HiveGrove, New Connections, and the Future of Gaming on Hive

curamax(80)

Published in

#hivegrove

Words

928

Reading

5 min

Listen

Play

19h

I was supposed to make a food post today, but I figured I’d write about something completely different. My post for today was inspired by an interaction I had earlier with several HiveGrove players at the Campfire chat.

Before I get into what happened, I just want to commend the developer of HiveGrove for creating something that feels different from the usual chat or short-form blogging experience.

I actually like how dynamic the Campfire feels. Conversations move around depending on the activity, and the person who started a chat can keep bumping it up to bring it back to everyone’s attention. It creates this feeling that discussions are constantly alive instead of simply disappearing down a feed.

For me, it’s refreshing to see developers on Hive experiment with something different instead of simply copying what is already popular elsewhere.

Anyway, going back to what happened earlier.

There was a relatively new HiveGrove player who became the subject of some suspicion from another player. I could understand why. The account didn’t have a profile photo, there was no bio, there were no posts on PeakD, and the account only had around 10 HP.

If you’ve been on Hive for a long time, those things naturally make you a little cautious.

I decided to chat with the low-HP user anyway.

During our conversation, he mentioned that he couldn’t reply very often because his Resource Credits were limited. Since I have plenty of unused RC, I decided to delegate around 100 HP worth of RC to his account so he could participate more freely.

He explained that he had been playing both Splinterlands and HiveGrove. Splinterlands apparently doesn’t consume much RC for what he does there, while HiveGrove can become quite RC-intensive when you only have around 10 HP and you’re actively interacting with other players.

Shortly after that, another HiveGrove player warned me that I should be careful about accounts I delegate to.

And what did I do after receiving that warning?

I immediately went back to the low-HP user and bluntly asked him whether he was a fake account.

LOL!

Instead of turning into an uncomfortable situation, that question somehow started a very long conversation.

The experienced Hive user joined in, the low-HP player explained his side, and eventually other players joined the discussion as well.

After chatting for quite some time, the conversation moved away from whether someone was real or fake. We started talking about our jobs, what we do in real life, our journeys on Hive, and why some of them are mostly focused on gaming instead of blogging nowadays.

It was actually a very pleasant conversation considering that most of us were basically talking to each other for the first time.

And I think that’s one of the beautiful things about Hive.

Gaming Can Be Another Gateway Into Hive

We often think of Hive as a blogging platform because that’s where many of us started.

But not everyone who comes to Hive has to become a blogger.

Some people might discover Hive because of Splinterlands. Others might join because of HiveGrove, another game, or some future dApp that hasn’t even been created yet.

And that’s perfectly fine.

Gaming can become a gateway into the wider Hive ecosystem.

A person may initially create a Hive account just to play a game. Eventually, they might start chatting with other players, following people, commenting, learning about Hive Power, participating in communities, or maybe even creating their first post.

That’s why I believe gaming has an important role in Hive’s future.

The game attracts the player, but the community gives them a reason to stay.

More Than Just Games

What happened at the Campfire today was a very small event.

There was no major announcement, no new exchange listing, and no groundbreaking development.

It was simply a group of people having a conversation.

But somehow, strangers became familiar with each other.

By the end of our chat, I already felt comfortable interacting with them. I followed their accounts afterward, and I’d like to think that I gained a few new Hive friends today.

For me, that is what Hive is really good at.

It connects people from completely different walks of life without caring much about where they come from, what they do for work, or how much Hive Power they have.

And I hope future Hive games continue building around this social aspect instead of treating gaming and community as two completely separate things.

The more games, apps, communities, and ways to interact we create, the more opportunities people will have to find their own little place within Hive.

Some will be bloggers.

Some will be curators.

Some will be developers.

And some will simply be gamers hanging around a virtual campfire chatting with their friends.

There should be room for everyone.

Today’s interaction might have been a minor moment on Hive, but it gave me another reason to feel optimistic about the future of this platform.

Hive has become a good place for me, and I hope more people will eventually come here and find their own reason to stay.

Hive on!