SIP-11: The Sandbox DAO to Fund the Sandbox Ambassador Program

[Geraldine]

TL;DR

What	The Sandbox Ambassador Program is a collective of individuals who are tasked by The Sandbox to complete a set of functions that support the development and growth of the platform. As our platform and community continues to grow and evolve, so do our needs. In response, we’re welcoming new ambassadors to help us support and contribute to The Sandbox ecosystem.
Why	The Sandbox needs an Ambassador Program to help support the growth and development of the platform and ecosystem it serves. Ambassadors will play a critical role in raising awareness with new and existing audiences about key initiatives. Furthermore, this program will allow The Sandbox to incentive and reward community members for their efforts in helping to push the platform forward.
How	The Sandbox Ambassador Program SIP proposes allocating up to 400,000 SAND to cover costs for paying ambassadors in the program. (We believe this approach to the budget will allow us the flexibility we need as we scale the program over the coming months. Budget will fluxate depending on the number of the ambassadors accepted into the program, current needs of The Sandbox, etc.) at this stage, budget depends on the # of ambassadors involved). This budget will help pay for the expansion of the program including more Ambassadors to fulfill roles in new tracks. In SIP Details you will see the four ambassador tracks.
When	The Ambassador Program has been launched on Monday, July 19th Medium Forum
Who	The Marketing Team of TSB will be in charge of interview rounds, Ambassadors Management and reporting. Tag @AllMyFriends for any questions.

SIP Details

Why does TSB need Ambassadors ?

The Sandbox is relaunching The Sandbox Ambassador Program in order to increase the number of ambassadors within the program by introducing new roles to support the platform’s ongoing growth.

In order to support the growth of this program, The Sandbox is seeking funding support from the DAO to compensate the ambassadors within the program.

Initially, our ambassadors focused on community engagement through key channels like Discord by answering questions and helping users learn how to use tools like Game Maker and VoxEdit. Now, in addition to those critical functions, ambassadors could be tasked with creating content for The Sandbox channels, fostering a fun and engaging in-game environment with players, and more. By expanding our program, we can partner with more of our community bringing in fresh perspectives and diverse talents.

Let’s dive into how the new program works.

The Sandbox Ambassador Program Overview

A Community for Everyone

The Sandbox Ambassador Program brings together a diverse group of people connected by a love for gaming, having fun, forging meaningful connections, and of course, The Sandbox!

The Sandbox Ambassadors have the opportunity to forge real, meaningful impact throughout our global community. From helping onboard new players to producing engaging content that inspires creators, ambassadors foster a welcoming and inspirational environment for existing and new community members.

More Ways to Contribute

With this re-launch, we will be increasing the number of ambassadors and introducing new roles to support the platform’s ongoing growth.

Initially, our ambassadors focused on community management through Discord by answering questions and driving conversation. Now, we will be expanding the coverage of Community Manager (CM) to additional channels as well as introducing three new tracks: Content Creator (CC), In-Game Leader (IGL), and Key Opinion Leader (KOL).

By expanding our program, we can partner with more of you—our passionate community—bringing in fresh perspectives and diverse talents.

Rewarding Work

Our ambassadors play a crucial role in supporting The Sandbox platform and broader ecosystem, all while being recognized by the community and rewarded in SAND for their work.

Goals of the Program

The goal of The Sandbox Ambassador Program is to leverage members of the community to help push brand and business objectives forward by:

• Acting on behalf of the business and fulfilling core job functions (i.e. Customer Support on Discord),
• Distributing key information to the wider community in which they have influence,
• Produce content for The Sandbox and The Sandbox DAO, and
• Facilitate in LiveOps during platform events (i.e. Season) to ensure players have an engaged, populated server.

Thus, The Sandbox Ambassador program allows us to:

• Foster positive brand affinity and trust through community engagement,
• Communicate key brand messages more broadly and effectively to new and existing audiences, and
• Ensure optimal user experience.

