State of the DAO

đź’¬ General
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Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share my thoughts on the state of the DAO as it currently exists and how I think we should chart a course forward together.

Recent Wins

While I know to many it can seem like we are stuck in the mud, I want to make the point that this stuff is hard as hell. We are literally inventing a new type of government, it will take time. With that in mind I want to highlight what I view as real progress in the right direction for the DAO despite it being basically irrelevant to making fun games.

Quorum

  1. We have successfully mitigated the issue of quorum to a large degree. The last 6 SIPs have achieved quorum, with a record of 165% for the UGC platform SIP. This may seem stupid to celebrate, but it is not, it is real progress.

Forum Discussion

  1. Our recent proposals have seen a wild amount of engagement on the forums. The proposals have been controversial, and that is good. As long as we keep our eyes on the prize and focus on debating the topics and not each other, the more discussion the better.

These are DAO fundamentals, and the fact that we have made significant progress on them should not be taken for granted.

DAO Roadblocks

With the wins in our rear view, we still have a lot of work to do. In order to get to the next level of success we need to start chopping through the roadblocks that are currently facing us. These are high level problems that require a lot of thought and work to get through, but if we don’t make progress we will not be able to add significant value.

Here are the major roadblocks to us making real, valuable contributions to the ecosystem:

We don’t know the Sandbox roadmap.

  1. If we fund tech projects, we don’t know whether Sandbox’s new features will kill them on launch
  2. If our tech projects require new Sandbox features, we don’t know if some of the SIPs roadmaps will be possible or impossible
  3. Some people in the community do have privileged knowledge on the roadmap, but the delegates and large voting blocks do not. In these cases we simply have to trust the judgement of those in the know. This has occurred in various ways in the Deep Sea SIP, the Magic Palette SIP, and the UGC content RFP SIP.
  4. If we fund games, voters don’t have a good sense of whether it will be obsolete in a few months or not.

Funding games right now doesn’t make sense

  1. The games that are feasible on the platform right now won’t drive large engagement, because they are missing crucial features, some of which I outlined in the section below.

Communication from the Sandbox team is absent

  1. This makes the above issues even more damaging to the DAO, because we can’t solve them on our own. If we consistently hear nothing back, our engagement dwindles more and more.
  2. I also don’t want to make this seem like I’m blaming the team entirely, this issue is the responsibility of both the team and the DAO and we need to make alignment a priority.

Robbie.eths Roadmap/SIP Wishlist

I want to make clear at the start this is just my vision of the Sandbox, so don’t take it as a demand list. Some of these are on the Sandbox side, and some are on the DAO side, I’ve included both because we should continue to demand the tools that allow us to make the best games possible, regardless of who should work on it. I want to use this to show all the cool things we can do if we can get the entire community rowing in the same direction.

Creator access to the NFT drops feature

  1. The Sandbox has given out NFTs to players who have completed quests in their Alpha seasons, we need the power to do this for our own games.

Sandbox API

  1. This means Sandbox allowing developers to bring data from inside their games to the rest of the world i.e. being able to pull data on which quests each player has completed.
  2. In order to build cool products the community needs to be able to take data from within the Sandbox and bring it to the rest of the internet. As some examples, someone could airdrop tokens based on in-game completions, or integrate their game’s high scores into a separate website.

Game economy management platform

  1. Economy games are the core of crypto value. We need an easy way for people to manage all the economic components of their games without having how to know how to deploy blockchain code.
1. Examples of features like this include:

  1. Token farming for playing games
  2. NFT crafting recipes
  3. Fee systems to create sustainable game revenue
  4. Guild features

    1. Communal Resource Pools
    2. Guild reward systems to incentivize helping the guild

Saved game maker variables

  1. We need to save player data so when they play the game a second time their progress is saved. This unlocks all types of new games that I don’t need to get into because I think it’s self-explanatory, nearly all games save your progress

Land rentals

  1. This has been a long planned feature for the Sandbox but it seems unlikely that they will launch it anytime soon. I can personally build this, but I need communication from the Sandbox as to whether or not they will integrate it into their product.

A Path Forward

Align TSB and the DAO

  1. Nothing else matters until we get this right. We need a solution on the roadmap concerns, and we need to figure out what kind of tech we are allowed to build without stepping on TSBs feet or burning ourselves.
  2. I will be personally pushing on this with the DAO and TSB itself but of course I only have so much sway.

Internal Goals

  1. We need to continue pushing on quorum, around 200% should be our goal. The reason for this is that if quorum is only hitting 100% every time, then the losing side can just decide to not vote in order to essentially veto the proposal. If the quorum is 200%, then one side can always pass their proposal without loser votes. This incentivizes everyone to vote, and not to withhold votes to kill ideas.
  2. We should aim to fund more tech projects this year. I don’t want to put specific numbers because the point is quality not quantity, but the tech projects that make building easier are the most valuable things we can do right now. It makes more sense to build infrastructure at this point than to fund specific games.

Mindset

  1. Everyone needs to go into this with the absolute and unshakeable conviction that the Sandbox will succeed in the long term. Debate around short term plans are absolutely encouraged, in fact they are the entire point, but do not for a SECOND think that anyone else in this godforsaken crypto realm has a better shot at success than us.
1. Ask not what the Sandbox can do for you, but what you can do for the Sandbox
2. You can just do cool things
3. Crypto twitter is a cesspit, don’t let it get in your head
4. Unrelenting optimism in the face of FUD
5. ACCELERATE
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I echo this. My team + Metatheory Studio built Floor Droppers in Feb 2024, and 6 months later in August it was already obsolete with a key mechanic breaking due to a patch update right before Alpha Season 4. If some of you played FD, you’ll remember not being able to get all of the quests…sorry about that, was out of our hands.

