Yeah, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now and this State of The DAPPS user activity shows a constant decline over the last 30 days.
Yes, we are bleeding and the wound hasn't been hemorrhaged.
And the last 6 months developing automated tournaments, has barely made a bump on the graph. In fact, that last major bump on the chart is the normal one we see at the end of every season, but even this bump is smaller than we've ever seen.
The fact, is we are bleeding out, and nobody wants to face the facts.
So how can we stop Steem Monsters from dying?
Well, there is talk about introducing an in-game currency called Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) that'll let you do all sorts of amazing things (apparently).
Then there are promises of card delegation (finally).
And of course the lure of greater Tournament Prize pools (when the sponsors discover us).
But I can't see how this changes anything.
People have stopped playing and chatting about Steem Monsters like they use to do.
Just check out the discord.
There was a time where it was so busy you could barely keep up with the chat. And now you can leave it for hours and still not miss anything by scrolling up one page.
So what will change this momentum?
We'll if we turn back the clock you'll see Steem Monsters was pumping when you could earn boosters as rewards for seasons and quests.
And sure a few boosters are being dangled for end of season rewards now, but I've tried to reach the Top 50 and it's a goal that seems unreachable with a reasonable amount of game play. So I don't bother and suspect many others won't either.
But it was a step in the right direction, and finding a way to reward people with Beta Packs again could be the momentum shift we require.
After all we still have around 400K packs remaining, and at the rate they are selling it'll be next year before they are all gone.
So the simple solution is to bring back Beta Booster Rewards for Quests, but not for the lowest levels where the bots operate, maybe for Gold, Diamond, Champion as a start and see how that goes.
The word on the street is the DEC will enable you to buy Boosters with DEC you've earned but how long will we have to wait for this to be implemented?
It makes more sense to stem the blood flow now, create a bit more of a buzz around the game. Get people playing again, and then make the transition to DEC with some serious momentum.
And giving away Beta Booster Packs is one way to do this.
Oh, and for the people in the community that suggest giving away Beta Boosters is a bad idea because it'll reduce the card value, they just haven't tried to sell cards on the market lately. It's almost dead too.
Plus, card delegations is totally going to kill the marketplace too. I'm just hoping we find some momentum again before it's implemented.
Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.