Below you will see the four ambassador tracks:

• Community Manager (CM) tasked with interacting with the community on The Sandbox social and community channels.
• Content Creator (CC) tasked with making content for The Sandbox to publish on our channels.
• Key Opinion Leader (KOL) tasked with wielding influence within their communities by making and publishing content on their channels.
• In-Game Leader (IGL) tasked with interacting and driving engagement within in-platform experiences.

Who can apply?

Anyone is welcome to apply and acceptance into the program is up to The Sandbox’s discretion based upon:

1. Qualifications of the applicant.
2. Standing within The Sandbox Community (cannot violate terms of use, etc.)
3. Needs of The Sandbox team, which can fluctuate depending on a variety of factors.

However, filling out this application does not represent any guarantee of becoming an ambassador of The Sandbox and/or receiving any form of compensation from The Sandbox.

Benefit to The Sandbox Ecosystem

We believe that The Sandbox DAO should fund this program because:

1. Shared & Aligned Goals: The purpose of the ambassador program is to foster the development and growth of the community and platform which in turn impacts the Sandbox DAO community. All of our goals align with growing the ecosystem.
2. Community First, Always: Many of The Sandbox Ambassadors are active members of the community—in some cases, the most active members—and should this SIP be approved, we can expand the program to welcome in even more members to our program.
3. Creating More Opportunities: By expanding our program, we are creating new roles and jobs for our community so that they can shape the present and future of the platform, and get paid for their work.

Budget requested

Category: SAND Initiatives
Overall budget requested: up to 400,000 SAND

Exact number of Ambassadors can’t be determined at the moment;

Implementation Plan

TSB Marketing Team will manage directly relationship with Ambassadors, including payment.

Milestones	How do we measure success?	Expected completion date	Unlock Payment
Round #1 Selecting Ambassadors, Onboarding first set of ambassadors	# of individuals accepted into the program	From September onwards	200K SAND
Round #2 Reporting on first batch of ambassador work	TSB Marketing team will share with the DAO key metrics about the program	End of 2024	200K SAND

Voting Options

• Vote Yes: Support the DAO funding the program
• Vote No: Do not support the DAO funding the program
• Abstain: Indifferent / not interested in the SIP

APPENDIX

Alternatives Considered

The Sandbox funds the ambassador program fully. We chose to not proceed with this option because we felt that since the ambassador program is tasked with fostering and growing the community, the DAO should fund the program.

[Lanzer]

Hi @AllMyFriends team! Very interesting SIP! I’m happy that we’re able to discuss this. I really like the idea, and there’s more I need to know to form a voting decision. Would your team representatives be willing to come on the SANDDAO podcast to give your perspective and expand on the SIP? Episodes are posted here

My questions:

• Under the “How” section: Which budget would this come from? Operations? LiveOps?
• Under “Why does TSB need Ambassadors?” section: Could you give a full list of what “creating content for The Sandbox channels” entails please?
• Under “The Sandbox Ambassador Program Overview” section: What new roles are you thinking of introducing?
• Under “Goals of the Program” section: Where it says “acting on behalf of the business,” does this mean that Ambassadors would have an employee/employer or freelancer relationship with TSB? If not, what kind of relationship is established with Ambassadors and who TSB/DAO/something else is it established with?
• Under “Goals of the Program” section: where it says “Produce content for The Sandbox and The Sandbox DAO,” Is there ever a situation where Ambassadors would be required to distribute specific key information?
• Under the four Ambassador tracks section: This one is a selfish question, I applied to be an Ambassador after discussing it with Seb on my SANDDAO podcast. If I were to be selected & accepted as a KOL, what sort of “wielding influence” would be expected of me and other KOLs?
• Under “Implementation Plan” section: What is the 400K funding? Compensation? Onboarding fees? Something else?
• Under “Implementation Plan” section: How many individuals total does 400K allow you to accept?
• Under “Appendix” section: Different from my above question. If the DAO ends up paying the 400K, does this mean that the Ambassadors would then answer to the DAO instead of TSB?

