[DAO:53cf79a] Decentraland Studios Maintenance

Governance
1

by 0x4e5a351839117021610315c6182467365c6768d7 (aleescoda)

Should the following $13,680 grant in the Platform category be approved?

Abstract

We are looking for a renewal of our grant to keep Decentraland Studios operational.

Decentraland Studios, the platform that connects experienced creators with brands in Decentraland, has successfully facilitated deals for numerous studios and has become the go-to platform for the Decentraland Foundation to create job opportunities and hire creators. We have been working on maintenance mode since November 2023, ensuring its operations with minimal resources.

Grant size

13,680 USD in DAI

Project duration

6 months

Beneficiary address

0x256874B9FD26cBf11a4E2DE5CFFE5a877603044d

Email address

studios@decentraland.org

Description

Decentraland Studios has come a long way from its creation. Our journey began with the mission to create a public registry of individuals and organizations offering their services to build content on Decentraland’s platform. The aim was to provide transparency to brands looking for talented builders for event productions, wearables, 3D modeling, and SDK programming. This initiative was born out of the desire to democratize access to qualified suppliers and generate new business opportunities for creators within the Decentraland community. See our first grant proposal here.

Our second grant focused on creating business opportunities for our verified studios. We launched the Jobs feature streamlining job opportunities for Decentraland creators and we ran performance marketing campaigns to generate leads.

The third grant focused on enhancing the user experience by improving communication between studios and brands. To achieve this, a dashboard and a messaging system were introduced to facilitate a seamless interaction.

With the fourth grant, we entered a new phase. Our focus was on platform maintenance mode using minimal resources, ensuring its operation for future market opportunities. We addressed and fixed security challenges reported through the Decentraland Foundation bounty program, details in our latest update. In this grant, we updated the studios listed on the registry, enhancing the list of creators available for potential collaborations in 2024.

This fifth grant is looking forward to continuing our maintenance mode to keep the platform running smoothly and growing steadily.

Over the past 5 months:

  • Unique Visitors: 6.1K
  • Page Views: 24.7K
  • A total of 31 job posts.
  • 10 of these job posts have generated total revenue of $52,500 for 10 different studios (shared voluntarily by some posters).
  • 713 job posts have been moderated.
  • Onboarded Studios: 18
  • Consultation Meetings Scheduled: 3

The historical context and achievements have brought us to this point, where we must sustain the valuable resources we have created for the Decentraland ecosystem. While we have optimized our platform to minimize costs, maintaining and operating Decentraland Studios does incur ongoing expenses.

As long as the community chooses to keep Decentraland Studios operational it will require continuous financial aid.

For this grant, we kindly request community support to ensure the sustainability and growth of Decentraland Studios. Our mission remains the same: connecting creators with brands and promoting transparency within the Decentraland ecosystem.

Roadmap and milestones

May 2024 to October 2024

In these 6 months, my role as the Day-to-Day Operations Manager will be focused on maintaining the platform’s smooth operation. Our main goal is to preserve the current user base and ensure the reliability of our platform for both, creators and brands.

These are the key areas that require attention to ensure a smooth operation:

  • Addressing user inquiries.
  • Onboarding new studios.
  • Verifying challenges from studios.
  • Moderating job opportunities.
  • Notifying and encouraging studios to submit proposals.
  • Following-up posted projects.
  • Engaging potential customers.
  • Maintaining our presence on social media.
  • Supporting Verified Studios.

Additionally, a direct line of communication will be maintained with the development team to address any technical issues or challenges that may arise.

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

2

Do you say a way to reduce those expenses or will the DAO be spending 25k a year for this for the rest of its life?
The DAO already a substantial amount of money on bug bounty due to the Studio on the last few months.

260 USD a month for Calendly, Plausible, Sendgrid, Digital Ocean, and other tools sounds like a lot. That website can run on a 10 USD DO droplet, sendgrid might not be needed for the low amount of mail being sent, mailgun charges 1 usd a month for 1000 mails sent, calendly goes for 10 usd a month and Plausible is 9 usd a month, that’s a total of 30 USD per month, is it possible to have a detailed of what Operational cost is please?

