[DAO:15e8742] Should the DAO Reward Genesis City Scenes That Drive Engagement?

Governance
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by 0xd11a019a70986bd607cbc1c1f9ae221c78581f49 (Yemel)

The Decentraland platform emphasizes user-generated content, such as wearables and scenes. This high-quality content is what attracts and retains users, stimulates the marketplace, and ultimately increases revenue for the DAO. Therefore, it’s crucial that the DAO incentivizes the creation of exceptional content to maintain this cycle.

Currently, the DAO operates a grant program to stimulate the development of in-world experiences. Beyond this initial support, however, there are no direct incentives for creators to continue enhancing their scenes. Scene creators often monetize their creations through methods such as selling NFTs, issuing their own tokens, renting space to third parties, or selling the scene code for others to deploy on their land.

A critical question for game developers arises: Why should they build their game on Decentraland instead of other platforms or distribution channels? Besides the project’s strong values and initial financial support, there seems to be a long-term economic benefit that has not been fully defined yet.

This proposal suggests a distribution of MANA to scene creators based on the number of users their scenes attract. The user addresses and their locations are publicly available information, disclosed by the protocol and accessible via DCL Metrics and Atlas Corporation. The Decentraland Foundation also maintains a record of this data.

There are, however, numerous questions about how such a distribution should operate, particularly concerning its vulnerability to hacking or bot attacks. The purpose of this proposal is to gather community sentiment on the idea and to start discussions about how to design such a system.

The Decentraland Foundation could initiate a pilot program, taking responsibility for calculating the winners, filtering bots, and distributing MANA as compensation to creators. Subsequently, any community member could request a grant to keep this program operational.

Questions & Proposed Answers:

What scenes participate in the engagement contest?
All scenes in Genesis City can participate in the contest, excluding plazas and roads.

How much MANA should be distributed?
The amount should be adjusted based on the revenue generated by the DAO from marketplace fees. For instance, over the last 30 days, there was an income of 30k USD.

How should the MANA be distributed among the scene creators?
Prizes should be distributed monthly. All scenes will be ranked by an engagement metric using data from the past 30 days. The top 20 scenes receive a part of the prize based on the following scheme:

  • Top 1: 25% = $7,500
  • Top 2: 15% = $4,500
  • Top 3: 10% = $3,000
  • Top 4 to 10: 4% = $1,285
  • Top 11 to 20: 2% = $600

The total prize is based on a 30k USD amount.

How is the engagement of a scene measured?
Several metrics should be defined to strengthen the algorithm. The key metrics will be calculated using public traffic data reported by the catalyst nodes. The proposed metrics include:

  • AVG DAILY UNIQUE WEB3 VISITORS: Number of unique web3 visitors for the month divided by the days of the month.
  • AVG DAILY WEB3 VISITS: Number of times web3 users have entered the scene within the month divided by the days of the month.
  • AVG SCENE RETENTION: The average of days passed between the first and last appearance of a web3 user in a scene within the month for all web3 users that visited the scene more than once in that month.
  • AVG RETURNING: Average number of times a web3 user visits the same scene within the month.
  • AVG STAY MINS: Average time spent by web3 users in the scene, in minutes.

All metrics are calculated over web3 users (non-guest users).

How is a ranking produced based on the key engagement metrics?
The process involves creating five different scene rankings, one for each key metric. These rankings are then combined using Borda’s count method using the formula:

scene_score = value(position_ranking_1) + … + value(position_ranking_5)

The value of each position in the rankings is calculated using numbers derived from different percentiles of a normal distribution. This method ensures that ranking in the top positions is more rewarding.

What does this ranking look like for June engagement metrics?

winners_june
winners_june2356×1576 616 KB

You can find the dataset with the example at this link.

How are bots prevented from manipulating the ranking?
To prevent fraudulent activity in the engagement metrics, the Decentraland Foundation flags and removes from the analysis web3 users who display suspicious activity. This activity is currently flagged based on the number of sessions connected from the same IP and user agent. The list of suspicious users can be published along with the dataset for auditing purposes.

  • Yes
  • No
  • Invalid question/options

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

3 Likes
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Hi @yemel ! Great initiative! This is pretty interesting. I just have 2 questions. Metatrekkers doesn’t have any major events at our parcel except voting for the DJ battles or streaming our twitter spaces. So how can we be #4? Is this accurate or are numbers really that low in DCL?

