.
You´ve build argubly the best product in the play2earn ecospace. Now for the love of god go find a way to sell it.
You won´t be able to do that by getting money from hive, that is basically dependend on splinterlands, just to push more money into developing the technically perfect product. This circle isn´t the phonix rising, it´s the tombstone.
100% agree. Crypto money will never come to SPL if it stays on Hive, which at this point IS "SPL-chain".
So what's the goal? Staying on Hive as long as you can be sufficient? Or make the game successful?
Since I joined, I have always been convinced that SPL biggest issue was Hive. We even moved from a "free" bridge to a paying bridge. Now people pay a tax to Terablock if they want to bring money to the SPL ecosystem.
The reason SPL took-off is because of the SPS airdrop. The reason SPS gained value is that it had been released on BSC during the p2e craze. I would never have joined SPL if I knew that SPS being on BSC was only a marketing gimmick and that the game had extreme ties to Hive instead.
Sorry but you've got 16 Hive Power and you've been here since September 2021, almost 3 years at this point. You have a vote yes, but I don't really think your opinion of Hive can hold any water since clearly you're not invested in the chain at all.
Seems like the common "let's jump on an alt account to voice something I wouldn't say on my main".
Ah fair point, very likely! Cowards lol
You say Hive is SPL chain, but the SPL community is struggling to mobilize less than 10% of the existing stake for a vote. Math doesn't math.
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That most Splinterlands players don't invest in HIVE doesn't necessarily mean that HIVE isn't perceived as 'Splinterlands chain' from outside of the ecosystem.
One criteria could be who causes the majority of transactions on the HIVE blockchain.
Another would be to check if search engines like Google show more results concerning Splinterlands or HIVE.
Interesting would also be to compare the value of all assets (including their HIVE, but not only HIVE) in USD hold by Splinterlands players compared to the HIVE value in USD hold by non-Splinterlands players to decide which ecosystem is bigger altogether.
I think IF Splinterlands player would power down their SPS reserves to buy HIVE they would easily be able to let the proposal pass. If they will do that only time can tell (it lasts four weeks to power down 100 % of the SPS stake).
No idea about outside the ecosystem, but it's certainly perceived as such by some parts of the splinterlands community. That perception is flawed though. A bunch of custom_json transactions don't mean anything by any relevant measure.
Hive keeps working without splinterlands and/or hive-engine. If they want to split they would have to rewrite their whole systems though, and even if they could find funding for that there's still the issue of transaction fees on alternative chains.
IF splinterlands players would power down their SPS to invest into hive, that would crash the splinterlands economy, and send hive. There's not a lot of liquidity for either of them.
Sure, HIVE keeps working (and will do so), but also neither attracts much attention from outside nor really lots of new (longterm) users.
Well, there is nothing much to crash anymore. :)
However, the altogether value of SPS in USD still shouldn't be underestimated.
If more clever they should have started the conversion process of SPS into HIVE quite some time before launching the proposal to get a better price when selling it slowly.
... to heaven? :)
Yes, the liquity is so low that everbody who would buy huge amounts of HIVE within a short time span would increase the price significantly (and make the rich HIVE whales even richer).
I am personally rather neutral in this matter and have no clear opionion what might be best for Splinterlands. If Splinterlands won't get funded from HIVE but get real support from another chain, maybe it will be worth a try to change (before dying anyway). A successful Splinterlands on the otherside might be benefitial for HIVE, too (maybe should then stronger encourage their users to use HIVE also apart from playing Splinterlands only).
Hey @pharesim. What's your take on the proposal? What would it take to get you to support it?
A plan for the funds would be a good start.
And not just marketing - the game needs some serious improvements if they want to attract and, more importantly, hold users.
Some kickback to the DHF would help too.
I spent whole night reading comments and stuff related to it. I will observe this proposals progress from far. I am thankful to splinterlands for introducing me to hive. Especially clove71 :)
How about listening to bulldog advice and restructuring referral system? Splinterlands lost interest of creators like bulldog. Time to find a common ground. Splinterlands needs marketing while twitch streamers want better referral system. I feel sad seeing clove71 and bulldog not making much from their referrals although they did heavy lifting for onboarding on hive through splinterlands.
The game has been completely mismanaged for years, rather than directly ban bots you completely broke the game economy with poor decisions that forced people to leave. I personally think this should'nt pass with the current state of the game, no point throwing good money after bad. Its not like droves of people are coming to Hive for splinterlands anymore, 500k would be better spent(wisely) on marketing for Hive.
What were the recent mistakes and what have you learned from them?
This article does not at all give enough information to deserve funding. You are asking for a lot of money and anyone with a critical thought in their head would ask you to work much harder than this for funds.
What if you continue to fail after funding is approved and you move anyway? Can you give guarantees that won't happen?
This was addressed in the post in the "How we got here" section. Had we remained focused on Splinterlands and not building a million other products and conserved funds rather than spending them all under the assumption that a bull market would continue we would not be in this position right now.
That had been my (@yabapmatt) position all along, but I was not the CEO at the time and not in a position to make those decisions. Now that I am, I am doing what I can to turn things around and I will not make those mistakes.
We have been working hard for 6 years now, and I believe we have done quite a lot to benefit Hive over that time.
That is always a possibility, and no one can guarantee success. Obviously we have a higher chance of being successful here on Hive if we have additional funding, but it is up to the Hive stakeholders to decide if the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks.
As Hivers we are on the same boat. But why do I feel like this...
@yabapmatt Would it be possible to update this proposal with a break down of current operating costs and revenue of the company? So we can see just how bad/good thing are and gauge roughly how much would end up keeping splinterlands afloat and how much would actually get spent on marketing.
I'm a hive witness supporting the blockchain please consider voting for me.
I'm a gamer myself, I work on a gaming company (still working for that said company). If you are a player of the game you want your voice to be heard by the company. Some companies do not communicate back to their player base, IMHO because they only see the $ sign on the users. This is scary I saw a lot of games that has potential and pffff gone. A game is base on the community aka users aka gamers not the company. The company only provides what the community wants and the money will start flowing in. Game examples.. Getting over it, Hallow Knight, Among us, Jump King etc. There are tons of games out there that is fun because that's the users wants to play. I want to try Splinterlands but I'm not in the card game (I played Yugi Oh Pentium era 🤣). I can support the game by buying lands and cards in that way I can get my investments back. With that said Splinterlands has value in the community and in the Hive blockchain. As a gamer we want the game to be better for us not for the company who created it. If this was done everything everything else will follow. You have my support @yabapmatt
The daily HDF budget is 230,572.290 HBD, which means this proposal is asking for only a small fraction of that and people are acting like it's a huge ask. Splinterlands is one of the biggest things Hive has going for it at this point. This seems like an easy decision, but what do I know?