[Geraldine]

Hello Lanzer, thanks for your questions. I can already assist to answer some of them as the answer is in the SIP:

• Under the “How” section: Which budget would this come from? Operations? LiveOps? => under “Budget Requested” section, if says Category = SAND Initiatives.

• Under “Implementation Plan” section:** What is the 400K funding? Compensation? Onboarding fees? Something else? => Compensation only for the Ambassadors

• Under “Implementation Plan” section: How many individuals total does 400K allow you to accept? => Exact number of Ambassadors can’t be determined at the moment;

I hope this help!
I let @AllMyFriends answer for the others.

[AllMyFriends]

Under “Why does TSB need Ambassadors?” section: Could you give a full list of what “creating content for The Sandbox channels” entails please?

• Content creation can vary based upon the needs of the Marketing teams at the time but typically will involve in game capture, rendered scenes, voxedit assets, or motion design work.

Under “Goals of the Program” section: Where it says “acting on behalf of the business,” does this mean that Ambassadors would have an employee/employer or freelancer relationship with TSB? If not, what kind of relationship is established with Ambassadors and who TSB/DAO/something else is it established with?

• Ambassadors will have a contractual agreement with The Sandbox based upon their agreed track and commitments. The contract auto-renews on a monthly basis.

Under “Goals of the Program” section: where it says “Produce content for The Sandbox and The Sandbox DAO,” Is there ever a situation where Ambassadors would be required to distribute specific key information?

• Yes. We may leverage ambassadors to distribute information for a launch (i.e. Game Maker update), support a partnership launch, promote a SIP, and more!

Under the four Ambassador tracks section: This one is a selfish question, I applied to be an Ambassador after discussing it with Seb on my SANDDAO podcast. If I were to be selected & accepted as a KOL, what sort of “wielding influence” would be expected of me and other KOLs?

• We are looking for KOLs who have a certain number of followers and demonstrate via engagement and other metrics that they are engaging with their community. Influencers will be expected to drive impressions, engagement across their posts, and in some cases, down funnel metrics (i.e traffic to the platform).

*** Under “Appendix” section: Different from my above question. If the DAO ends up paying the 400K, does this mean that the Ambassadors would then answer to the DAO instead of TSB?**

• The program will be owned and operated by The Sandbox. This SIP is purely to fund the program as we believe that this program delivers a similar mission as the DAO which is to grow and foster The Sandbox community.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[Lanzer]

@AllMyFriends

Thank you for answering my questions! Can one of the authors make themselves available for a SANDDAO podcast episode next week?

**Under “Goals of the Program” section: where it says “Produce content for The Sandbox and The Sandbox DAO,” Is there ever a situation where Ambassadors would be required to distribute specific key information?

• Yes. We may leverage ambassadors to distribute information for a launch (i.e. Game Maker update), support a partnership launch, promote a SIP, and more!

What is your position on the conflict that may emerge between Ambassadors on the Key Opinion Leader track and the expectation that they push specific content? The medium article quotes them as “wield influence within your community by making and publishing content on your channels”? A number of Key Opinion Leaders within the Sandbox are opinion leaders because of their polite but independent stance.

Under “Appendix” section: Different from my above question. If the DAO ends up paying the 400K, does this mean that the Ambassadors would then answer to the DAO instead of TSB?**

• The program will be owned and operated by The Sandbox. This SIP is purely to fund the program as we believe that this program delivers a similar mission as the DAO which is to grow and foster The Sandbox community.

What was the reasoning behind not including any tracks for the DAO Ambassador?

[Lanzer]

To @AllMyFriends Can we schedule an episode on SANDDAO Podcast in the near future?

[KandidlyKristen]

As a current ambassador, I am still voting No on this one.

