In order to improve the relationship between Splinterlands and Hive, in the last week, the @sps.dao has performed one of the the largest HIVE powerups in recent history, putting about a million into their account. This was bought off the market directly also, which was an interesting process in and of itself, from what I have heard.

But there is a sizeable problem.

Can you guess?

The @sps.dao account is on the curation trail of the @steemmonsters account and between them, they have about 2.5 million HIVE POWER, which translates at the current value of HIVE at 16 cents, into a $21 vote. That is a pretty hefty draw on the distribution pool, but as you can see, the voting (at time I snapshot the pictures) mana is sitting at 100%.

Do you know why?

I think the answer is pretty easy really, and I have mentioned it several times before. In order for those accounts to vote, there has to be content and let's face it, when it comes down to curating the Splinterlands content community,

There is not much good Splinterlands content.

Are you offended?

Now, "good" is subjective. I get that, but as I scroll through the Splinterlands community on Hive, much of it just looks the same, nothing really stands out and for many, many of the posts, they appear to be formatted, scripted, low-effort repeatable. This doesn't make them valueless per se, but where is the differentiation,

The competitive advantage?

So, let's think a little bit about what kinds of advantages there might be in content creation. Firstly, if all the titles and cover images look the same, what is there to attract the audience in? And then, if it is just another daily, weekly, or season report challenge or whatever, where is the value for me as an individual member of the audience? The worst ones are the opening of packs - what the hell do I get out of that?

I don't think this is the main issue of the content.

I think that the main issue is that the majority of Splinterlands content has close to zero personality in it. And I think that part of the reason for this is that so much of it is formula based, quick to create, standardized. It is liking playing the standard, most obvious lineup in a battle, and expecting to win against someone who knows you are going to play that lineup.

Let's Battle

I don't create a lot of Splinterlands content, but when I do, I generally look at it from the perspective of the community development, as I think it is incredibly important. The game itself is the focus topic, but it is very different to one of the games where players don't actually own anything. Playing Splinterlands means being an owner and those who own should be looking to increase the value of what they own, not just what they earn. For a game that has no marketing but benefits from more players coming in to buy and play, the player-owners are an important part of the process.

I think that while there might be some great players of Splinterlands, I think that great personalities of Splinterlands should also be highlighted and leveraged by the game and the community. There might be overlap between these two groups, but not necessarily. Whoever they are though, it is probably in Splinterlands best interest to support content of those whose content supports the game and makes the community surrounding the game, more attractive for players and newbies alike. Where are the personalities?

Be visible

Don't hide away. Discord is not attractive. While there are people who will hang out there and argue about every little bit of the game and every decision made, it isn't enough for the community to thrive. There needs to be more effort put into building a face of Splinterlands, and not just the game face either, though it might be worth using the UI as a highlighting mechanism.

For instance,

I play modern, so I wouldn't mind seeing some handpicked content that would help improve my gameplay. Similarly, I have invested a fair bit into both Splinterlands and Hive, so I would like to see some content that supports that also.

Splinterlands has lots of little "games within games" in its economy, and one of those should be the Hive side of it too. The Splinterlands team alone has about 200 dollars (at current value of HIVE) to distribute a day that can support it. Look at all the other accounts that are also invested in both arenas, and there is a fair amount of possible value to capture, whilst also helping to build the community. Players looking to earn should be interested in creating content also, because for many, they would actually earn more through content creation than the game, and they are already set up for it, with a Hive account ready to go.

But, all of this aside, I believe that the main reason for creating Splinterlands content on Hive should be, that it helps a player be more engaged and likely, improve their understanding of the game ecosystem, from how to play, to the tokenomics and governance factors involved. It helps build a far more rounded knowledge base and when opportunities do arise, whether they be for financial or tactical gain, it is easier to take advantage early.