Envy and Resentment
Yesterday night there was a live stream by @stever82. Dave McCoy and a few others joined the livestream. I and not going to give any link to that content, because that stuff is NOT going to get any publicity from me. My reason is not the content, but the way people complain these day. Just to give people a bit of background. Steve bought a max Regular Foil deck for the new conclave arcana edition. He bought standard and potentially starter packs. I do not know the distribution. However, his expectation is (keyword: expectation), since he bought a max Regular Foil deck, he MUST get close to a max regular foil legendary airdrop card, which is 11 copies. His argument is he got that during Rebellion, so he must get it now. The fact that he is expected to get 4 cards, based on current math makes him upset.
Just for the record, this is the current expectation of airdrops based on number of accounts. Yesterday we were getting 3566 total cards, today we are getting 3662 cards (these are all estimates). Yesterday there was 1021 accounts who staked cards but will NOT get any airdrops. Today 1692 accounts have wagons with cards but 1208 accounts will NOT get any airdrops, so 71% of the accounts who staked cards in the wagon will not get any cards as of now.
| Guaranteed Airdrop | No of Accounts July 16 | No of Accounts July 17 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96 | 69 |
| 2 | 155 | 109 |
| 3 | 59 | 55 |
| 4 | 37 | 45 |
| 5 | 28 | 34 |
| 6 | 33 | 32 |
| 7 | 21 | 21 |
| 8 | 10 | 11 |
| 9 | 21 | 18 |
| 10 | 10 | 13 |
| 11 | 4 | 5 |
| 12 - 15 | 25 | 26 |
| 15 - 30 | 20 | 21 |
| 30 - 50 | 19 | 19 |
| 50 - 100 | 8 | 9 |
| 100 + | 2 | 2 |
Steve's Grievances
Following are the summary of Steve's grievances, and I don't have a problem with this.
šÆ Top players with black foil cards receive disproportionately higher rewards than max-set regular foil players. [this is Steve's main issue]
šø The cost and complexity of wagon repair disproportionately burden dedicated players, discouraging continued investment. [this is Steve's second issue, Dave fixed it]
āļø The conflict systemās reward calculations heavily favor āwhalesā with rare cards, undermining fairness. [I say whales didn't design it, and all stake weighted game will favor whales]
Dave offered the following solutions:
š Dave McCoy commits to improving communication, incorporating community feedback, and evolving the ecosystem.
š® New free-to-play and land-based modes are expected to broaden the player base and improve economic sustainability.
š Current declining SPS prices and shrinking player base contribute to a challenging economic environment.
š¤ Community involvement and transparency in game design are crucial for addressing system imbalances and boosting player confidence. [this was suggested by Tales, and is a great suggestion]
Analysis
Let us analyze Steve's behavior last night. To his defense, he mentioned that he had some flooding related issues at his house so that can totally cause some mental distress. However, any adult will likely deal with it, and not throw an tantrum involving the community.
My main problem was some of his comments, that I felt doesn't align with my personal ethics. Steve mentioned, he is unhappy not because he didn't get the cards he expected, he is especially unhappy when he saw others like bravetofu, vugtis and ducecrypto getting a lot of cards. Wait what?
Don't we teach our kids to NOT think like this?
When you see others' perceived good fortune, it can trigger feelings of envy. This isn't necessarily a malicious desire for them to fail, but more a longing for what they have. If unchecked, this envy can fester into resentment, making it harder to appreciate your own circumstances. As an adult, we should always control our emotions especially before we start a blame-game!
What Steve later added, every time when he sees the notification that others got a black foil card, he gets mad! He thinks that will be another person who will get more airdrop because he/she is lucky and he is not!
I mean, seriously? Are you sure wanted to say this on a livestream and still feel no one will say anything to you? I am sorry, Sir! That will not happen on my watch. Yes, you can vent if your stream, but other people can to0.
the other side can do magic too, Prime Minister!
My Recommendation
This is to Steve and anyone else, who feels this way, I say slow down and take a time out from the game and discord in particular. This will be good for your mental health. When you come back, IF you come back, I suggest the following:
Practice Gratitude: Regularly reflect on the things you do have and appreciate in your life. This can help shift your focus inward and highlight your own positives.