I see player retention as the #1 problem that we have to address. We get tons of new accounts, they just don’t stay.

Yes please. @PickaxeMaster 's CTK SIP should solve that problem for us :slightly_smiling_face:

Ooooo. As in you would hire a team or you personally have the skillset?

Agreed. I wanted to give a proposal to the UGC, but it wasn’t the right opportunity for me. I’m going to be paying close attention to future tech RFPs.

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Appreciate this long and well though out post. I can’t say for all, but as someone who’s a creator/player/delegate, all of the points you’ve mentioned pretty much sums up how, in a perfect world, we are up and ready to take on platforms like Roblox.

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No I can personally build this without a team. Many such projects exist in the Sandbox today and that’s what I want to highlight; it’s not hard it’s just a leadership problem.

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I agree. I write that in my latest response in CC SIP. I think we have a big leadership gap right now.

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hello @cryptodiplo and @lanzer,

Could you please expend on the “leadership problem” you see today? It’s unclear for me when I read your post. Are you mostly referring to roadmap and lack of communication from The Sandbox? What type of coms would you like to have?

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Yes, the problem is that there is ambiguity around who is allowed to build things so nobody does. Additionally, certain privileged teams with insider info know what to build better than others and use it in their SIPs.

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My ideal state is just having the roadmap. I think this is especially fair given how many people submitting SIPs already have it. Additionally, the ability to have guidelines around how much work we can have TSB do in a SIP (fine if the answer is none).

The only ones who know what to build right now are the Council and the magic palette team, because they have in depth info on the products themselves and where they are headed.

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quote=“cryptodiplo, post:1, topic:1720”]
Recent Wins
[/quote]

Thanks for celebrating the big wins:
quorum & increased discussion engagement.

It’s important to remember we’re making progress in something that is inherently very challenging.

I want to speak briefly to the valid concerns you’ve raised above.

  1. As per communication with the Chief Product Officer of TSB, I can confirm that we can expect a public version of the development roadmap very soon (like, this month). Hopefully, what we get will satisy the needs of SIP authors. We can always keep the conversation open and request greater clarity in some areas or perhaps access to bi-weekly or monthly dev updates.
  2. Breaking down communication barriers has been challenging for several reasons, but the Admin Team has made some slow but sure progress on matters like the roadmap (and the ambassador program).

Relevant note (which @Lanzer will want to know about): As per Aminata (literally 20 minutes ago), TSB is planning on opening a private channel for me and TSB Ambassadors on TSB Discord.

Thank you both for pushing, Robbie and Lanzer.
I commend your leadership.

Aligning TSB and the DAO is a very important priority.

Community discussion (and pressure) in this regard will surely pave the way toward progress.

Thanks for getting the conversation going. Ask Cyril or anything, of course. We very much want to see communications channels functioning as effectively as possible.

Your internal goals are great, too. They made me think that we should update our delegate bios to include your priorities for the DAO, so potential delegators can consider them.

As for mindset, thank you for including that statement. :muscle:t4: :rocket:

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This is a very strong framing of the argument for our having our roadmap.

I hope the version we get soon will satisfy the immediate need for clarity so we can start pumping our more high-quality SIPs!

You also raise another point: having guidelines around how much work the DAO can have TSB do in a SIP.

This is a great question to which I do not have an answer. It was probably left ambiguous, because, in theory, the DAO can request anything that fits with the guidelines and makes it past vote.

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thanks for Clarifying @cryptodiplo. Something to keep in mind for future SIPs. Giving access to team that already have the insider knowledge is a double edge sword.

  1. On one hand you have people that are more likely to be successful because they know the ins and outs
  2. On the other hand it mights introduce an unfair advantage compared to truly external team. (see what happen on SIP 20) and prevents fresh perspective from entering the scene
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I completely agree. I don’t think specific teams should have access to privileged information that others don’t. Best case is everyone has access, but if we need to prevent insiders from doing SIPs that is another (bad) option.

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Wow this is big. Crossing my fingers!

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Nice. I’m really happy to hear this. :slightly_smiling_face:

No problem! To me, leadership is about organizing, training, and equipping those within a team or community toward a shared goal. For us, that goal is a thriving DAO that grows the Sandbox ecosystem.

I think the leadership gap is the responsibility of DAO-elected leadership to provide these things to SandFam, and that this responsibility is separate and distinct from DAO Admin Team, approved delegates, or TSB Game Company. I spoke on it a bit during DiTS Ep-004 at 38:05, Kunta has done a WONDERFUL job approaching this from the DAO Admin Team. The episodes with you and him are just absolutely awesome.

  • I want to see DAO-elected leadership organize Town Halls, X/Twitter Spaces, and establish a structured approach to community relationship building. We could also organize Guinness World Record events, and other sorts of things requiring community-wide involvement.
  • I want to see DAO-elected leadership equip SandFam with timely information so they can decide how they want to participate for themselves, such as gathering Q&As on the things that confuse SandFam, and then working with the DAO Admin to deliver clarity.
  • I want to see DAO-elected leadership assist the DAO Admin Team in training SandFam by offering amplifying training material during Town Halls or other community engagement events.
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