Thoughts About The Future

**Shadow Era** · 06-08-2019, 05:02 PM

Now that Shadow Era has secured it's place in history as "the first properly tokenized game on Waves", we can begin to think more about what this means for the future.

Shadow Tokens started as a means to provide ownership and rewards for the players. It expanded to include owning game content, and now buying and selling single cards makes that process much easier. The upcoming Waves game platform will put that content in front of many more people.

But what's the next step for Shadow Tokens? Something that might have been overlooked is perhaps even better than blockchain cards: automated tournaments with SHDW entry fees and prizes!

The problem with using traditional money for tournament prizes is that it's a clear target for fraud. If people can pay to enter a tournament by using a stolen credit card or just make a chargeback claim after, the whole system quickly falls apart. Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, is both secure and quick. Entry fees can be collected and confirmed in just a few seconds. All this will serve to strengthen the integration of Shadow Tokens into the game and boost its demand.

So what do you think? Will this attract a new class of competitive players to our game, looking to make real money? Do you think you're good enough to win?

**TJ dubdub** · 06-08-2019, 05:08 PM

I think this could be a good idea, but there needs to be an option to play for shadow crystals as well. Some people have waited a long time for in game tournaments and I think it would be a bad idea to require them to buy shdw to use a feature that has been promised for years

**Shadow Era** · 06-08-2019, 05:21 PM

Of course, sc would definitely be an option too.

**Ross013** · 06-08-2019, 05:31 PM

SHDW and crypto in general isn't really easily accessible as you make out, furthermore adding a feature that was promised to the 'OG' playerbase and making that feature only accessible to people with the know-how to purchase SHDW is incredibly alienating to the community that has kept the game going this far. You're doing everything you can to breed this 'new class of player' because you want shadow tokens to be worth something, and I can't blame you for that since you hold the majority of them, it's a great payday for you if they end up being worth something, but I will say that there are better ways of increasing your playerbase without alienating your customers, and in turn increasing revenue that can be used to improve development in the areas that need it, rather than only getting features that can be tied to tokens in an attempt to make them worth a buck. Shadow Era is far from short on potential, but you are pissing that into the wind by doubling down on the blockchain stuff. It all comes down to if you'd prefer trying to cash out on something while alienating a large portion of your customer base, or improve the thing that used to be your passion in a way that includes the community that helped to build it? one of these paths leads to a bright future, you just have to make sure you pick the right one.

**Veles** · 06-08-2019, 05:53 PM

I would recommend a poll or some research in playerbase to see what format they would be interested to play in, regardless of what entry fees are.

Personally, I believe traditional bracketed tournaments aren't optimal for online tcg, especially more casual one. Playing bo3 or even bo1 for 3-4 rounds is very time consuming, and we can have players that quit halfway through. It doesn't have to be time constraint on player's part the only reason for leaving. Without TO supervision it is quite open to abuse. It is also possible for group of people to decide who advances to next round.

I think events in MTGA are much better option. EG you get to play 7 matches with locked deck until you lose 2 times, and as system would prioritize matching players with same win/loss ratio it emulates tournament quite well. There are also no time constraints because you don't need to finish entire thing consecutively, or even on the same day. Something like this would be used more frequently imo.

**Shadow Era** · 06-09-2019, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by Ross013

SHDW and crypto in general isn't really easily accessible as you make out, furthermore adding a feature that was promised to the 'OG' playerbase and making that feature only accessible to people with the know-how to purchase SHDW is incredibly alienating to the community that has kept the game going this far. You're doing everything you can to breed this 'new class of player' because you want shadow tokens to be worth something, and I can't blame you for that since you hold the majority of them, it's a great payday for you if they end up being worth something, but I will say that there are better ways of increasing your playerbase without alienating your customers, and in turn increasing revenue that can be used to improve development in the areas that need it, rather than only getting features that can be tied to tokens in an attempt to make them worth a buck. Shadow Era is far from short on potential, but you are pissing that into the wind by doubling down on the blockchain stuff. It all comes down to if you'd prefer trying to cash out on something while alienating a large portion of your customer base, or improve the thing that used to be your passion in a way that includes the community that helped to build it? one of these paths leads to a bright future, you just have to make sure you pick the right one.

I think you missed the point. As I said, the original idea of sc tournaments is still there, just that adding shdw brings it to a whole new level of competitive play with real money. Most of the "OG" players have no need for sc at this point, right?

So I don't really see how this would be alienating them. On the contrary, they can now actually make a profit by being a good competitve player.

**Veles** · 06-10-2019, 06:22 AM

When can we expect next update? Not the one with tourneys, but with balance changes and tutorial for new players?

**jonmaciel** · 06-10-2019, 06:33 PM

At this point in time, both SC and SHDW are considered premium currency so I think having both as an option for entry fee would be ideal. I'm fine with gradually shifting away from SC and towards SHDW but there needs to an easy, seamless way to purchase SHDW in-game as you would SC. Otherwise, it will just be too difficult and time-consuming for casual players to navigate through.

I disagree with Veles about players not sitting through in-game tournaments. I played in many 8-player bo1 in-game tournaments for pokemon online because, if you pay to enter something, you're not likely to just up and leave.