Hive Intro! What comes Next?

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Hello Hive!

I would like to thank Hive account@traciyork & Hive account@lovesniper for introducing me to this post on 3 things Newbies should do in their first week on Hive and encouraging me to make a self-introduction, so here goes!

First I hope you all will forgive my desire to stay anonymous as I foray into a digital social presence (and the Smörgåsbord of a thumbnail with photos of my work and relaxation), but I look forward to learning more about the Hive and its denizens. I am a biotechnologist who likes to make stuff with biology in the hopes to build a more sustainable world. Not sure when or if this will play role in my hive presence, but who knows!? I actually came to learn of Hive through Splinterlands.

Image Source: free-dividers-logos-gifs-art on the Splinterlands Discord

The FOMO of not understanding buzz words like "blockchain" and "cryto" got to me, so I started investigating. My search was really kicked into gear by learning about Yield Guild Games (you can check them out here) and scholarships. As a bit of an economics enthusiast, the concept of a video game like Axie Infinity costing about $1,500 (circa the end of 2021) just for the privilege to play seemed mind-boggling. That there were venture capital-like firms providing scholarships to players internationally to play to earn just amazed me. I did not pursue a scholarship, but I decided that I wanted to try a blockchain game. I have always enjoyed playing Magic the Gathering, and with good leadership, NFTs (like magic cards) may be deflationary in nature. Searching for games like this I settled on Splinterlands. It felt like the right combination of:

Fun
Enough players to keep a stable competitive environment
Affordable to get in
Good long term value prospects if the game persists

So off I went. With no experience in all things blockchain or crypto I jumped right in.

Image Source: Pixabay

It was a tumultuous journey compressed in a short time. Along the way I:

Made a Hive account through Splinterlands and did not realize I had made a Hive account
- Lesson: read before you click
Immediately made another Hive Account (ZoicSashy if you wanna check because I did not understand the connection between the Master Password and the Hivesigner password
- Lesson: keep ZoicSashy as your alt forever
Made accounts with WAY too many exchanges
- Lesson: Exchange /= Wallet
Spent hours trying to figure out you buy HIVE with fiat currency
- Lesson: easier to start with ETH or BTC
- Also maybe Litecoin because ETH gas fees :O
Spent more hours trying to understand SWAP.HIVE vs HIVE
- Lesson: still confused, but I finally powered up my first HIVE in my PeakD wallet
Bought my first $100 in ETH and put it my Brave wallet
Promptly got scammed and lost it all 😫
- Lesson: don't trust strangers on Discord
- Another Lesson: if their name is Customer Support, they may not be customer support
Made a new wallet and tried again
Finally managed to get a Summoner's Spell Book and started playing Splinterlands! Whew!

In the month following, I have fallen in love with the game, gotten comfortable with managing wallets and exchanges, participated in some liquidity pools, and learned how to use the Hive Keychain for transactions in the Splinterlands NFT rental market! For the moment, I do not plan to be too active a socialite, but I look forward to improving my Markdown and sharing some Splinterlands strategies that have worked for me in occasional Share your Battles posts. You can see my first attempt here.

In summary:

Know any cool synthetic biology or industrial biotech communities on Hive? Let me know!
Catch me in an occasional Share you Battle challenge over in the Splinterlands community

Hive Intro! What comes Next?

Thanks Hive!