I made a promise to vote No on all Proposals until the Special Council has someone from the community on it. Currently there is still no one and those on the Special Council have not done anything to try to interact with the community outside of their AMAs which they have already used to blatantly lie to us (or are so detached from the community that they really don’t even know what the community wants, which is completely unacceptable for their positions). I will not change my principles and go against the community even if it meant funding for myself.

Currently it states there is no limit to the number of ambassadors. So if they have 400 ambassadors then that means each could be eligible for 1,000 SAND until the rest of the year, that is absolutely no where near enough for the work ambassadors do.

I do not see anything spelling out how these funds will be distributed and I feel like this is an important aspect of this proposal. Some quick questions that come to mind (without even giving it much thought at all).

Are they just going to pick and choose who they like the most and give the amounts based on how they feel that day/week/month/year?

Will they split the funds evenly among all ambassadors regardless of how active they are (given this is how they pay the Special Council members)?

Do the different tracks have different funding amounts?

Will they require work to actually be performed for these rewards? Are these set amounts per task? If so, what happens if the ambassadors perform more tasks than is budgeted for, will any work beyond that just be unrewarded?

Is there a cap per ambassador that they can be rewarded in a certain time period?

Would ambassadors become employees of The Sandbox or The Sandbox DAO or are they still separate individuals who would just be rewarded and not paid? Big tax implications on this one.

Would this only be for new ambassadors or would old ambassadors be forced into this budget?

Currently, I believe, there are already over 50 ambassadors and bringing on new ambassadors while combining the old would potentially limit each ambassador to 5,000 for the year based on this budget amount if the old ones are brought into this budget and how rewards are distributed. Trying to find the answer to how many people are currently ambassadors but this isn’t stated anywhere that I have seen so I could be wrong, there could be even more or fewer.

There are so many obvious questions about this that sadly were not addressed and should have been.

I will be voting No.

[EscapeRoomArtist]

I am proud of you for standing up for your beliefs and being full of integrity! I agree the lack of community involved in the council is partially (trust me only partially) why I did not apply to part of the ambassador program. I had considered it in the past but, I can’t seemed to stand behind the decisions made in the recent months and have voiced my concerns and even told people to pack their offices so someone else can do their job that they obviously can’t do properly. I am sure being this outspoken, they would tell me to pack SAND, you are not who we are looking for. I will continue to vote “Quorum” as most of what I see is: DAO = Drain Allocations Officially

[theKuntaMC]

I am also a current ambassador.

But I agree that this SIP needs to be clearer about SAND allocations.

And you raise other good questions, too, Kristen.

We need to empower and incentivize a strong group of ambassadors – that much seems certain to me.

I look forward to learning more about this SIP.

[HighsGaminghUB]

This is exactly the feedback the Sandbox Team needs to hear.

The “Special Council” members were chosen, but they aren’t really part of the core “boots on the ground” community. They seem disconnected from the people who are in the trenches—creating games, promoting the brand through streams, and even spending their time here in the DAO forums.

A “one-payment-fits-all” approach just doesn’t work here. Compensation should be based on hours worked or tasks completed, not a blanket payment.

I’d suggest considering a “Senior Ambassador” or “Ambassador+” role for those who could be part of this, but I share your concern about the potential for favoritism over merit. That’s a separate issue that could complicate things further.

Tracking time, people, and tasks will be crucial. Bring this and a proven system, and maybe there’s potential.

And let’s not forget—this isn’t just a one-time SIP; it’s a recurring, “forever” type of SIP. In the future, this could lead to demands for “raises” for these “ambassador/employee” roles, adding even more complexity.

[KandidlyKristen]

That’s the big thing to me, even if I wasn’t in the middle of my protest vote, how can I vote on something that I have no idea how the SAND will be spent or even how many people it will be spent on. If they decided to have just 40 Ambassadors, that’s 10,000 SAND a year each. 400 ambassadors is 1,000 SAND a year each. Meanwhile 5 Special Council members who do nothing to involve themselves in the community get 110,000 SAND a year each to ensure SIPs align with the community’s interests (in their words) while they don’t even know what the community wants. It’s absolutely shameful.

