Your Role in the Splinterlands Ecosystem May Change
It always seems like there are only two polarized sides to an argument, country, market, and just about anything in life. It's easy to pick a side, but tougher to be syncretic in approach and see the opportunities. Purity is a virtue and Pride is a vice, these two often intermingle and the result you get is called 2022. In Splinterlands, just like in other parts of real life, this exists and it dominates the discourse. Rather than be a part of Team FOMO (hyperbulls/shills) or Team FUD (hyperbears/whiners/emotionally stunted adults), maybe it is a good opportunity to reassess things and your relationship with this ecosystem.
The Era of Rent and Spam is Over
It was fun to have multiple accounts and farm rewards. It was a good time. Just like the SPS Airdrop ending, the punch bowl has run dry here. If you did not take advantage of this era, you blew it. It was one of the biggest windows of opportunity for accruing assets in the history of Splinterlands.
Incomplete decks used to be filled in quite inexpensively during the New Era of Rewards (After May 30, 2022) and entire decks were built of rental cards.
Now, the rental market has been halved in card volume. Some ecosystem participants are putting higher rents out there to make up for the longer rental period and are eager to cancel rents to see how high they can go. Other ecosystem participants stopped renting as many cards or stopped entirely to put their cards to work in an environment where they needed to use all of their cards.
In the old era, there was seasonal timing. Now, in this new era, the urgency is all of the time.
The False Choice
The False Choice presented by influencers who are not actually being helpful and have done nothing to cause spellbook sales to improve can be boiled down to this:
Buy Chaos Legion Packs or Sell Your Assets and Leave the Game
This is the messaging, you know this is the messaging. This is about as terrible of a message that can be sent to those in the stagnating, win trading bot-infested ecosystem.
It's a point of ideological purity and it is weird, even downright cultish. You know it is out there and it's a false choice that actually dismisses the dynamism of Splinterlands. Quitting and liquidating is not appropriate option for anyone who does not have the same view as these influencers or does not want to play the game anymore for various reasons.
Do you hear @aggroed or @yabapmatt make such points in Town Halls or any sort of public statements? No, in fact, just the opposite. But community members with loud megaphones have run off the rails.
It's not bringing new eyeballs and money into this environment. Not everyone should be playing the game. However, everyone should find a way to be involved and get their slice of this delicious pie called Splinterlands.
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Making a Shift
- What's your winning percentage in Ranked Rewards action?
- How many loot chests were you receiving before the changes on July 21 and after the changes on July 21?
- How reliant are you on the cards that you own?
- How much did you rent per day before and after the changes on July 21?
- Do you play in tournaments on a daily basis? How do you perform in them?
- Do you rent heavily for brawls?
- Is the time and effort put into playing the game worth the rewards?
- Do you experience burnout playing the game?
- How many matches do you play?
These are questions that may seem simple, but if you are breaking even on a daily basis while still earning cards and maintaining your sanity and not compromising your daily schedule, you would be inclined to continue. However, if you find yourself falling behind or it is not feasible, you may be wondering what to do next.
Ways to Stay Afloat and Continue Playing
1. Rent the Cards You Don't Use
It sounds simple, but this will defray costs and hopefully put you in a place where revenues come closer to expenses. Get a sense of how much you can get in total per day from rentals by just putting in your username at Splex. Check out the marketplace in PeakMonsters as well to get an idea of how much it would end up being if you rented out a desired portion of your collection.
2. Drop down a level.
Maybe Gold or Diamond is too rich for your blood to keep up. Drop down and expenses will fall, the rewards will not be as good, but the expenses could now be higher than rewards. It's worth figuring out.
3. Sell an expensive asset to fill card collection gaps.
It's possible that your collection is uneven and by selling off an expensive asset to purchase multiple cards, you may not have to rent as much or at all.
4. Put up posts that will get upvotes from @SteemMonsters.
Post positive things about Splinterlands and eventually they'll give you an upvote worth $30. That will go a long way.
There are other ways to get the most out of Splinterlands
Maybe you are not winning 60% of the time...
Maybe you don't have the time to play...
Maybe the alternatives don't go far enough...
That's okay. Don't just give up on Splinterlands because playing is not exactly viable.
You likely have assets. Put them to work.
1. Rent out your collection
Get a stream of DEC coming into your account. You can use the DEC for all sorts of things. Buy cards, convert to SPS or a Hive Engine token of your choosing, accumulate enough to buy land or purchase packs. Whatever you want to do, you can make it happen with this passive DEC source.
2. SPS Staking
In the future, you will have the ability to stake players in the ecosystem. This is an opportunity to put that SPS to work and let some of the best players earn for you. Create a portfolio of players and generate returns.
3. Sell off assets to buy a license node
This will require a bit more of an investment than the previous three, but it may be worth it if you believe in Splinterlands and just don't see much value in playing from your position.
It's an opportunity to earn SPS and enjoy the appreciation of the game.
4. Flip Cards
Buy low, sell high is the name of the game and by flipping cards, you'll be able to earn revenue on card appreciation. Use a few cards as a start to build your way up. You can even create a bot for the purposes of buying and selling. It's up to you.
5. Purchase Land
The vision of land is to be able to give landowners the ability to do the following:
- Craft items and spells for match enhancement as part of a second round of the match. These items and spells can be sold on the secondary market.
- Renting out plots and subplots of land for other players.
- Metaverse concepts like building subdivisions and apartments (imagine Zintar Mortalis telling you that rent is due).
6. Playing the Hive Engine Token Markets
Yes, be a trader in the Hive Engine Token Markets. Trade tokens for the intent of turning a profit. Buy and sell tokenized packs and tokens of all kinds.
7. Create a project that leverages Splinterlands
Archmage, Splex.gg, Splinterboard, SummonerLab, Peakmonsters, MonsterMarket and Splintertools are all projects that use the Splinterlands API. Create something that interacts with Splinterlands and then put out on the market for all to use.
8. Create tournaments
Want to promote a service or product? Maybe you want to just make a profit on organizing a tournament? You can do these things with Splinterlands and not have to play the game. Host a tournament and then multistream it on YouTube, Twitch, and other platforms. Put highlights up on social media.
9. Join a Liquidity Pool
Putting SPS or DEC into a Liquidity Pool will yield returns on the amount you put into the pools.
All of these methods of revenue generation can be combined so that an individual or company can become involved in Splinterlands without playing a single match.
10. Affiliate Marketing
Effectively sell the ecosystem. Don't put up lore or instruction manuals. Sell the ecosystem to those outside of this community.
It's an opportunity to get 5% of their transactions. Create a website, social media networks, videos, and more. Highlight the environment and the opportunities.
Don't necessarily make it all about Splinterlands. Make it about something adjacent to it because the objective is to not sell to the already sold and entrenched choir.
Final Thought
Source of Jerry Springer's Final Thought Image
Splinterlands is a dynamic environment with different ways to participate that go beyond playing the game. An all-or-nothing attitude about how to interact with this environment is unhealthy and unhelpful. There's no one right way to do Splinterlands and anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool. It is important to inform ecosystem participants of their full array of options.
Those complaining and engaging in theatrics are handling themselves in a poor and embarrassing fashion. It disregards the possibilities that are around them. Splinterlands is OUR ecosystem and making financial decisions and accommodations with the understanding of the full vision is imperative.
Those who are upset over the following changes:
- ECR burn rate below 50%.
- Rental market shifts.
- New Rewards adjustments.
The time is now to make an adjustment. Most players are not like you, in fact, most players are actually win trading bots. Explore the options that work best for you.
It's time to stop looking at Splinterlands as just a game. It's so much more.