2 Likes
3

Hello @HPrivakos,

Decentraland Studios is not a traditional project with a completion point, it requires ongoing financial support to keep its operations. While alternative funding models, such as fees or memberships, are potential options, they may conflict with the core idea of the project, which is to provide accessibility and democratized access to qualified creators.

Regarding operational costs, here is the breakdown:

  • Calendly: $30.00
  • Digital Ocean: $15.00
  • Plausible: $10.00
  • Sendgrid: $60.00

These tools are essential for maintaining the platform working and ensuring an optimal user experience. Additionally, a portion of the budget is allocated to cover the DAO Foundation fees and to address potential technical issues, such as those we had during this grant period.

If you have any suggestions on funding models, we welcome your input at studios@decentraland.org

Thank you for your support!

1 Like
4

Foundation is asking for 135 usd per month to cover for Foundation fees? Might be wise to get your own domain to pay less for this.
Also please look into mailgun or scaleway for mail, 60 usd for sendgrid is a lot.
I just paid 0.15 EUR for 600 mails on Scaleway Transactional Mails, I doubt you are sending 200k+ mails a month for sendgrid to be worth it compared to scaleway.

1 Like
5

become sustainable or go home :wink:

1 Like
6

I agree with @HPrivakos. Additionally, I’ve noticed that some individuals who have never deployed a build in Decentraland are still listed as builders on studio websites. This often appears to be sloppy work, as there’s no proof of their actual work in the world. Almost everyone featured on these studio websites claims to be capable of doing everything possible, yet many of these studios are inactive and have never actually deployed a build. They label themselves as builders, event managers, and other roles just to register as studios. This misrepresentation is misleading and wastes time since the registry is inaccurate.

2 Likes
7

Hello @Dhingia, thank you for your feedback.

To address your concerns, Decentraland Studios has implemented a verification process for all creators, ensuring that only those who have completed our set of challenges are listed on our platform. This standardized approach ensures that both freelancers and studios of any size follow the same process and submit their challenges consistently. This process guarantees that studios can provide the services they claim and that the service tags and categories are meaningful.

In addition, as part of our commitment to maintaining an up-to-date registry of content creators, we requested confirmation of studios’ availability for the 2024 and removed those no longer interested or inactive.

Thank you!

PD: We’ve reached out multiple times to encourage you to complete this verification process and become part of Decentraland Studios, which serves as a platform for creators such as yourself to showcase their portfolios, contact information and space for reviews, as well as access the job dashboard to apply for job opportunities.

8

The sum that you have accepted from the DAO thus far is $172,300.00

If this grant passes, it will be $185,980.00

That is a lot of money.

The sum you are asking for now is expensive, as it is only for 6 more months of operating time. I believe the next 6 months will be critical for Decentraland to connect new users/clients with quality studios, so I will vote yes-but reluctantly. I don’t expect you to become sustainable, but I will not support future grants of this size. I believe now that the website has been built, it should not cost $27,360.00 a year to keep it running. If it does require that sum, please itemize what each cost is going towards. Your description: “Contributor Compensation” is very vague… Can you communicate to us how you arrived at this number? Does it correlate to the number of hours worked? The number of clients communicated with? Something else we’re not aware of? Thank you.

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9

Decentraland Studios Maintenance

This proposal is now in status: REJECTED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes 37% 4,535,814 VP (66 votes)
  • No 62% 7,616,377 VP (22 votes)
  • Abstain 1% 4,359 VP (6 votes)
10

As a consequence of the community decision not to renew Decentraland Studios’ maintenance mode grant, I will not be part of the project anymore and I believe this decision is the right one.

Following discussions with Yemel from the Foundation, we both agree that giving up all the effort, work, and money invested in Decentraland Studios would be unwise.

The platform holds a lot of value to the ecosystem, potential clients, and creators. Therefore, the Decentraland Foundation Support Team will assume the responsibility of the platform. Certainly, Decentraland Studios requires ongoing moderation and operational oversight on a regular basis.

Moving forward, I will collaborate with the Decentraland Foundation Support Team during May, offering guidance on the platform’s processes and day-to-day operations to ensure its seamless functioning until a definitive decision is made about its future.

Being part of this project and ecosystem has been an unforgettable experience for me. I’m deeply grateful for the relationships built along the way.

Thank you very much!