In May of 2015 I signed up for Givling, a new trivia game promising to pay student debt. I don't expect a game to pay my debt, but I found the trivia really challenging so I signed up. I became the proud owner of spot #2061 out of over 79,000 total people in the queue.
I guess I'm lucky potentially lucky! And apparently I will soon be able to put my queue spot on a marketplace to sell it! I'm not sure if I will, but it's pleasing to know that there is potential value in a queue spot.
Logging in
The UI of the site is extremely simple which is nice. However, it isn't easy finding stats on how many accounts exist, or easy to read queue statistics. Minimalism can be a double-edged sword.
I'd like to know more about where I really exist in the somewhat complex structure that Givling uses to assign the current full queue.
But fun things first, let's play a game!
A Trivia Round With Givling
When you press "Start" you are taken to a multiplayer lobby where you are paired with two competitors/teammates. The dynamic is interesting, you are competing for rewards against your teammates while your team's overall score could lead to big prizes.
Once the sessions is synchronized the game starts and a question will be presented to you for 10 seconds. If you do not answer within 10 seconds it is considered an incorrect answer and you receive a strike. Three strikes will end the string of trivia questions and the game round.
Not every question is a brain buster, but most are. Not this one.
Since you only have 10 seconds to answer the questions I didn't screenshot further questions. But upon the close of the round, you are presented with the following screen as a recap of the game:
As you can see, that wasn't my best round, but I've had some pretty good streaks before!
The Queue
The current queue shows the mixture of three groups:
Three slots are reserved for people in the sequential queue based on the date they signed up. For example, I was #2061 to sign up for Givling, so sequentially that is when I will automatically be eligible to enter the queue.
Three slots are reserved for the top funders. These are people who play a lot of rounds with coins they buy, which funds the student loan payment pool. When a spot opens up on the live queue, funders have an opportunity to buy coins and become top funder, thereby securing their spot.
Four slots are reserved for random drawings based on a credit system, called Queue Entry Points. You can collect these by watching full ads through the app or on desktop. There are other opportunities to earn Queue Points as well, and these typically involve performing some digital action with the advertised content, from clicking to signing up. In one instance, I saw that you could earn a LOT of QP by building up a fortress to level 10 on Final Fantasy something or another. Good demo targeting.
Coins are a pricey .50 cents USD, and unless you are buying in bulk you can expect to tack on up to .30 cents per coin on your purchase.
Is there A Blockchain Application Here?
For over two years I have seen Givling stay in the media, continuing to fund student loan debt through a trivia-based game. I think it's very good work to be doing and it makes me wonder how Blockchain technology could help drive this to wider adoption.
Could we see a platform designed to tackle the student debt problem that uses a game as the funding vehicle? We know that projects like Digibyte Gaming Hub have found success, while platforms like Mobilego are also staking claims.
It isn't impossible to imagine a crypto meant to reduce the student loan burden on our younger generation, but I think it would need more than just a game. Perhaps a jobs marketplace where graduates could market their skills or desire for internships to the relevant industries. It's one thing to try and eradicate student debt, but it's a whole different beast to do that while trying to connect employer to employee.
I think it's worth considering, if only because I have a lot of student debt.
