Amberians,
I believe that Amber Game can come back better and be around for the long haul. However, it would require a move to another smart contract with some big changes. I have provided the details of my idea in this issue of The Amber Journal.
The back story is below in italics. Skip ahead for details on the proposed changes . . .
After using your torch to ignite the gem, you sit quietly. Connected to the glow of the gem stones, you feel them giving back some of the ethereal energy used to ignite the gem.
After some time, you feel more energized, but sense that not all the ethereal energy used to light the gem has returned. Ready to leave the cavern, but not wanting to leave without gaining back more ethereal energy, you are perplexed.
Suddenly you hear footsteps!
You call out “Over here!”
You see the dim light of a torch as a man approaches. You explain to him the power of the gems and plead with him to use his torch so that he may bond with the gem and release the energy back to you. In disbelief the man raises his torch to the gem. He feels something, but it is not enough. The gem will not bond with him.
In frustration you grab a pickaxe and start smashing the gem. Eventually it cracks and dimmers. You sense some of its energy release from it. The man raises his torch to the gem again. This time it works. He bonds with the gem. The gem reignites with even more power. You feel the ethereal energy flow back to you.
Rising to your feet you thank the man. He gives an acknowledging nod, but is completely entranced by his newfound connection to the chain of gems.
You stumble out of the cave. Refreshed. Ready to return home
Dear AGames Team and Fellow Amberians,
Like the man in the cave, I stumbled upon Amber Game quite by accident. I was immediately enthralled. This could be a really fun and cool way to invest made possible by the blockchain. A fully transparent product secured by the public ledger of the blockchain layered under a fun background story with cool graphics.
My concern with it was, and is, the risk of illiquidity and price escalation. Early on, everybody was making ETH, so they kept piling more ETH into it, but eventually that was going to dry up. Now, fear of no one ever buying your gem has overtaken the game.
Then it came to me. A sell side mechanism that would allow players to have more of an ability to have someone buy their gem. The ability for a gem owner to crack their gem.
Here is how it would work mechanically.
Players can decide to lower the cost of a gem. I would suggest some random element to the price reduction, but keep it minimal. Say, 5–15%. Let players do it as many times as they want. (i.e., give it that random touch, but give the player relative control of the price drop). When cracked, the image of the gem would somehow change so that it would stand out. Here is the kicker, when someone purchases a cracked gem, the dividend goes to ALL gems in the chain. Yes, the gas cost would be high, but the buyer is already getting a discount. Imagine then what would happen if someone cracked The Amber or another lower gem. Players would speculate and buy new gems regardless of gas cost.
The rest of the game would go back to the original game in which normal buys cause dividends to go down chain.
Thematically, it works too. I cracked gem is damaged, therefore, it pays dividends differently.
The dividend allocation to all gems would only occur if the active owner discounted the gem. All other gem purchases would go down chain like before.
I believe that this game needs some kind of sell side action to entice new and current players to buy a gems again. Right now, it’s all buy side. There is too much perceived risk for people to get back into the game, and now people have even more perceived risk due to the new payout system.
Let’s play out how this could work.
Say this is implemented. I would think that some players will start discounting their gems so that they can get their ETH back. It would be a market selloff in a sense. Players would continue discounting their gems; they just want to cut their losses. This would keep happening, and at some point, someone would bite. At this point there may be several cracked gems in the chain. Let’s say someone bites at a 10 ETH gem that has been discounted to 5 ETH. Every gem then gets a payout of 0.013. All of a sudden, every player has received a dividend. This changes the whole psychology.
Now players see that they have a good risk/reward for the higher gems. You would start to see some speculation in the hopes of lower tier discounted gems being purchased. The lower tier gems would also still have the same down chain only advantage for normal purchases.
I think that this would create a very interesting strategic dynamic to the whole game. The feedback loop of ETH flowing back up chain on occasion would spur increased velocity, which is really what needs to happen. Players being able to cut their losses makes this less of a closed loop and creates an opportunity for other players to earn more. This is more how a real market works, which is something I think many crypto games are missing.
The high gas cost could go from being an issue, to having a game balancing effect.
Let’s take three general sections of the chain (High/Mid-Tier/Bottom) and Cracked (Discounted) Gems:
High (cheap) Gems — High gas cost, but people will purchase in speculation of receiving a disproportionate dividend from a cracked (discounted) lower gem being purchased;
Mid-Tier Gems — Moderate gas fees. Will get decent dividends from increased higher gem buys and lower gem discount dividends allocations;
Bottom (expensive) Gems — Lowest gas cost. Players feel stuck with these, so will likely start to discount. This is what will spur the cycle. When people start buying discounted gems, value will flow back up chain. This will have a circular effect. Yes, the person discounting the gem will take a loss on the sell price relative to the initial investment, but I don’t see this as an entirely bad thing. The ability to cut one’s losses is better than a 100% loss. The dynamic of the whole game would change. If the cycle keeps going, eventually, there will be good buys all over the chain.
Cracked (Discounted) Gems — Will have the highest gas cost due to allocation to the whole chain. However, if the gem is discounted enough, it may make strategic sense for a player to purchase regardless of the gas cost.
I get that net all things a higher gas cost means less in the game, but it needs velocity and some kind of feedback loop. Also, players cutting their losses and the more cyclical and distributed dividends system would make up for that.
I look forward to a healthy debate about making these changes.
Nothing is ever for certain, but I firmly believe that these changes would have a good chance of not only breathing life back into Amber Game game, but also giving it indefinite longevity.
By the glow of The Amber,
Yostari