[dankoyy]

Just giving my two cents on the issue of community “participation”.
The framework of this DAO Forum is the same as the framework of the Creators’ forum.

In the Creators’ forum, we have an important public tool called Users.

The “User” allows for monitoring and transparency regarding reading, posts, and others importants datas for participation in the forum. It is an important tool for the Creators’ Forum, and I believe it should be enabled here as well.

This helps not only to monitor if there is indeed participation from Advisors and Councils but also from future ambassadors who should be more engaged in helping the community in this very difficult and challenge situation we are facing as community.

Thanks for the fantastic thread, ambassadors!
Daniel Dankoyy

[Lanzer]

Dang, this is a cool feature @dankoyy , I think it should definitely be enabled here.

[Lanzer]

So bringing it back to what I responded to @AllMyFriends about 7 days ago up above. I wonder at some of the responses I’m seeing. I’d like an answer on what their position is on the conflict that may emerge between Ambassadors on the Key Opinion Leader track and the expectation that they push specific content?

What was the thought behind not having a DAO Ambassador track?

Please and thank you!

[sebga]

indeed the frequency and quality of the content is essential, also note that an ambassador must act with a moral sense, by which I mean that “ambassador” cannot orient 50% of his content on “play online, discover my experience” , which would be all the more damaging in periods of Gam Jam where attendance at experiences is the centerpiece.
Also, although it is normal to build relationships and socialize, providing an audience to a friend, should we equate this with a conflict of interest?
We demand transparency, we cannot escape it.
That said, a creator’s content may be centered on his or one of his experiences via the educational aspect (Game Maker or VoxEdit, and soon Magic palette) this makes sense, it remains difficult to have access to the other experiences, although there are many templates available… hmmm I realize while writing that ultimately even from an educational angle there is perhaps no particular reason to remain self-centered, there is enough tool available for that.

[KandidlyKristen]

I agree. It has been made very clear that The Sandbox and The Sandbox DAO are two completely separate entities. As someone who cares so deeply for The Sandbox and the SandFam community, I find it very very difficult to support the current The Sandbox DAO. But based on that answer, it looks like I will be no longer just be an ambassador for The Sandbox, but in fact an ambassador for The Sandbox DAO as I will be promoting and supporting The Sandbox DAO SIPs.

[Lanzer]

I’m still processing @AllMyFriends 's response that this SIP will be used to

1. Compel ALL Ambassadors to promote TSB-specific things and
2. Create an employee situation with the Ambassadors that could be used against the DAO.

I feel like these things cause us to head in the wrong direction, but I want to do a podcast episode on it with @KandidlyKristen and @TheVisionEx and others before I make my own decision.

At the heart of the matter…should we accept that SIP funds go to the creation of an employee relationship that doesn’t answer the DAO members?

I can get that TSB needs to dictate the daily tasks to Ambassadors…but why is it smart for the DAO to not have any say in that relationship? I just haven’t heard a good reason why as of yet.

[Lanzer]

@AllMyFriends Can we do a podcast episode on SANDDAO? I think it would really help if you could speak to this SIP in longform. Please respond to me here or send me a tweet @mrLanzer if this interests you.

[Lanzer]

Yeah, I’d love to–How would you like to do the interview? I go on a work trip for most of next week, but I’m available Sunday night (tomorrow) or starting next Saturday (31-Aug).

I don’t agree with the way you phrased my request. I put forth a thread in the SIP Draft to gauge interest on finding publicly listed information and their public link to landowners. The idea I posted are things that are already public. I don’t see this as unethical. Cyril and I are currently discussing if there is a legal concern with that in another thread.

What is a Worm Tongue Character? Can you please link me where I have “cried harsh”?