Soulbound Rewards: My Compromise Solution

This post is meant for discussion and as a framework to try to find a solution. IT IS NOT A PRE-PROPOSAL. All proceeds from the post will go to the Hive account@sps.dao.

---

Finding a solution to Soulbound rewards is very important. Right now we've approved the unlocking for "land use" only. I've listened to many arguments on this and realize that it will take a compromise to pass a "full unlocking". I'm attempting to find that compromise solution.

---

"Permanent Soulbound": vs "Unlocking"

There are people on both sides of this issue, but whatever we do, we need to make sure that new players can obtain these cards. Failure to do so will be a great hindrance for any new player and kill our new player experience.

Choices:
A) keep the cards permanently soulbound, but give future players the right to buy them from the game in some way.
B) unlock them for a fee so they can be traded, bought/sold, and rented.

Concerns:
A) costs to the players vs. ability for players to monetize the cards
B) economic impact to the whole ecosystem
C) ability to attract future players
D) extra soulbound cards have no value above Max unless they are unlocked
E) a limit on the time to act so that the cards have collector value in the future

What we know:
A) it cost 2x DEC burn value to unlock for land. 1/2 of the cost can use vouchers at the rate of 200 DEC/voucher. There's no agreement for full unlocking.
B) Hive account@yabapmatt has said that 4x DEC burn (with 1/2 in vouchers) is the "minimum cost to make sense economically".
C) a high % of the people want them unlocked (vs. soulbound forever), but disagree widely on the cost. The range is primarily between 2x DEC burn vs 5x DEC burn - with 1/2 in vouchers for both.
D) the proponents of "soulbound forever" largely want to make sure that they can do something with their extras, and others also want to make sure the new players can get access to these cards somehow in the future (if we don't unlock at all).

---

My compromise solution is taking into account all the arguments I've heard. Of course not everyone is going to get what they want, but our failure to act will create a scenario where all sides will be unhappy and future players will get discouraged because they lack the ability to compete against these strong cards.

My "Compromise Solution"

Part 1 - The cost to fully unlock is the 4x DEC burn with 1/2 in vouchers at the rate of 200 DEC per voucher.

Reason: this is the minimum of what Hive account@yabapmatt would charge if he didn't see our opinions.

Part 2 - We use a time window to give a "pre-print run ending" discount to those seeking lower costs to unlock. For 30 days prior to the set finishing printing, each player can prepare and pay a discounted 3x DEC burn (1/2 in vouchers).

Reason: this is a fair concession to those that wanted cards cheaper and gives them 30 days and ample notification to prepare. Also by limiting the time to 30 days, it will also limit the number of cheaper cards released, and thus be less of a drag on the economy.

Part 3 - On the day the print run is finished, then the cards will be able to be unlocked at the regular 4x rate (see part 1) for 1 full year. After this time has passed, NO further soulbound cards can be unlocked in any way for any reason.

Reason: This will give surety to the process and enable everyone to make choices within a reasonable time frame.

Part 4 - Suggested by Hive account@yapabmatt, SPL creates a special benefit for burning any regular foil or gold foil cards beyond max level. This process would only apply to cards above full max, and would only be available until the the cards go out of print. The benefit would be left up to the SPL team to decide and implement, and would be subject to the Dev capability to program and release.

Reason: This will create a fun template for not only this set, but for future soulbound sets to handle the excess amounts printed for each account. Players would still be incentivized to earn cards above the max level.

---

Summation:

I ask everyone to recognize that no one is going to get what they want. Both large and small players alike.

We are not going to get a 2x solution.
We are not going to get a pure 5x solution either.

So if you dig in and throw salt, all you are doing is creating an environment where nothing happens and the cards stay soulbound forever.

We need to be responsible. We need to consider the impact to the future of our game. New players will need to get these cards, so that has to be our number one goal. If we fail to deliver a "deal", then we - the community - will be responsible for contributing even further to a horrible new player experience.

In order to grow we need new players, so lets do our part and work towards solutions we can control. And this is a big issue to solve.

---

Please let me know in the comment section if you can support this compromise (or not). If you want to give input and be part of the process of negotiating, let me know that too. I want a solution, I think we all should. So lets work together and find something that will pass with 2/3rds majority.

---