Hello, I'm editor K.
Last time, we learned about Play games and earn money? In-depth analysis of P2E games - The Sandbox, which is evaluated as a blockchain version of Minecraft. Following the P2E (Play to Earn) game series, today we will learn about the blockchain technology-based digital card collection game "Splinterlands." Basic terms and information related to P2E games have already been explained earlier, so let's go right away!
What is Splinterlands?
Image Credit: https://peakd.com/@splinterlands
Splinterlands were created by Jesse Reich, a former scientist and professor of chemistry, and game developer Matthew Rosen. Splinterlands, which began in 2018 under the name Steem Monsters, is a card game of the TCG genre that competes with other users using cards owned by them. You can compete with other players by combining various cards with various abilities and stats, just like ‘Magic the Gathering’, the father of all existing TCG games. Likewise, it shows a similar way of playing to Blizzard's Hearthstone, which is so famous to Americans.
However, Splinterlands differs greatly from them in that users can freely buy and sell digital assets like real cards using blockchain technology, and all transactions are publicly recorded so that they cannot be manipulated. I believe you are well aware of the transparency of the director of the blockchain, which cannot be forged or altered, as I have already explained several times.
Splinterlands cards are supported by the NFT (Non-Fungible Token) method, so they can be traded and transferred at the disposal of the owner. Cards are currently actively traded not only in the Splinterlands site market but also in various NFT markets such as OpenSea, Peakmonster.com, and MonsterMarket.io.
Image Credit: https://dappradar.com/rankings
Splinterlands operates on Hive blockchain that uses the Delegated Proof of Steak consensus algorithm, allowing it to handle much more transactions faster than Ethereum blockchain. However, there is also a disadvantage that the Hive blockchain is not recognized, so the community is not large. Splinterlands is less popular in Korea, but according to DApp Radar, it seems to have secured a large number of users as of December 14th, ranking second in the overall ranking, including games, DPI, and exchanges. In terms of game categories alone, Splinterlands, which ranks first in the number of users, is gaining huge popularity in that it is ahead of Axie Infinity, the first blockchain P2E game introduced earlier.
How to play it?
Image Credit: https://splinterlands.com/
Like all other games, you need to sign up for the Splinterlands site first for play. Splinterlands supports PCs and mobile devices, but mobile only provides English as the basic language, so I recommend PC versions that provide various languages. The UI that seems to go back to the past on a time machine is impressive.
After simply creating an account by setting up an email address and password, you can see simple menus such as stores, card openings, markets, cards, and battles at the top of the site. By pressing the Play Game button, you can see a detailed guide on how to play the game and also ranking battles and challenges. If you raise your ranking through a ranking battle, you can receive reward items at the end of the season.
Basically, Splinterlands can play games free of charge without purchasing a separate item, but you have to pay $10 for daily quest rewards, season rewards, and dark energy crystals to purchase summoner's magic books. It can be seen as a way to activate a kind of profit-generating function. There's nothing free in the world. Still, compared to Axie Infinity, where the initial capital is about 1 million won, he is a nobleman.
Image Credit: https://splinterlands.com/
Splinterlands cards are divided into two types: summoner and monster. Summoners refer to wizards who use one of six forces, fire, water, earth, life, death, dragons, and they use this power to summon monsters. As explained above, the summoner of the earth splinter can summon monsters living in mountains and forests. Monsters are creatures summoned by summoners for battles, and actual battles are up to monsters. This way of playing reminds us of a familiar Pokemon. Like, Pikachu with electrical properties or Squirtle with water properties are strategically pulled out of different battles.
Image Credit https://splinterlands.com/
Image Credit https://splinterlands.com/
Studying is essential to get good results, right? Players must first understand the components of the card before the actual play. Users need to understand the various components such as mana cost, stats, rarity, character name, and level, and consider the stats of different cards to use them in battle. Not only the card's stats, but also the order of placement is an important factor in winning a battle, so if you randomly place cards without thinking, it is easy to see the bitter taste of defeat.
Splinterland battle scene : Image Credit https://splinterlands.com/
When a battle is matched in earnest, players use the card set provided by default or booster packs purchased at the store to place cards before the match. A player chooses 1 Summoner Card and 6 Monster Cards, then destroys all the opponent's monster cards to win the battle. It looks very complicated, but when the battle begins, the game proceeds automatically without the need for any user control. This shows that the order in which players place their cards and the cards they place greatly affect the result of the battle. Of course, the better the card, the higher the probability of winning the battle, right?
When a user wins a ranked match, the player's score increases in proportion to the opponent's score. The points earned through battles and the number of victories are recorded in the profile stats. As the score increases, users can use higher level cards and enter higher leagues where they can receive more rewards. If a user loses a battle, he does not get points and wins, but there is no separate penalty.
In addition, users can obtain loot boxes containing various items such as game tokens and reward edition cards as daily quest rewards and end-of-season rewards. In addition, winning tournaments with prize money can result in prize money of up to several thousand dollars. Tournaments can be held by anyone, and various types and sizes of prizes can be set.
SPS? DEC?
Image Credit https://sps.splinterlands.com/
Splinterlands currently uses two tokens as its base currency: Splintershards (SPS) and Dark Energy Crystal (DEC). SPS is an ecosystem governance token and DEC is a utility token that can be obtained as a reward for playing the game. You can think of it as a token structure similar to that of Axie Infinity.
SPS is a Splinterlands Governance Token that gives players the option to influence decisions about their game and ecosystem. SPS holders can propose changes, such as changing the tournament schedule, modifying battle settings, or changing the DEC inflation pool, and voting for other important updates. In addition, SPS is also used for staking.
DEC is a gaming economy token used within Splinterlands. Users can use DEC to purchase various game items and boosters that help them enter the top rankings. DEC can be obtained by clicking the DEC icon in the card collection to convert cards to DEC, completing daily quests, or winning ranked battles. At this time, the higher the level and rarity of the card the user has, the more DEC can be earned by defeating the player with the highest score.
What will happen in the future?
Image Credit https://coinmarketcap.com/
According to CoinMarketCap, as of December 14th, the SPS was $0.270653, and the 24-hour trading volume was $2,081,105. Currently, CoinMarketCap ranks 456th, with a real-time total of $88,323,570. After peaking at $1.1261 in July of this year, it has been showing results that are above $0.3. It is clear that this is a rather disappointing ranking compared to Splinterland's dApp ranking. However, SPS is currently being traded on about 10 exchanges such as Gate.io, Bitrue, LBank, and PancakeSwap (V2). There are still many tasks to be developed. So, I think we should wait calmly for the future rather than the present. Given that it has an overwhelming number of users, good enough results can be expected.
There aren't many trading card games among NFT games, so Splinterlands is a niche game. As the popularity of NFT games continues to surge, it remains to be seen whether the SPS can reach $1 soon. Next, after the NFT game series, we will take time to learn about Cyber Dragon.
That was it for editor K.
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