by 0x153b2252eddcb3690ae6f5e9f38be13779e1364d (REDACTED)
A common issue with grant budgets is the wide disparity in costs of common elements. From server costs to wearable creation, it isn’t uncommon for the prices of identical services to be vastly different. Over the remainder of 2024, we will focus on creating a Pricing Guide that sets clear expectations for what the DAO is willing to spend. Working with creators and developers familiar with Decentraland, we will establish a benchmark for what is a reasonable amount of money to spend on a wide range of the most common and fundamental items found in Grant Program budgets.
By creating this price guide, the Grant Support Squad, Revocation Committee, or whatever team in the future is responsible for holding grants accountable will have a tangible and already agreed-upon list of costs teams are expected to be spending on services.
This will reduce the padding of budgets that many feel is all to common, and also remove the need for the community to police these costs in the forums when projects submit budgets.
It is all too common that you will see someone with a line item for “Server Costs” or “wearable creation” that those in the community intimately familiar with those processes question, “Why do you have $5,000 for server costs?” or “How many wearables will you be creating for $10,000?”
If you are going to come to the DAO for money to create your game, or finance your Music event, you will need to know exactly how many wearables you intend to create, how many hours of video you plan on streaming, and only then will you be allowed, VP threshold met or not, to proceed with your grant.
The creation of this Pricing Guide will not be done in a silo, and while the Facilitation squad, GSS, or I may drive the process behind getting it done, it will be the people in the community who create wearable, host servers and are intimately familiar with building in Decentraland that will tell us what things should cost.
As with everything in the DAO, this pricing guide, once created, will have to be voted on by the community. Though server cost and wearable creation are the examples given, this Pricing Guide will include a thorough breakdown based on all previous budgets and community feedback on items that should be included, like hourly rates for different types of work and travel expenses.
- Yes
- No
- Invalid question/options
I do believe there are some services/hourly rates that can be set based on an analysis of historical grants. However, I do recognize that many grants will require “non-standard custom pricing”, which is totally fine based on the complexity and scope of the work.