Wouldn't it be nice if the markets were just up all the time with no dips - just a nice, steady, smooth, green line to the clouds? Perhaps that is what trader heaven looks like, a series of green stairs that reach up and through the golden gates hung between the two longest green candles they can imagine....
Obviously, heaven doesn't exist - there are going to be red days too.
While I don't actually know, I suspect that my portfolio has seen more red than green days over the years, but the green days have more than made up for them on average. I read a post about someone making 6000% since they started playing Splinterlands a few years ago with only the starter pack, which is insane - but one has to factor in the time and effort to get that too and while it is "just a game", it does take time, planning and a lot of work to properly manage the ecosystem.
I was having a look at my own returns on the fiat injections over the last five years and while it has taken a lot of work to get to where I am, I suspect I am rivaling or exceeding that percentage, though I haven't looked for certain. Hive is just a different kind of game, isn't it?
There are ups and downs here and it is harder in many ways than trading, because there is a social element to it, rather than the solo game staring at charts. While there might not always be a lot of financial skin in the game, we tend to put our human skin in the game and many seem to be very thin-skinned when it comes to their ability to cope with the dynamics. Just like trading isn't for everyone, yet anyone with some capital can trade - perhaps some elements of Hive are the same, where they aren't for everyone.
I think that is why so many people have rage quit (generally multiple times) over the years, because while they want some part of the benefits of the platform, they are unable to handle other parts. Downvotes tend to be one of these things, but one thing that is good to remember on Hive is that at any single point in time, the blockchain has the same rules for everyone equally.
However, social aspects are not hardcoded into the blockchain rules, which means the variability comes from humans themselves. While most people don't like getting downvoted, everyone is susceptible to them - yet we do get to choose how we react and feel, as well as if we choose to attract them or not. However, this is one of those things that triggers people into having a violent reaction, because they do not understand how the blockchain rules work and therefore think that the earnings on their post are theirs, before payout. No, they are still the blockchain's, nobody's - unallocated potential. I am not certain, but I think they don't even digitally exist until payout, but I would need confirmation on that.
The Hive community of diverse and unfamiliar individuals is held together by the economics of trade, yet people seem to limit this to the trade of tokens only. This is not the case, the trade of personality is just as important and often, ever more so than the value of the goods and services involved in the mix. A lot of people don't like the idea of people earning or not earning through the way they behave, even though they are happy to pay entry to a movie, pay to see an athlete dunk a ball and pay for medication developed by a scientist in a lab. These things take skill and while the skills are all different, they are all behavioral - as all skills are.
No one wants to see me in a blockbuster movie, on the court at the NBA playoffs, or have to take some medicine that I concocted in my kitchen - because, that is not my area of expertise and I have no idea what I am doing - though I can shoot a basketball okay. But, shooting a three-pointer doesn't mean I have all of the other skills required to mix it in the environment of NBA players, in the same way that being able to write an article doesn't mean there are enough necessary factors for making it valuable, or how to cope with rejection. Just think how many auditions actors go to where they don't get the part - would you be able to handle that level of knock-back? Yet they do and while it is statistically rare, some of them go on to have highly successful and very well paid careers. This doesn't mean they can fix your car engine though.
Over the years I have seen many people spit the dummy over all kinds of things and it isn't always downvotes. Sometimes there are other factors in play too, like criticism of their content, or getting called a name, or having their beliefs questioned. Many just can't cope with the parts they dislike and often, the desire for reward exacerbates the problem, especially if they are desperate for the money. Being desperate makes everything worse, as it creates an emotional panic and stress, which then hinders decision-making and our control abilities. People will blame the community or Hive for this, but what it actually is, is their own inability to understand themselves and learn strategies to cope under the conditions they choose to be in.
Yes, it is a choice to be here. No one is forced. And if people make the choice to come into the Hive conditions because they are attracted to one part of it, they have to accept the parts they don't find attractive too. If I were to get into the ring with the heavy-weight world champion because I wanted the prize money of winning, would you say that the result from me having no boxing skills and being half the size of my professional opponent would be deserved? If after talking shit in the lead up to the event in the hope to raise more prizemoney from the fight, from my hospital bed I complained about being punched, would you be sympathetic?
More likely, you will say, "He didn't belong in the ring in the first place". Just because anyone can get into the ring, it doesn't mean that they have the skills to go toe-to-toe with their counterpart.
And I think that this is very much like Hive and trading in general. People who want the reward, but don't want the loss - all upside, with no down. They see that green stairway and bound up there with all they have toward heaven, and when they crest and descend into red, they complain about the conditions. Red on Hive is not necessarily on price, because communities have other values as well, but often the movements connected to the token economy are triggers for individuals to collapse and spiral.
We see it on other social media too, where there are all kinds of individual mental breakdowns. So, just imagine what chaos it would be when billions of people are suddenly financially incentivized to compete on content - and what happens when the inevitable rejection comes. We see a microcosm view of this on Hive - people snap. Not all, only some. The rest, just get on with what they are doing, because they have developed a broad enough set of skills in themselves and thick enough skin, to cope under the conditions they choose to be in. One thing is predictable though - people often overestimate their skills and ability to cope with what they see as negatives, when they are attracted to the positives.
Two berries can look identical, but they are not - One may be sweet, the other very bitter.
Which it is, will only be known under testing conditions.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]