This week, Land is the topic in the Community Challenge in Splinterlands. So these are my personal thoughts along with how I'm playing it.
My Land History!
When the Prefix bonus (or penalty for those who don't own land) was introduced, I went ahead buying the 2 cheapest plots of land I could find just to get the +5% bonus on each and every ranked win. I think I paid around 10$ for each of those 2 plots which surprisingly is even less than what they go for right now. The reasoning was that the bonus would be worth the cost which hopefully one day I could recover.
While the prefix bonus is kind of nice, it also showcases one of the core issues of Splinterlands in that the game just remand more and more and more money to be invested for returns that only really have gone down over time.
How I Play My Land!
For a long time I didn't even bother bot set up my land as it didn't feel worth the time and hassle. Evenually I filled my 3 plots with some cards that I rarely to never use, put 100k DEC into it while I did own some totems and the Power cores. It took some help from a guild member to get me started with some grain and now I I pretty much just claim my 'earnings' once each week on Monday and that is about it. Initially I did the claim in the Splinterlands website which is just a horrible experience as you have to do it manually for each plot always browsing multiple pages back and forth to get it done. However, I discovered that peakmosters also allowed Land Management on their site which is way more convenient as it's a 1-click solution.
Cards Locked on My Land
These are the cards that I have locked on my land which are all ones I never ever use and most of them also are underleveled as I don't care about the entire land game.
How I Play My Land is that once a Week, I go To Peakmonsters and Click The Claim Button and that's as far as I go!
How Much Land Earns!
As someone who likes to keep track of the numbers, I also keep data on how much I'm actually earning each week from my land plots.
So far, I never sold any of the Grain I'm producing which in total adds up to 8239 DEC or 6.6$ since I started around 40 weeks ago.
As many things in Splinterlands, the only value it has is "promised future use case" so it tends to get sold off with the price going down week after week after week. Looking at it now, I will probably selling myself to cover the tax on Wild League.
Thoughts on Land!
To be bluntly honest, Land for me has always been a Cash Grab from the devs at the start of the previous bull run when Splinterlands was hot and Metaverse Land was the main hype. The idea that was sold is for it to be a completely separate Civilisation-Type game that was going to give old cards an extra use case by allowing owners to mint packs with Items and Spells which were going to make the cards game more interesting. However, along the way as land plots were going for 500$+ they started introducing extra costs like the need to also Stake DEC on top of owning the cards, the need for a Power Core, Time Crystals, ... which all just took away value from the land and the cards. On top of this, since all the money from the pre-sale was already earned, the motivation to actually develop land was no longer there as they focused on other things that could bring in more money to cover the high developer salaries. All of this has gotten Splinterlands in a bad spot where even big land owners say that they are better off just skipping land for now or giving it an easy use case instead of throwing more money at it from the DAO to get something going. Mostly because land won't bring in new players.
Future Land Outlook!
I was against giving 200k from the DAO for land to be further developed mainly because I don't see it as a priority or a solution to get new players is. I also believe the spells and items won't actually be worth that much since they will go at a price based on supply and demand. Since demand mostly is driven by the earning potential and players already need Modern Cards who are expected to go down in value once they get into wild along with SPS that needs to be staked, it's going to be another cost that likely many won't be willing to make. So I see Land as one of the many sins from the past that need to be fixed before Splinterlands actually can grow and get back on track.
Land Solutions!
The way I would solve the land issue right now would be to implement an instant easy use case. Make a new game mode where everyone plays on a level playing field with a fee to enter which indirectly acts as the cost to buy packs which can be won. Players can provide the cards used in this game mode by simply locking them on land and no further bullshit requirement like DEC or power cores. Part of the entry fee would be given out as rental earnings to players who lock their cards on land. If things ever go better, the full land game can be developed.
Conclusion
The only reason I hold 5 plots of land is because it gives the +5% ranked battle bonus and the way I play it is by just taking 2 minutes each week to click and claim the grain that I'm earning. It simply is not my style of game and I see the entire thing as one of the sins from the past where it was an easy cash grab with only future promise behind it which never were realised.
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