If you’ve dabbled in the world of digital trading card games (or blockchain gaming) over the last couple of years, you’ve probably heard of Splinterlands by now. The leading blockchain game has a continually growing and incredibly active player base from all over the world. No matter the level of your collection or the League at which you play, there is always someone to battle in Splinterlands. There are always trades waiting to be made on the peer-to-peer Monster Market, and there are always plenty of rewards to be earned from battling, collecting, and more!
Splinterlands started over two years ago as a collection of art and the joint vision of two innovators of blockchain tech: Dr. Jesse “Aggroed” Reich and Matthew “YabaPMatt” Rosen. While each came from different (but exquisitely complimentary) backgrounds, the two founders had one crucial thing in common: Both were dissatisfied with the ownership aspect of trading card games.
Whose Loot?
The Ownership Problem
In a “classic” digital trading card game like Hearthstone or MTG Arena, players can earn cards for their collection by playing in a way that is similar to Splinterlands. The key difference comes from the fact that Splinterlands alone is powered by a decentralized blockchain called HIVE. While “classic” TCGs may create the illusion of true asset ownership, the assets themselves are rarely more than a dream.
Imagine a player who has invested countless hours and (unfortunately) countable dollars, euros, or satoshis into a game of digital “collectibles.” Then, because of some unforeseen turn in the road of life (they can happen to anyone), they must stop playing the game. Perhaps they have a baby on the way, or they must buckle down on a new job to save for a home. Whatever the reason, quitting games is something that happens all the time. After all, how many games have you never stopped playing?
That player may want to get some recuperation out of their in-game assets before they go, but they will be entirely out of luck in most cases. There are surprisingly few options for a player looking to sell the fruits of a five-year investment of time and energy into a game they loved. They could hit the message boards and find someone to buy their account, but that can be difficult and risky, especially without the presence of the automatically enforced smart contracts that blockchain provides.
What Sets SPLINTERLANDS Apart?
Several things. Check it out.
Basically, the Splinterlands game is changing all of the above, and that’s what sets us apart from other card games (among other things). In this game, your cards are owned by you, not the company. While the company reserves the right to make slight balance changes (which they rarely do), true and provable ownership of the Splinterlands cards will always be the players’.
Why Blockchain?
Splinterlands is powered by blockchain technology because blockchains lend themselves to gaming better than anything else since the internet. The trading cards you played within your childhood, the MTG, the Yu-Gi-Yoh, the Pokemon… Imagine if they were smart. Imagine if they were all able to keep track of their statistics, abilities, and levels. Each card had its internal computer making constant calculations and allowing the player to have a great time without being bogged down by non-stop details and rules.
Security
Blockchain assets are more secure than they may seem at a glance. Think about a valuable baseball card, or a pre-WWII commemorative plate, or a Rolex watch. What do you need to do with these items to keep them safe? Except for the Rolex, you would probably keep these valuable collectibles in the dark corner of a dark closet, or a literal safe. Why? Because you must protect them.
I’m not saying that non-fungible tokens (as collectibles) leaving the physical realm will eliminate the crime of theft, but it certainly reduces how you must watch yourself. If your crypto, NFT, or digital asset is stored in a secure wallet to hold the keys, it is safe. Each blockchain transaction contains (in raw data form) the entire LEDGER history of the blockchain. The data can always be checked, and in almost all cases, ownership can be proven. Holding blockchain assets is like holding collectibles in perpetual mint condition that have built-in certificates of authenticity. If you want to wear that Rolex, blockchain can’t help you… yet. Give it a few years (NFT Rolex prediction).
Open-Source
For game developers, this is one of the most exciting aspects of Splinterlands. In the same spirit that allows the players of the game to truly “own their cards,” and that gives a huge portion of market fees and pack sales back to Splinterlands players as tournament winnings, we want the world of Splinterlands to be a springboard for creativity and blockchain gaming development.
Splinterlands art and content are available for use by anyone for non-commercial purposes. Because the cards exist in players’ collections as NFTs on a blockchain, there are many possible ways that they can be used.
Roc Eggs: Just One Example
If a game developer wanted to create a game on the Ethereum blockchain with a new ERC-20 token as the earned in-game reward, they could use the existing Splinterlands cards in their own game. Suppose a player wanted to create a mini-game featuring the Giant Roc that involved laying and finding eggs throughout the Burning Lands. By transferring their Giant Roc NFTs to the Ethereum blockchain (already possible), players could then use their Rocs to play in this mini-game to earn EGG tokens (fictional, but someone should try it.)
By holding their Rocs in the alternative mini-game (Roc Eggs), players are essentially staking their Splinterlands NFT elsewhere. Of course, they always have the option to return their Giant Rocs to Splinterlands and use them for battle. After all, they are one of the best Reach Monsters in the game. Plus, the Roc Eggs mini-game players could then trade their EGG tokens on decentralized exchanges such as Hive-Engine, where Dark Energy Crystals and tokenized Booster Packs are traded.
