[DAO:c0aa0e1] DAO grants program - create the Community Building category

Governance
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by 0xe6af22b8fd4a2fdfec9a0b18c6be9683882d70e6 (Yararasita)

During Q2 which finished in June 2023, we detected grant proposals that could fit into two or more categories, and that there are great projects that are not addressed by our program.

One example is the type of grant that aims to onboard new members to Decentraland for specific target audiences, like DCL Brazil. In this case, the grantee requested a Documentation Grant, which was not compliant with the Category, but the proposal was valuable for community building and onboarding new members.

There are also valuable DAO members that make community-building experiences and events, like ABC Decentraland, or CBD - Community Building Decentraland who share knowledge with newcomers and ignite interaction among Decentraland users and DAO members.

On the other hand, in the near past, the community has voted YES for the Ambassador Program, and one of the principal objectives was to empower community members. We strongly agree with the spirit of the proposal, and think it would be a good investment to support these valuable community stewards that make the experience in Decentraland more exciting and fun.

With these inputs, we hosted an open session with the community to discuss the creation of a new category in the Grants program, named Community Building, which brings us here with the following inputs:

What type of grants would a Community Building Category fund?

  • In-world exploration: Building specific events to explore the wonderful experiences of Decentraland.
  • Increase engagement: Contribute to increase in times on scene, and returning users.
  • Organize gatherings: Produce meetups for community building.
  • Community Interaction: Exchanging wearables, collectibles, and emotes.

This category would be dedicated to recognizing and supporting individuals or groups who actively contribute to the growth, development, and engagement of the Decentraland community, fostering collaboration and positive experiences within the metaverse.

If the community decides to create this new category, the next step would be to:

  • Escalate this into a draft proposal, including requirements and performance metrics for the Community Building category.
  • Create a poll to re-distribute the budget of the grants program including this category.

If the community decides not to move forward with this new category, the next step will be to:

  • According to the insights of this article, create a poll to re-distribute the % of the grants program budget.
  • Yes - Add the Community Building category
  • No - Do not create the Community Building category
  • Invalid question/options

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

1 Like
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While I agree there is room for improvement with the current categories, I do not believe we are at a point where this category makes sense. We definitely do not have the adequate tools to track whether or not this category can be successful.

In-World Exploration: Building specific events to explore the wonderful experiences of Decentraland.

This is too similar to “In-World Content.”

Increase Engagement: Contribute to increase in times on scene, and returning users.

This is pretty vague and doesn’t give a good idea of what that actually means and why it would require funds. This sounds like creating additions to pre-existing scenes.

Community Interaction: Exchanging wearables, collectibles, and emotes.

What is stopping someone from spoofing this themselves? Anyone can create an alt wallet and send themselves these collectibles.

BlockquoteIn this case, the grantee requested a Documentation Grant, which was not compliant with the Category, but the proposal was valuable for community building and onboarding new members.

Most of the “onboarding” efforts happen off platform. Via social interactions and engagements. This happens on Twitter Spaces, Discord Servers, and Twitch Streams/Kick Streams. Therefore those would make sense to apply for grants within the Social Media category.

I think efforts to onboard should be heavily targeted towards experiences like the tutorial world that the Foundation created. Building that out through In-World Content category or Platform category.

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Hi @NikkiFuego

This is the draft poll only to measure the community’s sentiment regarding a category that is much needed to generate engagement. If you have any insights regarding requirements or measurements of impact, we would be happy to receive them.

Even though In-world content and Community Building might be similar, we are seeking to support projects that go beyond creating in-world scenes, auditions to scenes or emotes, but to generate experiences for new or returning audiences, like tours to specific scenes in new languages, or scavenger hunts through Genesis City to name a few crazy but fun ideas.

When we talk about increasing times on scene or returning users, this is not vague: we are using tools developed and funded by the community such as DCL Metrics (https://dcl-metrics.com), which you are familiar with, that help us understand the behavior of the users.
About community interactions, no one is stopping someone from spoofing this themselves. Nevertheless, we are expecting the best from our community. If they prove this wrong, we would be there to flag the concerns and act on that.
We are aware that onboarding comes from social media like twitter spaces, and Discord Servers, but there is much more than creating videos and target them, but to generate hybrid experiences that bring people from social media platforms and streaming videos to in-world content. And maybe social media as a category is proven to lack value for the program, and deleted in the future. Just to share interesting metrics, during Q2, only 4.5% (5k) of the budget allocated to Social Media category, was used (DAO Grants Program — Quarterly insights | by Zino | Decentrland DAO | Jul, 2023 | Medium)

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Hey @Zino

Totally aware this is just a poll. My comment was my sentiment haha.

