Splinterlands | Fixing the Onboarding Problem !!

I still enjoy Splinterlands as a game but by now it's clear that the game has a massive onboarding problem. Here are some thoughts on why this is the case and how to potentially fix this...

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Previous Thoughts...

I wrote an article on the onboarding problem way back nearly 4 years ago before the major boom. (Link). The way this was eventually solved at least during some period was by creating a new token out of thin air with a big part of the tokens going to people who held assets in the game which created a crazy bubble with prices going up which got more players interested (and especially more bots since initial 10$ investment could be earned back really quickly). With more players coming in, prices kept going higher, and so on. Eventually, the spiral reversed and created a long period where the price eventually had to be paid for the crazy printing.

What is Different Now...

Basically, they can't yet again create a new coin out of thin air, and with the entire ecosystem being bigger now, exponentially more money needs to come in to create a similar upward spiral. This means that (unless there is another crazy bull market that would pump SPS which isn't unthinkable), new players have to come from players that actually want to play a fun addictive game and not so much only care about earnings as most of those by now have been nerfed to the ground. (Soulbound Reward Cards)

Splinterlands is a Great Game!

Look, the core gameplay loop of Splinterlands I would say is actually awesome. Each game is different in it's own way, there is quite some strategy to the deck building and the time it takes for an individual match is somewhere between 2 and 5 minutes. However, this is only really the case if...

1. You have a huge collection of Leveled-Up Cards which either cost a fortune or are a crazy hassle to rent. The game still has a huge Pay2Win factor which is not fun when you simply aren't competitive in many matches.
2. You Grind your way up to the fun higher levels as Novice, Bronze, and Silver just aren't as fun as Gold and up which takes time to get there.
3. You are able/willing to at least play 60+ minutes each and every day without exception as you need to get rewards to compensate for what currently are guaranteed dropping card prices over time.

All this makes it so that only a vast minority of the players now can actually experience Splinterands in it's full glory. Even I have some frustration on this, as I would love to play with some of the newer / older cards but the cost to get there simply can't be justified.

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Current New Players Experience!

The experience for new casual players simply isn't there at the moment, if first requires 10$ for the Spellbook (which is understandable given that it created a hive account and avoids more bots coming in). With this, you aren't competitive especially given that you still have to learn a lot. many of the Overpowered Gladius Soulbound cards and Reward cards are also impossible for new players to get quickly which makes it extra frustrating.

Not only will you need to rent or buy a lot of extra cards, you also will need to get or rent some SPS in order to get some actual rewards from the game which at the start are totally negelectable. All this not even talking about the effort it costs to understand all of it since there is way more to it with DEC / Land / Wild / Modern / Guilds / Tournaments / Vouchers / Potions / ...

In the last 6 months, Splinterlands only managed to sell 1033 Spellbooks in total which simply isn't enough.

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Onboarding Solutions!

The way I see it, the solution in the onboarding of new players lies in allowing them to experience the game in its full glory at a cheap cost without anything complicated to it. The only real way that this can be done is to introduce a new game mode where everyone is on a level playing field and where it's not so much about the rewards but about pure fun without any crazy obligated daily time investment. Players should be able to play the game at moments they want and not because they have to in order to get the rewards!

Game Mode Idea: One such game mode idea is to provide both players with the same random set of 40-60 cards (see how these are provided below) I would say of 1 class with mutiple summoners and also some Neutral cards. With these, they have to make their best deck in 3-5 minutes with the normal game rules so it's 100% a skill/luck game. (Bots & Battle Helpers need to be banned here also).

This could be monetized in some kind of battle pass that with ~12 battles that can be played during a season and each time you get matched up with someone who is at a similar win rate. So if you lose your first match, you will be matched with someone who also lost their 1st and if you win you get matched with someone who also won their match and so on. The rewards would be higher depending on how players their win rate at the end of the season. Those who do well make a small profit on their entry cost and those who don't make a small loss while still getting something. (At least 1 Rebellion pack could be a good reward)

It should also be possible to play practice matches which come at a cost of somewhere between 10-50 DEC or so to play just for fun and to get better at it without any rewards aside maybe a progression meter that gives something after a lot of matches (title or cosmetics).

Card Supply Rental Pools: The cards used in this game mode would be provided by players just from staking them in a pool which would pay out part of the entry fee as rental revenue based on how often cards are included in the draft. This would give extra value to cards that have fewer in circulation. Something like this would provide an easy 1-click solution for those who are looking to get passive returns on cards and make them an actual investment.

What This Would Do: This would create a way for players to instantly enjoy the game in what should be a fun game mode (or could be with some tweaks). They pay the cost for the battle pass as a pay-to-play monetary model where part of the fees goes to those who actually own and provide the cards. Right now, most players can't experience and enjoy playing with older cards or with the new summoners. A Game Mode like this would fix. If actual gamers try this, I'm sure many would want more of the game and convert to the Ranked Leagues or become card / SPS investors eventually. It's also easy to market and promote and maybe a discount entry fee could be a thing for those who have SPS staked.

Bring Back The Affiliate Program!

Splinterlands used to have a great affiliate program where it was actually worth going out of your way to onboard new players. This still exists but the payouts have been totally bypassed and cut of since only Credits count toward it while there is no real incentive to use those as DEC nearly always is a lot cheaper. DEC is good enough for Splinterlands the company to get revenue from but not for those who bring in new players. I haven't seen ayone actively shill the game to try and onboard new players in a long time and this is certainly one of the reasons!

Conclusion

Splinterlands onboarding and new player experience right now sucks which also shows in the purchased spellbook numbers these last months. It's overly complicated, requires a crazy investment to be somewhat competitive, a long grind to get to the fun Leagues, and most importantly an obligation to play at least 60+ minutes daily. All of this could be solved by introducing a new game mode that instantly captures the full potential of the game allowing new players to experience the fun without it having to be about the rewards.

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