VP FOR SOCIAL CAPITAL!
In the past couple months the Decentraland community has developed some amazing tools for measuring user engagement. Lets use this data to build a system that rewards social and platform engagement with Voting Power (VP)!
.
.
.
PHASE 01: PILOT
For a long time it has been a sore point in Decentraland’s DAO that Voting Power only reflects financial contribution and ignores all else. Contributions such as time spent in world socializing, building, exploring, developing, and voting all hold zero weight in terms of VP. This proposal outlines how we can move towards a VP system that considers social capital along side financial capital.
To do this we must first have a way of quantifying social capital. Thanks to the Decentraland DAO and DCL Metrics, we now have ways of measuring some categories of social engagement. The DCL DAO now regularly updates a list of the top monthly voters on its website here https://governance.decentraland.org/. DCL Metrics does the same with top explorers of parcels in world here DCL Metrics.
For this pilot phase, I propose rewarding the top voter and the top explorer of the month with delegated VP. After a month of use, the delegated VP is reclaimed by the original wallet and redistributed to the next months lead voter and explorer based off of the data referenced above.
To test out this system, for the month of November I will be using my personal 52,000 VP to reward the lead explorer and voter based off of October data. Because you cannot currently delegate a fraction of VP, I will be dividing my VP between two wallets each holding ~26,000 VP and delegating to the two winner’s wallets from there.
It is my hope that this pilot will encourage more voting and in world exploration as well as lay the groundwork for a delegation system in the DCL DAO that rewards social capital.
.
.
.
PHASE 02: FORMALIZATION
At the end of the pilot phase (probably 1-3 months), I will evaluate the success and failings of the test and submit a DAO proposal to potentially formalize a social capital VP system. I am not proposing that I personally build it, but that the DAO hires an expert team to build it or does so itself.
My initial thoughts on steps the DAO could take to formalize this system:
-
Develop a way for wallets to delegate a fraction of VP instead of all of VP.
-
Set aside a certain amount of Mana from the treasury as a pool for rewarding social capital with VP.
-
Edit or create a smart contract that allows for the automatic distribution and recall of VP to and from “winner” wallets.
-
Expand the number of “winning” wallets from top voter and top explorer to top ten voters and top ten explorers (or more).
-
Expand beyond the voter and explorer categories to include other types of social capital that have the data to support it. For example, top wearable creator and top scene deployer etc.
Beyond paying for the automation and management of VP distribution and recall, this proposal will cost the DAO nothing (I think).
Regarding the pool from which this VP should be taken to reward social capitol, the DAO treasury currently holds 43 million Mana and with it, 43 million undistributed and unused VP. This is a highly untapped resource that I think will be enough to build a robust and expandable social capital VP system.
.
.
.
PHASE 03: EXPANSION & GAMIFICATION
I haven’t thought about this phase or its implementation too much, but I would eventually like to see the system described in phase 2 grow into a gamified and real time reward system for all decentaland users. I imagine something similar to minecraft’s XP and leveling system, where every time users vote or explore new parcels they receive a small amount of VP from the treasury VP pool.
Total VP received in this way could be quadratic or capped at a certain number (say 5,000 VP).At the end of each month, VP received in this way, is recalled and each users VP “level” is reset to zero. As always sybil attacks remain a vulnerability which needs to be solved.
I hope that a real time set up like this will not only encourage decentraland users to vote, but also introduce new users to the DAO and give them a way to earn a voice in our political system by spending time in Decentraland instead of by spending money.
This social capital VP system is still in its ideation stage so if you have questions, contributions, or criticisms of the idea I’d love to discuss. Hit me (ile) up in the DAO Discord server here: Decentraland DAO
Thank you for reading!