Smart Contracts
Without getting too deep into the philosophies of blockchain and decentralization, here is the best way that I can summarize the goal: Removing the need for trust, as much as possible. In the early days of banking, we had to “trust” that the ledger’s keeper was always honest and authentic with our money. Even as banking advanced into the electronic (and eventually internet) age, there was a strong need for trust and an even stronger prevailing distrust of the whole system.
Blockchains present the beginning of a solution to the trust issue. Money has always been one of the greatest tempters of humans, and the more money, the higher the temptation. People tend to do wild and irrational things when it comes to money, so there needed to be a system of smart money. When Ethereum hit the scene with the idea of smart contracts, a trustless money system finally became a genuine possibility, even though we are still a ways off.
Play to Earn
But for Real This Time
Did you know that your attention is worth something? Not just something, but money. In the early days of the internet, the marketing giants and beginnings of social media monsters knew this already, but they kept it a secret from you as long as they could. They even started to give you little games that made it seem like you were farming things.
The kept us docile, quietly convincing us to collect imaginary loot in whatever stupid Facebook game we happened to be playing. They were cashing in on our eyeballs, taking all that dirty marketing money, and we were never the wiser.
Like the players of Second Life, some early pioneers came together in numbers and decided that some of that loot had value. In some cases, they even devised creative ways to allow their in-game loot to intermingle with real-world currency. Still until cryptocurrency, none of this “loot” ever really left the realm of niche collectible. Blockchain and crypto are changing all that through the real power of Play to Earn games like Splinterlands.
Brilliantly Strategic
But Beautifully Simple
Splinterlands may be a Play-to-Earn style blockchain game as described above, but it is also a gem of strategy and brain-stimulating gameplay. With 27 Rulesets, 6 Splinters, dozens of Abilities, a range of Mana Caps, and over 300 unique cards in play, there is a limitless number of possible battles in Splinterlands. It is almost impossible to see the same action twice, no matter how many thousands of times you battle.
Barely a Minute
Many players enjoy Splinterlands because of the incredibly quick and smooth gameplay. You can play a single battle in most cases in less than a minute, even clicking away and working on other things in between actions. Since Splinterlands is not a turn-based card game but a drafting game, all players need to submit their team from their collection of cards. Then the battle plays itself out. No lengthy commitment is necessary, and you can earn rewards every day for winning just five battles within a specific Quest. You can probably get away with playing at work ?? Learn more at THIS article.
Splinterlands < Splinterlands’ Community
Splinterlands players are fiercely competitive, but there is always an overwhelming feeling of camaraderie in the community, which (despite being thousands instead of millions) is as healthy and vibrant as any community in crypto or gaming.
The economy of rewards surrounding Splinterlands encourages players to seek rewards (and make new friends). After only a few months in the game, many players find themselves tearfully grateful for the connections they have made and the community they have seen. Our most substantial communities are on Twitter, Telegram, Discord and Peakd.com.
If you’d like an enormous rundown on the many ways to earn rewards playing Splinterlands, visit this post.
Summoner’s Spellbook Upgrade
Essential to Start Earning Rewards
A one-time purchase of $10 unlocks the ability to earn rewards forever in the Splinterlands game, called the Summoner’s Spellbook upgrade. The creation of a blockchain account is a bit more involved than a typical e-commerce account, especially since you will be given a wallet where you can hold cryptocurrency.
The game’s battle portion can be played for free with a standard set of cards from the current edition. Still, until a player has purchased the Summoner’s Spellbook and upgraded their account, they will not be able to participate in all features, trade on the market, or earn rewards. Without this crucial and essential feature, the Splinterlands game would be unsustainable and open to various forms of abuse.
Splinterlands on eGamers.io
What to Expect From Us
At Splinterlands, we have a robust and busy team of developers worldwide, making great strides and continuous updates. We also have a vibrant and rich world of Splinterlore that promises to expand outwards in every direction as the game grows and advances. We invite this community to participate in our revolution and learn what it means in digital gaming to own your stuff.
We will share only 100% exclusive content on eGamers.io, written and prepared personally by Chris Roberts, the Director of Content for Splinterlands game.
See You on the Battlefield!
Try Splinterlands For Free
and pay 10$ only if you like it.
- Splinterlands on Twitter
- Splinterlore on Twitter
- Splinterlands on Publish0x
- Splinterlands on Peakd.com
- Splinterlands on Facebook
- Splinterlands Telegram Community
- Splinterlands Discord Community
Read more:
- Splinterlands is supported by Ubisoft.
- How to send card in Splinterlands.
