Building better Play to Earn (P2E) games?

If we are going to understand what takes, make play to earn game good. We need some examples of P2E games currently on the market. All of these games require some level of spending if you want to get the most money out of the game.

You need a core loop

Gods Unchained has a core loop that is supposed to work like this. It comes with starter cards for free, but you probably want to purchase some cards from previously release sets for the best start.

1. Play games
2. Unlock Core Set cards from leveling up and flux for fusing cards.
3. Fuse unneeded duplicates cards to make them sellable.
4. Sell those cards.
5. Buy cards
6. Repeat

There is also a weekend ranked event where you can earn more packs for free if you perform well. I'll talk more about this later.

Axie Infinity core loop is much the same as the other two games. After you purchase your first three Axie.

1. Play games
2. Earn Smooth Love Potions (SLP)
3. Trade/Buy breeding tokens (AXS)
4. Breed new Axie
5. Sell unneeded Axie
6. Repeat

There is of course rank battles and daily quests that you can use to increase SLP earnings.

Splinterlands has a core loop that looks something like this. After you buy your spellbook.

1. Play games
2. Earn Dark Energy Crystals (DEC)
3. Buy cards
4. Repeat

But that is only the basic loop. It was one more added feature that in that loop. Daily quests, complete 5 wins with a specific splinter or creature ability and a third incentive currently in the form of the Splinterlands Shards (SPS) airdrop for approximately the next year.

Problems with the current P2E loops.

Gods Unchained's core loop is broken until Immutable re-enables the forge, its core loop is not real. So this what the actual loop is right now.

1. Play Weekend Rank games
2. Win some of your first 25 games.
3. Get packs from the current/future card set.
4. If future set wait to receive packs.
5. Sell those cards you don't need.
6. Buy cards
7. Repeat

Again, this loop can break down if a new set is not currently available.

Axie Infinity's core loop promotes having player's from less wealthy parts of the world signing up for scholarship where they are farming SLP and breed Axie for a portion of those assets.

I'm not saying they are being exploited YET, but it does appear that the scholarship deal is getting worse and worse with every iteration.

Splinterlands's core loop seems to be the shining beacon in the space. It is highly developed with advanced feature like rentals that help newcomers deal with not having the cards that they need to win in even the lower tiers at times.

Rentals reduce the card available to purchase. That leads to early players holding on to cards they previously wouldn't have. Prices go higher, meaning more people start to hoard them and making them basically unavailable to new players even at rental prices.

This is the end

All of these games come with the basic underlying principle that players early to the game will simply have advantage of assets others can't get anymore.

We need to reduce:

• the chances of people being exploited
• the hoarding of assets
• ensure that the loop doesn't break.

What else is wrong with the current state of P2E? How else can we make it better? Any good ideas of how to build a better, stronger system?