Limit Social Media and especially discord: If social media is a trigger, consider reducing your time on it or unfollowing accounts that consistently make you feel inadequate.
Focus on Your Own Growth: Shift your energy towards your personal goals and progress. When you're actively working on improving your own life, you'll naturally feel more empowered and less focused on others.
Cultivate Self-Compassion: Be kind to yourself. It's human to compare, but don't let it define your worth or happiness.
Understand Everyone Has Struggles: This is a key part. Yes, your troubles are big to you, but mind you others might have troubles too. Remind yourself that everyone faces challenges, even if they don't publicize them. What you see on the surface is rarely the full story.
Comments (11)
It's a pandemic these days that everyone thinks life has to be fair or that they are owed something just for showing up. I can attest to the fact that dealing with flooding is a pain and can really throw you off your game.
I agree. So when I have some personal struggle, I try to stay off the social media, because I don't know how my blood pressure is going to impact my behavior.
Haha yeah, that is a good plan! They make meds for the blood pressure thing you know...š I finally got to come off mine a few months ago!
Gratitude is the keyword here!
Yes, we often forget that completely!
One of the reasons I quit facebook. I don't like seeing other people's posts š
There is a lesson to be learned there. People always post themselves in the best possible light, so it is easy to assume everyone is doing spectacular but you are not as you are dealing with your small agonies.
We should celebrate other people's successes. Sure there is luck involved in pulling black foils and whatnot but if you aren't spending on a level of Vugtis and other top whales, you shouldn't expect your hit rate to be as high as theirs.
If others have good luck, good for them and if you feel you should have that level of luck, you should also put yourself in that comparison if you have increased your odds. Odds will not always play in your favor and you live with that result. I see big whales do their math prior to opening packs, for example, and sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. Bottom line is, you base your math on the structure of the game and the odds within, these will change as needed and if you hit the jackpot, good for you, if you don't, don't take it out on others when they get lucky instead or have increased their odds to get better chances.
Envy can become really toxic if you let it fester, I've personally found that I am happier if I celebrate successes of my friends rather than trying to become envious or coveting what I don't deserve in the first place. I opened a few packs for a friend and got a black foil out of it, couldn't be happier for him!
Hope Stever finds his peace and great summary, AZ!
Absolutely we should celebrate others success! What Steve did on that video is not the standard I set for the community. We are much better than that.
I feel you missed some of my points. By the end, Dave agreed that the system seems flawed. The goal was for someone buying 10% of the packs to earn 10% of the rewards, but thatās not happening. I spent $7k, and someone spent $28kāthey should get about 4x my rewards, maybe slightly more due to pack-opening ROI variance. Instead, many who spent $28k are getting 10x my rewards. The blackfoilsā bonus in conflicts is just too strong. Most players agree, but since this conflict set has already started, any fixes will have to wait for the next one.
Iām glad Dave cameāhe was great! But I wasnāt fully prepared for how things unfolded. I had planned to just do some math with Bebe and maybe work with Tales, but it turned into something else entirely!
I didnāt miss any points.
Now listen very carefully, I am not Dave. Dave knows it, I know it and I am sure you know it.
I donāt give a damn how much money you spent. I quoted you exactly as you said and I donāt like it. Now you are here on my blog and here we go by my rules.
I hate the word ROI and return. You go talk about that with people who care about that. I have much bigger plans for this game and I will realize those plans with or without people like you.
I think Steve was just being a human that time, for some people it might be ok but for some it might be over line. I hope he will be more cheerful and positive next time.
But about the "return" or "yield" or "profit" or whatever we address it as..
Isn't a game should be like that? I mean it is not supposed to be fully fair right? It is like you need to outsmart your opponent, overpowered them, or using better "meta" so we beat them out and get more from them..Because Splinterlands is not only a game like most web2 do, it does have that factor in all of Splinterlands ecosystem.
so getting the right card, whether it is black foil, or gold foil, or which edition just to max out your gain, it is part of the game too, right? I have a friend that bought yaba thing with 3000 dec, he got a black foil... Do I envy him? yes I do and I believe all of us do too, but that's part of the game too, why would we complain about "fairness" from it?
well my opinion is that other whales are growing and getting smarter and he stays the same so he gets outplayed by them. ... it is part of the game ... but he has a good point about black foil too, which should have been sounded up in a better way
It is okay to be a human, but it is not okay to be a dick. In social media we often forget that.
