Let me tell you a little story...
Recently, I introduced my little brother to the amazing game of Splinterlands. Not only is this a opportunity for him to get involved in the wonderful game, but it will also introduce him to the marvelous Hive community and #play2earn in general. And I got to thinking...rather than just impart all of this knowledge to him through emails, I would post them for other complete newbies to learn from so they can get up and running themselves. And just to make this for everyone, I will start from the standpoint of not having Hive account or ever playing Splinterlands before.
With that said, since I will start from the beginning, some of this information will be super simplified...but remember, I am talking to complete newbies. If you have already completed any of these steps, just skip over them and proceed to the next one.
Obtain a HIVE Account
One would naturally assume since you are reading this, you probably already have a HIVE account. However, just because this post is on the HIVE blockchain does not mean you already have one. Therefore, we will start there. If you are going to play Splinterlands, you must have a HIVE account. If you don't have one, you can get it HERE. When you click that link you will get s screen that look like this:
There are three things to note here:
- You must have a unique username. This is your identity (how people will come to know you) and you cannot change it in the future so consider what you want to be known by before you begin.
- Once you create your account, you will get your Keys. IT IS CRITICAL YOU SAVE THESE SOMEWHERE SAFE. If you lose you account Keys, they cannot be sent to you again. The HIVE blockchain is decentralized and is owned by nobody. Therefore, there is nobody to keep up with that information for you. Only you will receive this information. I actually keep more than one copy of my key (in places only I have access to) in case I lose one.
- There are several ways to acquire a HIVE account. Some have fees attached and others do not. This is one of the ways to obtain an account at no cost. However, you will have to verify you are a real person by providing a cell phone number to respond with the code you are sent.
Once you finish creating your HIVE account, we will move on to getting an account to actually play the game. But one thing you should know is that you have now opened yourself up to the world of earning free cryptocurrency (more on that later).
Install Hive Keychain
If you were like me, when you saw the Keys you need to access your HIVE account, you said, "There's no stinkin' way I'm going to remember THAT password." What you probably don't know is there there are FOUR passwords tied to your HIVE account. WHAT?!?!? Well, my friend, you are in luck because there is a browser extension (or mobile app) you can install that will hold all of that information for you. It's called Hive Keychain and it's free. You can get it by going HERE and following the instructions.
Signup for a Splinterlands Account
You must be saying to yourself, "I though you were going to show me how to get started playing Splinterlands!" Well, we are now to that point. You can get to the Splinterlands game HERE. When you go there, you will see a screen that looks like this:
When you get there, click on the "PLAY NOW" button. When you do, you will see a login screen that looks like this:
Remember the HIVE username you created in the first step? Type it in the USERNAME field and click the "Log in with KEYCHAIN" button below it. When you do, a small box will pop up that looks something like this:
You will now need to type in the password you created for your Hive Keychain you just installed and click the "UNLOCK" button.
If all goes correctly, you should now be logged into the game and should once again see the "PLAY NOW" button. However, what is below it has now changed. If you scroll down a bit you should see this:
Spellbook or No Spellbook?
At this point you have to ask yourself, "Am I ready to 'buy' this game?" If not, and you just want to kick the tires and see how it drives, that is entirely up to you. Play as long as you want. However, you will not be able to earn any rewards until you acquire a Spellbook. No credits. No DEC. No cards. Nothing. So if you just want to play the game, knock yourself out.
But if you want to start to experience the whole #play2earn phenomenon, you will need to come up worth $10 worth of crypto to make the purchase (or, you can use a PayPal account).
Either way, enjoy the game and let me know how you like it. Oh, and if here is anything you didn't understand in this primer or anything you think needs to be added, please leave me a comment below. Also, I am trying to decide what the next volume should cover. If you are a newbie and have any questions you want answered, leave me a comment below. Thank you for your attention and I will see you in Splinterlands.
To learn more, you can read the next post in this series.