Splinterlands has wasted no time in implementing its new governance system. After a test vote to make sure the system works and to see the turnout, the Splinterlands team is ready to move forward with the first vote that will affect Splinterlands’ gameplay. This particular vote involves an overhaul of how SPS rewards are distributed, and it has already created some controversy!
DAOs and governance systems have been a hot topic in blockchain gaming for some time. But, with a few exceptions, like Gray Boys and Uplift World, we haven’t seen much real governance going on. Splinterlands seems to be bucking that trend, introducing its first game proposal since the initial system launched last week.
This particular proposal deals with the distribution of SPS rewards in ranked battles. In a nutshell, the proposal suggests moving the bulk of the rewards to the higher ranks, instead of a large pool of SPS tokens that everyone shares…
Governance Proposal – Dividing Reward Pools by League
And while the proposal currently passes with 85% of the vote, there are concerns that this change will only make the rich richer. Reaching the Diamond and Champion ranks is already a paying experience. You’re not even allowed to play in Diamond League unless your collecting power is over 250,000, which equals about $6400 worth of cards!
They are now offering to give 30% of the total SPS rewards to the highest ranks. A group that only includes a few hundred players! The higher ranks already have larger shares of rewards, as well as better bonuses for those rewards. But giving 1/3 of the total offer to a small group of players seems like a step too far.
The Splinterlands team has stated that they are willing to adjust the numbers in the future, but will it take another proposal and another vote to make this change?
The reason for this proposal has to do with the bots in the lower levels. Apparently, it is still viable to create bots farms with minimal card selection that play at Bronze level and earn SPS rewards. Now, I can certainly understand the desire to curb this activity. But, as some people have pointed out, you are also creating a disastrous situation for new players. New players will not have collections that allow them to access gold and higher levels. Instead, they will be playing at the Bronze rank, with a simplified and watered down game (due to level restrictions and no special combat rules),
And of course you want these players to level up and start playing in higher leagues, but if their initial experience is bad, they won’t stick around as long. Splinterlands has already seen a significant drop in active players and the number of battles fought over the past six months. Can it handle losing even more players? You can read the full proposal on the official blog site. Voting is done in-game on the SPS management page. Voting for this proposal ends on September 5.
What is Splinterlands?
Splinterlands is a trading card game running on the Hive blockchain. The game is played in a browser. And thanks to the cross-chain functionality, cards and tokens can also be traded on the Ethereum and Wax blockchains. Splinterlands has a governance token, called SPS.
Splinterlands is a cross between a card-building game and an auto-battle game. Players use their cards to build a combat team based on the rules of the game. Then, once both sides have submitted their teams, the cards run in auto-combat mode until only one team remains. Players earn rewards for winning matches, and can also earn additional rewards through daily quests, seasonal rewards, and a recurring two-week ranking contest.
Players combine cards to level them up for better stats and additional abilities. This makes all cards deflationary, with fewer and fewer cards existing over time. Cards come in both normal and rarer, gold-foil versions. Splinterlands has its own in-game marketplace and allows you to buy, sell and even rent cards!