You are absolutely right regarding variability of choices and outcomes in a game. If you are looking for ROI exclusively you should look for a defi project and not a game. A game is meant to me entertaining and our game is that.
You're the dick everywhere you go.
I think one of the points that Steve raised was a good one, we are leaving the game open to someone coming in and buying 2/3 black foils and getting massively inflated airdrops, although that has been fixed going forward, it would still be profitable to have one wagon creating lots of CP and then just pay for the wagons when you know how many drops you have.
We all have to admit that black foil CP was totally unnecessary, if you are trying to attract the collectors then rarity alone is a reason for collectors to want something they do not want/need aditional use case for land/airdrops etc which have caused the other issues that have arisen.
Unfortunately we canāt change this for CA and whatever sticking plasters are used for the next 8 airdrops to keep the top players happy (Iām getting 1 airdrop and am fine with that) will have to be accepted but hopefully it is players that are getting the airdrops and not extractors just making a quick buck - luckily I think the main winners in the current standings are mainly players who want to see the game expand and grow
It would be interesting to see a comparison of this airdrop vs the nidhogger airdrop just to see how the distribution of airdrops compares though.
Let me break it down for you.
The CP of a black foil rare is 57,750. Currently it requires 111,111 CP to get a single airdrop. So 2 BFRs will guarantee 1 airdrop card for now. It will be less with every subsequent airdrop. Currently the cheapest BFRs are $300. Two of those are $600.
If someone comes in and spends $600 to buy two BFRs to get 9 airdrop legendary cards, I will say THANK YOU!
Why? Because there is very little liquidity in the BF market. If the goal of someone to get 9 cards for $600 that is a very asymmetric risk. 9 RF legendary cards are likely priced at much lower than $600. They are $5-$15 right now. Yes, some will be archons. Still there is a good chance the total value of all 9 cards can be well less than $600. Also the individual is taking at least a nine months risk.
What you mean to say that their CP is high. Necessary is a much bigger word. How much deeply do you know the game to comment on that? Regardless this is an opinion. My point is whatever the rules are they were set a long time ago and people made decisions based on that. Steve made some poor decisions and some poor choices of words. I request that you donāt make the same.
OK. Perhaps I overestimated the impact of buying a couple of cardsā¦.thanks for clarifying.
I have no problem with the rules as they are, as you say, we knew what they were. But do you think that the CP on black foils needed to be so high to make them a collectible item, which was the intent, In my opinion it didnāt need to be.
I donāt have an opinion on the topic. I donāt feel it is that important to the game economy one way or another.
If you watch TCG collectors, like Alpha Investments, he often receives complete sets to buy from customers. He says that a complete set surprisingly isn't as valuable as the customer believes - which can detract somewhat from collecting and moves towards speculating.
Is collecting a max set important to Splinterlands?
If so, could we develop a "Collector" reward in terms of airdrops? If a person has an entire maxxed Regular or Gold Set, should they receive a max level copy of the card?
Is that an important aspect to our game?
In my humble opinion as a 'smaller' player but still with a decent combined accounts value, I say just enjoy the ride, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't and be happy for the players who did get lucky.
Don't worry, be happy š
Yes, that is a very good attitude. I hope everyone celebrates that!
There was a flaw in communication, indeed. I, too, bought a lot more this time hoping to get something similar to the drops in Rebellion - that wasn't the case. It should've been communicated from the start that the Conflicts will provide 25% of the guaranteed cards that Rebellion had.
That said, I don't really mind it. I adapted, and will have my 3 CC of each drop. I was hoping to be able to compete on higher levels with Drop-Archons, but I'll just reduce my goal and get my cards only up to Silver/Gold-Level, not Diamond. Which is a loss for the company in the end, as I won't be buying any more packs, as I had intended. The cost is just too high for the fun for me, personally. Having max-level drop archons would've been an incentive.
Or you will buy other things. Land cards or whatever else that is available at the time. There are a lot of things in the pipeline.
Maybe. Not more than I had intended, anyway. I might focus on land earlier than expected. But that's mostly game-internal deals, with lesser impact on the DAO financials. There's still enough going on and fun to have, even on lower levels š It's a game after all.