Also DG has so many events and many people attend their venues, however I don’t see them on here, and many other great projects. I am just trying to better understand the criteria.

Thanks in advance!

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Ice Poker Stronghold #10 @MetaTrekkers is DG. Another question @yemel how can TruBand not be on this list at all? I think there is some flaws in the metrics for sure.

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Hello Yemel, thanks for your poll to raise up the idea about rewarding system. The initiative of rewarding content creators with MANA token is definitely incentivizing and financially supportive. I would like to ask about how the sample data being mentioned is come up, as we observed that DG’s Stronghold is not ranked as no.1 and there are also other DG scenes not on the list. In addition, Soul Magic main scene -29, 81 is not on the list as well. If the incentive system is based on traffic metrics, then data accuracy would be a crucial factor for this. Thanks

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@yemel thank you for this game-changing proposal, I was hoping to propose it for a while, but don’t find the proper time to think about the whole system, but thankfully you now come.

However, just like the above comments, the ranking systems might need some tweaking, I am a little surprised that Decentral Games is not No.1, which is instinctively against common sense lol. I suspect the reason is that when you do calculate, some figures need to be put on weights. For example, DAU def need to put on more weight since that’s one of the most important figure. Also, the source data side might be worth some double-checking as well.

Lastly, super hype for this, the flaws cannot hide the value of this proposal, let’s develop it and make DCL the most popular metaverse!

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I think this is a great start to incentivizing scenes that are active. However, the data needs to be correct when talking about his kind of money. Especially as it scales. Would be good to know where the data is being sourced. Most scenes run several types of Data/Analytics. Usually external servers like Heroku, Colyseus, and PlayFab show real numbers. Based on what I’ve seen from them I believe there are a lot of discrepancies throughout this whole data set. @yemel

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If they’re familiar with Decentraland user numbers, it should be obvious to whoever put the table together that the user numbers are inaccurate. As others have noted, simply fix the data and resubmit the proposal.

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Thanks for bring this topic up @yemel ! Having a system that rewards popular/engaging content this is absolutely vital the platform’s success, but there are a few issue with the current plan and this may need to be researched/tease out the details a little more before moving forward:

A steep/spike approach to payouts is likely not the best approach. While awarding scenes/experiences this way will likely result in an increase in developed projects/initiatives (and make the top 3 much more sustainable), the current reward structure only makes a couple projects viable at a time. If we want to stick with this flat payout-per-placement structure we should take a summit approach: the top 5 to 10 experiences get a more even payout, then lower payouts for less engaging projects (ex: top 4 projects get $3k, lower 9 get $2k). This would greatly increase the number of slots that provide at least ‘viable’ funding for future develop. Even if we use payout-per-position, two scenes could have close to the same metrics, but maybe a large different in their payout. (ex: look how close Wondermine and Butterfly Pawn are in scoring, does that minimal score variation really deserve a $3k difference in payout?)

I think we should look at how other popular sandbox platforms handle this and adopt similar reward structures. Take ROBLOX for example, one of the most popular games in the world atm: one of the way users can gain payouts for their content is by attracting ‘premium users’ to their games, rewarding users based on metrics for the portion of the population paying the platform. We should find a way to reward scenes proportional to how well they preform/their engagement metrics. In this case we can even treat certain users as more important/define a rating per account (ex: do they spend money (own wearables/name)? do they vote? do they explore or just idle? etc.). This will not only help refine the metrics to remove any missed bots/idle-loggers, but it will also make it easier to determine a better understanding of what types of content lead to more conversions & more fairly reward scenes based on their actual value rather than arbitrary ranks/tiers.

An additional entry restriction of a project having at least a certain amount of engagement before a payment would also be ideal (ex: have at least 1000 unique visits in the month or something).

(I know there has been discussion around this topic before, but just wanted to tie it in again) We should also consider vanity rewards (forum badges, wearables, etc) for developers/scene owners in Decentraland. Even the smallest bit of motivation can lead people into trying something new out (such as making a game/experience). These can come in a ranked/evolving form (like discord’s booster badges) that become more impressive the more liked/engaging a scene is. (I’ve mentioned Roblox before and I’ll mention it again; it is hard not inspect/respect a platform that makes billions) Something like the developer-crown system Roblox has would go a long way to enticing existing users to make their own scenes. Basically, crowns evolve as a developer’s project maintains concurrent unique users & crowns are often used as reference/prestige/an object to gauge how experienced a creator is.

