Yuga and Improbable, you have the chance to build a permanent metaverse - please create for the future.
TLDR;
- Resist the cash grab temptation: the foundations are laid and we are early enough to influence the direction of Otherside in a serious way, listen to us
- Set the web3 standard: continue to be aligned with players, as Yuga is with BAYC – earn as you deliver value to members, do not see us as customers to take from but as partners and co-owners, the uniquely Web3 business model
- Consider putting a DAO on the roadmap: let us own more than assets in Otherside, work towards complete collective ownership
There are many ways to achieve these, this article discusses one potential path.
How and why we are here
The invention of the transistor allowed for the microchip, allowed for the computer, allowed for the internet, allowed for online social networks. The same is true for the metaverse, starting at the cloud, through blockchain, to Improbable’s integration / engine technology.
Yuga et al. have an opportunity to lean in decentralization. Otherside has the capacity to be amazing for the people by truly embracing Web3, Yuga needs the same incentives that they have with BAYC – have members not customers, generate for them to earn, not from them. Take the punt and develop something that will be around forever, follow Web3 all the way – do not sell items to your players, do not invent more NFTs that can be used in game, build something awesome and clip the ticket on volume.
To unbox how Otherside can be built in such a way, we may start with understanding the foundational building blocks of a metaverse. These can be represented many ways, one way is by outlining high level delivery requirements –
Items 6 and 7 can be represented myriad ways, they are effectively the metaverse core, requirements above technical foundations. How these requirements are articulated behind the scenes is important for ongoing development. That is, it is an effective way of preserving a core metaverse and allow flexibility as the game grows. Especially if the metaverse was to one day delivered to the people via a DAO.
An optimal ‘Constitution’ layout may include
Number 5 is incredibly important. Yuga should not be incentivized to treat Otherside as some SuperCell game where items are continually invented to sell to players. Yuga, warrant you will never sell us incremental NFTs, resources, items or boosts - unless those items can be created by third-party developers using widely available tools. The game economy is paramount to building a long term environment, which we deserve.
Yuga/Improbable can use the SDK to develop things people want to buy, e.g. they could develop the blueprints for me to make a car that requires certain resources we need to gather, but only if other developers could also develop this same thing. If Yuga can invent things to acquire $APE this is a huge issue for $APE and Otherside.
An example of how Blueprints could function (item 13 above) may be the SDK produces code which is then encrypted via some opensource / decentralized protocol and the result becomes an item in Otherside. These blueprints show required resources to build the designed item and the blueprint is consumed upon use, encryption protects the integrity of the economy both via resource management and allowing the developer to sell the item multiple times without threat of being copied. This allows developers to put significant resources into designing assets, incentivizing creativity and competition. Encryption can be managed on-chain, ensuring it is provable and immutable.
This Constitution may give authority to a set of Rules, which would be more easily updated and changed after an initial setting set by Yuga and Improbable. There would be a very large number of rules, a few examples may be –
A descriptive example of how Rules 1, 2 and 3 may interoperate
Jake, a developer, uses various tools including Maya, Otherside’s SDK, etc. to build a 4 story modern building with a series of intense mazes and deadly traps that change every time a new player enters, the building totals 1000x1000x1000 pixels in density. He uses the tools available to make it look awesome. The SDK can then be deployed into an encrypted blueprint and minted to his wallet using a smart contract on some chain (e.g. Polygon), which is represented as an in-game item.
The builder smart contract for Otherside reads the blueprint and, considering the output item, calculates the required resources to create such an item. For example, an item may call for a certain weight and strength and therefore require resources with certain qualities, as required by the physics engine (e.g. building a tall building, for it to not fall over a certain strength is required).
Jake then lists that item for sale on the Otherside marketplace and posts that he has developed awesome building blueprints in Discord for 100 $APE. These blueprints require 500 Ore, 300 Shard and 200 Root.
Jess sees his post in Discord and purchases a set of blueprints from the marketplace. She also purchases the building. She could decide to resell that blueprint but, as a land owner, she also purchases the required resources (500 Ore, 300 Shard, 200 Root) from the marketplace. In total she spends 500 $APE, of which 5% goes to Yuga as part of the decentralized marketplace. Jess then consumes the blueprint on her land with those resources. As Jake has included a setting for building that to enter you need to pay some $APE but if you pass the maze you receive a prize, say 50% of all the net $APE generated by the maze since it was deployed. Jess changes the settings to requiring 1 $APE per attempt.
Jess then pays Larry, who is a huge landowner near a popular spot on the Chemical Goo, a daily rate to advertise on a building on his land.
People flock to Jess’ new attraction via a portal she rented near the Yacht Club and pays the Anima required to teleport people, as the ‘power’ or fuel required by Otherside.
An example of how blueprints may advance over time
Developers may one day be able to design and build a plane that matches the physics engine requirements for flight, it must propel itself and that requires a certain amount of energy produced by (for example) Anima, you need a place for that Anima to be stored in the plane and the moving parts in order to fly. Day one maybe this is less advanced but over time the requirement for smaller moving parts that generate force as a result of power would be amazing to develop.
Developers could rent land and advertise their wares and list them on the marketplace. This sparks innovation and competition, with developers striving to come up with a better way to achieve an outcome. Yuga/Improbable could start this off with blueprints it sells to generate $APE, but with full intention of being competed with by other developers who ultimately make something much cooler.
A developer could focus on developing armor or weapons, which fit the requirements of those set in the constitution and rules, and if those blueprints call for rare items then they would be more powerful. Over time this could also be improved, to the point where the rules are refined, detailed and universal (i.e. a person can only hold X weight, Y combinations of things generate Z results).
Without an economy and systems like this, we risk becoming a Fortnite (pick up 1x wood and you have 1x plank), or a Decentraland where you can just place a wall if you want to, or repeat build on The Sandbox – there is no sense of accomplishment or feeling of reward for obtaining something because some person can just throw boxes together.
The DAO dream state
Breaking up the metaverse into Constitution and Rules is to have the option to one day pass the game on to the players, for example to a DeedDAO, owned by those with Otherside land. They are most incentivized to ensure the metaverse is good for the players. The constitution would be immutable or require a huge percentage of the vote (e.g., 95%). Initial Rules may be changed with lower votes as set by the Constitution. This Constitution/Rule relationship need not be apparent to players on release but working towards it would mean Yuga aligned with player’s interests in the same way they are with regards to BAYC/MAYC/Otherdeeds $APE lockup – where Yuga equity takes ~5% of transaction volume. They must deliver value to us in order to also receive value.
Yuga and Improbable should consider this path as it drastically improves the longevity of the metaverse. It is the opposite of a Clash of Clans-style ‘how much can I make from my customer base without them leaving then, then once the player base begins declining, I will invent another game to transition customers to’. Yuga – do not have this temptation, it is not worth the risk if you believe in yourself and us, as member / players.
BTC was developed by core cadre of developers and visionaries, those people passed the protocol on to more developers who worked on it and originally made decisions to come to their goal of independent money. Now developers propose changes and those changes are voted for on-chain by bitcoin miners who have the best interests of BTC. It is the commodity they have spent a large amount of capital to mine for.
Once we have a decent number of players, I would hope Yuga / Improbable considers moving towards a member / player owned model to set the direction in the future. Fully embracing web3.
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