I don’t think metrics for things like this can be evaluated as quickly as the other categories. It’s hard to determine if something is successful that is more of a cultural experience or a hybrid experience. Especially since it’s not something that is done very often.

I understand what increasing time on scene means. Very aware of analytics and how they work. When I say “vague” I mean what scene(s) are we talking about? Scene retention is solely up to the scene creator and host. Which again falls in line with In-World Content (in my opinion).

If we don’t have a way to counteract the spoofing of someone sending themselves wearables and stuff ahead of time, it should not be something we “hope for the best” on. We’ve done a lot of “hoping for the best” and it’s not really worked out.

I don’t think just because the social media category wasn’t used very much is a valid reason to say it’s not useful to the platform. Especially since it’s on track to cap out this quarter in in the first month of the quarter.

It’s been 5 months in this new grant structure. Hardly enough time to determine if a category is truly valuable or not. I think the biggest issue we face as a community is the budget caps. I truly believe that people apply in the “wrong” categories often to avoid competing for funds or misunderstanding of the category titles. Again, my opinion.

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If the team is going to confuse RobL preventing a category from being used with “the community doesn’t want to use it,” the team is not capable of making rational conclusions from the available data.

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First off you need to pay attentoin to why things pass and don’t pass. Second you need to just look at this quarter to realize this conclussion is flawed.

If you are going to build a budget around what RobL allows to pass you are not making a budget for the community, you are making it for Rob.

Perhaps hire a competent data analyst who is capable of seeing the bigger picture and not just ignore the reality that resulted in the numbers on the spreadsheet given to them.

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  1. Referral Links
  2. User Education
  3. Demonstrate Learning

Referral Links

How did they hear about DCL? Who referred them? How many times have they come back? Who is more likely to be a repeat user? What are the blockers preventing others from coming back? By getting answers to these and other questions, mentoring and educating new users will become more effective.

Utilize the current Decentralites who are enjoying, improving and creating the world to promote and welcome in new users. Reward these passionate individuals and the people they bring in. Dropbox gave people 500 MB of storage for each person they referred to the service. Tesla offered $1K for referreals.

User Education

What brings a Decentraland to life for someone venturing into this virtual space for the first time? Non-Playable Characters! Just kidding. It’s real people. Virtual spaces are about people connecting with other people. Even the best AI-powered NPC can’t have a real connection with a person. The barriers to entry can be made low by connecting new users with Mentors/Ambassadors.

The market is down and traffic is low. This is a perfect time to do the hard work that doesn’t scale easily. Educating others is best handled person to person so that lessons can be tailored to the exceptionalities of the user. The Mentor/Ambassador is able to check for understanding.

Demonstrate Learning

Did they learn anything? We must answer this vitally important question or the first two points are moot. We get them in the door. We educate them on the wonders and intricacies of this special place. By showing us what new understanding they have tells us they own their learning. From the casual user to the on-fire, inspired, new build or wearable creator, to the hard-core gamer, each can show us what they know.

We will reward their new knowledge with rewards, incentives, continued relationships, and potential future partnerships. Who better to spread the word about Decentraland than the newest, enthusiastic participants?

Each step along this path will help foster relationships that grow into a stronger community.

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DAO grants program - create the Community Building category

This proposal is now in status: FINISHED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes - add the community building category 92% 6,076,979 VP (99 votes)
  • No - do not create the community building category 7% 522,292 VP (13 votes)
  • Invalid question/options 1% 1,496 VP (5 votes)
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I believe introducing a new category called “Community Building” within the grant framework is in line with Decentraland’s mission. This addition seems necessary as no existing category fits in the current grant structure.

The closest existing categories are:

  • “In-World Content”, focused on short-term in-game activities and serves to retain more than it acquires.
  • “Social Media”, focused on increasing visibility in other platforms, hence it acquires more than it retains.

Contrarily, a successful community achieves a balance between acquiring new members and retaining existing ones. This balance is the essence of building a healthy, sustainable community.

Differently to other categories, a community is something else, something bigger:

  • A community embodies a culture, a vision and a mission. You feel you belong to the community.
  • A community is thought for the long-term (the WHY), but it won’t work if you don’t make it work short-term (utility)
  • A community has not only fans/audience but also other talented members (aka builders) eager to contribute to its growth.

It is very difficult to create and grow a community consistently. Vibrant communities are crucial for the success of a virtual world. No communities, no fun. Decentraland is the foundational platform in which other communities grow. Therefore, I believe communities need extra support from the DAO.

I’m excited about this initiative and look forward to its development!

2 Likes
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DAO grants program - create the Community Building category

This proposal has been PASSED by a DAO Committee Member (0xbef99f5f55cf7cdb3a70998c57061b7e1386a9b0)