3 Likes
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We already have negative cash flow, and the Foundation wants to spend the little cash inflow to DecentralandDAO.

You can take a % of the monthly revenue to incentivise the Genesis city but why proposing to use 100% of the Monthly DAO revenue from marketplace fees?

I believe this will incur civil war in the metaverse hahaha. Cheers men!!

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Hi @yemel , thank you for your proposal. This is a promising initiative and a good starting point for gathering Community sentiment on the idea and brainstorming on how to create such system. :handshake:

IMO, it would also be interesting to track ‘USER ACTIVITY LEVELS’ within scenes. This metric could measure the volume of movements or interactions users engage in during their stay in a scene. However, this might require significant computational and storage resources, potentially leading to increased operational costs.

Maybe it would be beneficial to extend the number of top scenes to 50. This could foster greater Community engagement.

As to the prize amounts, we can hold a Community discussion in the DCL DAO Discord financial-planning working group. IMO we might consider allocating a portion of the DAO’s revenue not only towards rewards/prizes but also towards ensuring the DAO’s long-term financial sustainability.

Would like to invite Community to discuss DAO financial topics, issues and concerns in financial-planning working group in Decentraland DAO Discord. :sparkles:

https://discord.gg/tR9KAKVKMj

1 Like
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I like this idea, but first - data needs to be correct.

I would even support spending some part of in-world category budget for this and leave less budget for grant requests. It is obvious that current grant system is not working, it is benefitting grantees and not Decentraland. If creators can’t create a POC of their idea and attract some user base, then there is no reason DAO should give them money.

3 Likes
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That will encourage bots.

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Would it be possible to have some type of bot detection in place? Otherwise this won’t really work/will be a bot race.

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Twitter and Facebook cannot do it properly, so probably not.
You can add steps to make it harder, but it will always be a cat/mouse game, especially with several thousands USD to win out of it every months.

2 Likes
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I think TheCryptoTrader69 has written some good ideas to prevent bots

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Love the idea! I think that would help the already developed scenes to stay active until there are other ways to generate revenue and become self-sustainable (which atm is almost impossible, even though everyone is always enquireing about this).

So if that can be done in a way that…

  1. Is accurate (which the sample data set clearly is not)
  2. effectively prevents botting
    … I would love to see something like this implemented!
1 Like
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This will encourage bots.

We should find a way to do it anyway. Proof of humanity, DID, referral links, Captcha, person to person interactions, or some as yet undiscovered method should be employed. I used to work in retail. Shrinkage was a known cost of doing business. People will come into the store and steal things. Employees would lift money from the till. That reality doesn’t shut down businesses.

It will be gamed and exploited.

We should do it anyway. It will be to everyone’s benefit to arrive at accurate, robust metrics on the who, what, where, why, and when users spend time in DCL. Doing it in the open, on a level playing field will be an asset to the platform.

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Firstly we have to differentiate the difference between scene engagement & scene attraction. Scene attraction based on this proposal is purely for a cash grab. Scene engagement on the other hand is a puzzle we have not yet to solve. Organic scene engagement is always the best solution. For this to happen there has to be a reason. Gaming has been tried many times over and failed. I feel the focus should be more towards the Worlds feature, how other communities & projects could also have their own Worlds.

I agree with others on the bot issue. If we think about it, even the best funded projects that took over 6 months to develop still failed to bring in any new users or engagement. How is this proposal going to change that? Foundation is getting their roles mixed up with marketing & clearly they both suck at what they do lately. I call for a change.

2 Likes
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nothing against you, just curious, bots or basically empty, which one do you prefer more?

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With due respect, Decentral Games is a very good example to prove that game could work following the right process and with the right timing. DG’s success does not rely only on Gambling, it’s the entire story and economic system that they built that attracted both capital and players. World feature is great to release creativity, but the core thing is how to enable brands to build a similar successful system like DG (with their own experience, dont have to be gambling) by providing a stable platform with useful tools and incentives. I do understand the platform and tools need time for the foundation or community to develop, but incentive schemes like this can be implemented fast and effectively. We will see related number rocketing after the scheme is launched, there will be bots, but that’s another problem to be solved.