I never thought it would happen.
I haven't even finished in the top 4 previously, but for the first time ever and after playing for a few years now, I topped a Splinterlands tournament. Granted, it was a Bronze level tournament with gold foil cards, and there were only 24 players competing....
... but still!
For this amazing feat of skill and dexterity, I earned 189.3 SPS, which at the current market rate of $0.0085, comes in at a hefty $1.60. I am not sure what I will do with all of that, as there are so many places I could use. Oh, and I should also subtract the 75 DEC entry fee, which was about 6 cents.
It really isn't about the winnings though, and it is about being able to say that at least once in my life, I topped a Splinterlands tournament. Never underestimate "bragging rights" as a reason to do something. It is part of the reason I am bullish on Bitcoin going to insane heights, because at some point, the supply on the exchanges will be low, and the demand for people to say "I own one Bitcoin" will be high.
Who needs a Lamborghini when living in the middle of an urban metropolis?
A lot of Splinterlands success is based on bragging rights in some form or another, where a lot of the people who hold certain cards do so because they want to say that they have it. For instance, I have one of the few gold Epona. There are only 50 printed, and after combines, 29 cards - I should have sold it.
Anyone interested?
Because all the important details are tracked, there are many possible points to brag upon. I wish there was more visibility into the gaming stats, because I reckon having stat tables like a lot of the FPS games have that span across the space of years, would be highly addictive. Combine it with earning stats that are recorded and comparable across the game, coupled with Hive posts, articles and interactions, and it could create quite a lot of publicity within the community, and much needed visibility externally. Quality and enduring statistics on gameplay should be very high on the development list, because that is one of the most compelling parts for many in digital gaming, especially for strategy and stat-based games like Splinterlands.
It makes it much stickier.
So much of the "stickiness" of Splinterlands relies on the economics of it. But I believe that in order for it to be truly successful, more emphasis needs to be put on the gameplay attractors. This isn't in cut screens and graphics, as much as it is in how a player interacts with the game itself and, what the player extracts. The monetary value, especially in the bear times, might be pretty insignificant, but if playing the game to drive the numbers like win percentage drive talking about the game, and interacting with other players, the game becomes content rich, engagement rich and very sticky, because people feel part of the community itself. Use the voting power of the Splinterlands account and community to reward engaging content and this drives another patch of sticky.
Don't underestimate bragging right.
Or the desires in those who are unable to brag.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]