Disclaimer: Not a financial advice. Do your own research before sinking your money into any cryptogame.
I’ll say it again, blogging isn’t the only route this blockchain can pursue to be relevant. Seeing the recent developments on the games we got right now made it pretty clear Hive can do better on other areas instead of focusing on onboarding users and nudging them to be more social.
Crytogames here are proven lucrative and it's crazy. I just put around 300$ on Splinterlands (not actively playing) and now my NFT assets are worth more than a 1k$ in a span of weeks.
I don’t think there’s any wrong about promoting engagement and nudging users to be active in the community. It gives more dimension and putting the social aspect in the ecosystem. I just think it’s just a source of frustration for new users to be sold with the idea that they can earn money from their blogs and get bombarded with how complex this whole show is like.
That’s what you get when you raise expectations that users can get paid for sharing their thoughts and interests on the blockchain. They will come and when those upvotes don’t, they will start asking the obvious questions of why they aren’t earning. And let’s not forget the basic trash norms adapted by centralized social media regarding proper attribution to content…
I think people just underestimate user retention and activity when it comes to the blockchain games here. A lot of users playing splinterlands aren’t blogging and yet I see them actively chatting over discord and exploring other games on the blockchain. I also learned that people jumping onto these games are organically called in from the hype and existing friends that already play.
And they don’t blog...
What I like about the cryptogaming culture (and the play2earn mindset) is the people already know that it takes money to print more money. There’s no signing up and given free stake for capital and roll over to compound the profits. Cryptogamers have already been conditioned that they have to use value (their money) to get access to more value.
I mentioned some bits about this thinking on a previous post. The thing about games is that there are clear finite rules to winning conditions and the general objective people bothered with play to earn is to actually earn. There’s no minding your sources when you post, think about voting weights and power, when to vote, or even bothering with other people. Cryptogames give the play a finite goal and engaging socially becomes an option.
Which one is bringing value to the Hive ecosystem between these two strangers (A or B):
| Logs in every other day, makes a post, barely socializes, and gets some free votes for bothering without putting in their own capital on the platform. The community just banks on the hope that they turn into a fine individual that will later provide the same value the community gives to them. Until the community find out they plagiarized or do some stupid shit. |
| A random gamer searching for the next big thing. Knows they need money to get more money and buys into the games we got going on the ecosystem. If they like it, they’d double down on their investment, interact more on Discord, and probably step up to blog about it (most don’t bother). Their actions on the blockchain contribute to the daily activities behind the scenes. No drama to worry about when it comes to their blogging experience. |
I think we just cry too much about the lack of engagements as a sign the platform is failing when most of the social activity is written on the blockchain and not in the form of a blog. While it is nice to see on the frontend some user activity, it doesn’t necessarily mean the platform is failing when value is being shoved in another department.
The thing that grinds my gears sometimes when curating is how much some users would force their content creator status when they have little to offer on the table. I know those top x ways to live a healthier life, positivity, my day at the zoo, and what I ate for dinner post may mean something for someone but those don’t really produce content that has some viral potential to get Hive out there.
People are conditioned to think that if they don’t blog, they won’t get access to the financial benefits of using the platform because it’s mostly about trying to maximize the free votes. So what happens is some who haven’t built the skill set they need to write, socialize or attract an audience overextend themselves and it falls under the category of trying too much.
We all have to start somewhere before we can be great shitposters on the blockchain. I’m just saying there’s more use case for the blockchain to be relevant, financially rewarding, and less source of drama.
So while people are stressing too much about the low levels of engagement under their posts, it ain’t bad on the gaming frontends that keep the flow of money moving on Hive.
If you made it this far reading, thank you for your time.