I learned about the Play-to-Earn game Rising Star right here on the Hive Blog. I was a little reluctant to delve into yet another Web3 thing. These past few weeks have involved a firehose of exploration, from DAOs to DeSo to De-Everything.
But I checked Rising Star out. And it’s quickly become one of my favourite things to spend time with. It’s an indie game about indie music, touching on many things that are important or interesting to me, including music, idle gaming, and Web3.
At the heart of the game itself is independent music. The game is not just about creating a gaming experience or accumulating points and/or crypto.
The game promotes and supports real life artists.
Many years ago, I was involved in a music startup called sourced.fm. We were a group of inexperienced entrepreneurs, attempting to use Web2 tools to reimagine how indie music could be supported and elevated. We built some cool software and made amazing local connections. The startup didn’t really go anywhere, but the experience itself cemented the joy and importance of indie music into my heart forever.
BELOW: From sourced's now defunct Instagram.
Here’s how Rising Star legitimately succeeds where our venture failed.
@drabs587, 
@wagginston, 
@ravenmus1c, 
@stickupboys, 
@foxon, 
@trentonlundy1, 
@gribbles, 
@steevc ... the list goes on)I enjoy a good first person shooter from time to time, but in recent years the more casual games have taken up residence in my life. I don’t often have the time or mental space to give dozens of hours per week to a game that needs active play.
Idle games are a special subset of games that typically involve repetitive actions and waiting periods. Consistency pays off as your gains increase, often incrementally. In late 2021 I got deep into the genres of both idle & incremental, relishing the ability to spend 10 minutes strategizing and 5 minutes playing then forgetting about the game for half a day. Check back later, and you have passive rewards.
Rising Star captures many idle & incremental aspects. You don’t have a ton of choice in what you’re doing in the game. It’s mostly picking a mission and waiting for it to complete. Time to complete ranges from minutes to hours. This is perfect for structuring a day around. I feel great when I can go to bed with a long mission underway—it gives that feeling of being productive while you sleep.
And if you want a more active experience, you can get involved in the NFT market. Or you can compete in the music promoter bidding wars. Also, Battle of the Bands is in testing, which looks like a PvP element.
You can learn a lot about the upsides of Web3 and NFTs by playing this game. It has the tradeable card mechanic like Splinterlands, but it’s also serving as a legit marketing vehicle for indie artists.
For someone who’s still learning the ropes of Web3, this game provides me with so much practical insight on how it can work in a wonderful, positive way. There’s a vibrant community, a gamified experience with an authentic narrative, there’s cryptocurrency and a market for it, it’s plugged into a wider ecosystem of games (Hive)... and all this is made easier to absorb through the context of a simple, fun game.
I forget exactly when I started playing, but I opened my first card packs on Jan 25, 2022. So we’ll say I’ve been at it for between 2 and 3 weeks now.
A hundred days in the Web3 world is a long time—anything could happen. But I’m pretty confident in the long term strength of Rising Star, for all the reasons above. Not least of all the support from indie musicians!
Thanks for reading!
