Lessons for Blockchain Games from PlanetIX

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In this bear market, PlanetIX has become a particularly strong-performing web3 games project and is now the largest game on the Polygon network. The development team uses Footprint’s zero-coding and API to get deeper insights into their users and enhance their player experience.

We joined with their CMO, Melly, to discuss the state and future of GameFi, and what other GameFi projects can learn from their experience.

You can read the highlights below or listen to the full Twitter Space to get an unparalleled insider view on designing popular projects in the blockchain gaming industry.

On airdrops as a marketing tactic

Airdrops are a popular marketing tactic used by blockchain projects to distribute free tokens or coins to a large number of users. This is done to generate interest in the project, incentivize community engagement, and reward early adopters. Airdrops are typically distributed to users who meet certain criteria, such as holding a certain amount of a particular cryptocurrency or completing specific tasks. The tokens or coins are usually distributed directly to users’ cryptocurrency wallets, making the process easy and efficient.

But while airdrops have become an important marketing tactic in the blockchain industry, incentivizing users to become more involved with the project, they’ve also been gamed by experts who use bots and other tactics to get the rewards, despite not being genuine members of the community.

Melly has significant experience with airdrops and their challenges — PlanetIX’s largest was worth about $6M. He says that people gaming the system are not that much of an issue.

“Everything is based on on-chain activity. If you try to game the system, you’re still an active user, and it will still be a net positive for the ecosystem,” he said. However, he added that they are constantly trying to incentivize genuine activity. “We are constantly trying to find ways to get as many real players as possible — like making it beneficial to play on one wallet account.”

Overall, the industry-wide effects of airdrops have been more significant than when looking at this tactic through the lens of any particular project. Airdrops have taught participants in Web3 that engaging in the space is valuable.

“Most people have learned by now that if you just stay active, see what’s coming, and use the protocols in the newest areas, you will be rewarded,” Melly said. “When you look back at the DeFi summer, a lot of people got rewarded, and we’ve seen it also with NFTs, where a lot of users got airdropped or claims for a lot of tokens if you had previously used other platforms.”

How AI will change Web3 gaming

One of the unfortunate use cases for AI will inevitably be the proliferation of bots, and more advanced ones. Luckily, there are ways to spot bots with on-chain and off-chain data. For example, bots often run for 24 hours. If you look at heat maps for wallets, it’ll probably show that some wallets are active either all the time or during exact, suspicious hours.Combining both on-chain and off-chain data is critical to discovering bots and understanding users.

“When you’re in a space that’s still niche and highly competitive in terms of what’s coming from Web2, you need to become as efficient as possible, and AI is not going away, it’s only going to get bigger,” said Melly. “I’m sure that we’re going to be using it more going forward.”

What developers can focus on to create successful, sustainable games

Ultimately, strategies for tokenomics, gameplay and retention depend on the stage a project is in and its long-term goals. PlanetIX is an example of a Web2 project that bridges to Web3, so didn’t have to go through the process of finding new users when starting building.

As we go forward, many startups and projects will likewise look to onboard gamers from Web2.

“Instead of thinking about metrics, you should be thinking about how you could bring in these people. If you’re coming in, and you’re only wanting to get users from the Web3 pool, that could be really hard. There’s really not that many people there playing games right now,” said Melly.

“I think it’s more about stepping back and asking how the Web3 community can collectively try to work for getting more users from Web2 into the space. That’s how we win, otherwise everyone’s fighting for scraps.”

For PlanetIX, onboarding these new users was mostly about making them feel comfortable and safe in the new on-chain environment, which can be fraught with danger for newbies.

“If you’re new and you just arrived [on-chain] there’s a lot of ways that you can be unlucky. As much time you can spend [making these users feel comfortable], that goes a long way,” he said.

“We took a bet that if we put a lot of effort in making them feel comfortable, they will stay with us. For example, we just had our Head of Growth traveling around SEA going to events that our community set up… Trust and connection are valuable.”

Here’s the difference between Web2 and Web3 marketing

“A lot of the ways you advertise in Web2 are not the way you advertise in Web3, especially because a lot of places know that you’re dealing with NFTs of any sort makes it really difficult for you to advertise and not have your ads taken down or shut off,” said Melly.

“That just means there’s a lot more guerilla tactics, a lot more creative marketing. I think one of the best ways you can go about it is to consider how far you can get with the strength of your community and also with partnerships.”

Because the pool of Web3 users and projects is relatively small, raising awareness is not particularly difficult — the key in impressing new users with your product. “If your product’s not good enough, then it’s hard to get users.”

Melly added that, despite the limitations Web3 marketers face, the industry is constantly getting new tools to approach the Web2 marketing experience.

How to make your tokenomics not be Ponzinomics

According to Footprint data, 90% of games released go inactive within their first 30 days.

This happens both from being a bad game, or bad tokenomics, or both. There are a lot of overlapping factors, but unsustainable tokenmics is a big one.

For Planet IX, creating a sustainable ecosystem is all about maintaining a symbiotic relationship between different kinds of players.

“There’s the players who farm really heavy. They, most of the time, live in lower-income areas and have a lot of time they can put in. They don’t need to earn so much for it to be valuable. Then you have the players with higher wallet sizes and they don’t have the same amount of time, but they have more money to put into either buying their way into the top,” Melly said. For PlanetIX, it’s about having a balance of these different types of users.

This piece is contributed by Footprint Analytics community.

The Footprint Community is a place where data and crypto enthusiasts worldwide help each other understand and gain insights about Web3, the metaverse, DeFi, GameFi, or any other area of the fledgling world of blockchain. Here you’ll find active, diverse voices supporting each other and driving the community forward.

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