A Dive-deep Into ArchLoot’s Economic Model – A Wild Yet Sophisticated Attempt
Singapore, 17th May 2023, ZEX PR WIRE, Ever since the GameFi autumn of 2020, the market has seen so many projects come to go. Anyone who survived the crash and is still paying attention can learn a valuable lesson from Crypto’s mistakes. There are a few crucial things businesses can do to assure their success in order for web3 gaming to flourish in the long run. One of them is the necessity of giving web3 technology a back seat.
This shift has been observed as the concept of P2E games evolves into Play-and-Own (P&O) games, which share P2E games’ principles but put a stronger emphasis on the social aspects, the enjoyment factor, and long-term economic viability. In these games, character development, in-game storytelling, and player involvement are prioritized over acquiring wealth and property.
During the heyday of web-3 games, businesses flocked to meet the demand. It was quite simple to draw users when the players were more focused on earning money than having fun. But now game developers must return to the fundamentals and draw consumers in the traditional manner now that the commercial motive has largely been removed.
The team would define fundamentals as two things: good content, and good economy.
With all community gamers being the judge of the former one, this article addresses the latter and the more tricky one. How will this game ArchLoot survive for a long term, without facing the fatal demise?
The old traps we intend to avovid:
-Mass branding prior to mainnet launch
-Token listed on prominent exchanges and DEXes
-Mainnet launch with Ponzi style economic model
-Initial surge of token price due to increasing demand for entering the game
-Inflation of utility token
-User growth halt, token dropped into a death spiral
-Speculator left for other opportunities, true gamers disappointed, game essentially dead
Although the causes for such failures are diverse, one key component that matters in almost all cases is the lack of sophistication and diligence, whether intentional or not, in economic design. In learning from others’ failures, ArchLoot attempts to create a long-term flourishing economy with several revolutionary approaches.
The reveal – ArchLoot’s economic model in one chart
Here is an overview of ArchLoot’s economic model.
The core elements are $ALG, $ALT, (body part) NFTs, and different monthly passes. The sophistication in developing such a model lies in the following concepts.
Controlling inflation – the key to a stable economy
In summarizing the success and failure of other projects, we identified several factors that contributed towards an overly-inflated NFT and token economy. These factors are:
- Directly proportional or exponential enhancement of earning potentials in NFT reinvestment
- Lack of effective token sinks (other than sinks related to earning potentials)
- Lack of inflation target
- Flooding of Bot
- The unilateral motive of play
The central bank role – the spine of a controllable economy
Bearing these factors in mind, we designed ArchLoot’s economic model with one key concept – controlled inflation. The first thing we set up is a central bank role in the ArchLoot economy, We are strong believers of the central bank’s role in creating and maintaining a healthy economy. In ArchLoot’s case, the project’s core team will act as the central bank in the beginning stage of the game. The role will be gradually decentralized and passed onto ALT token holders as the game progresses via ArchLoot community governance procedures. The central bank role can extend its authority over factors like daily utility token production cap (inflation target), PvP reward pool, price, amount, and effect of the different passes, the addition of extra token sinks, use of the treasury fund, etc, setting the foundations for a controllable and adjustable economy frame.
The pass-gated player differentiation – the mechanism that keeps balance
ArchLoot realizes that a healthy economic system for MMO games requires a diverse user base. Casual gamers, hardcore competitors, gold farmers, and even bots should all serve their specific roles in the economy, creating multiple motives for playing the game. Differentiating these participants, especially using an NFT pass-gated system, is the most user-friendly approach to satisfy the needs of the masses. In ArchLoot, we have created three types of passes: adventurer pass, goblin pass, and collector pass, to accommodate the player types. Adventurer pass suits casual players the most. It is freely minted and it will only take players around half an hour to enjoy the full benefit of the pass. The Goblin Pass is designed for gold farmers, as it has a cost and requires farmers to finish certain quests every day to be able to make a profit. It is also the pass that generates the majority of token liquidity. Collector pass is for NFT collectors and PvP competitors. It is the major source of rare and special quality NFTs, which not only helps in combat but also serve as a status symbol. By combining the pass system with the central bank function, the team is able to effectively guide the economy with monitored data at the beginning stage of the game, while the players will be able to obtain exactly what they hope for.
The diversified token sinks – interesting ways to contain inflation
Unlike other web3 projects whose token sinks solely serve reinvestment and earn enhancement purposes, ArchLoot developed the game to have sinks that generate excitement, fulfillment, and a sense of belonging for players.
In ArchLoot, players will be able to use their ALG and ALT for purposes like buying daily consumables, purchasing limited edition skins and pets, changing their avatar color to reflect their status, upgrading NFTs (which is also reflected on the blockchain) for better stats, re-rolling the stats on their NFTs, paying for passes and entrance fees for certain events, trying their luck and unboxing additional loot chests, supporting their favorite character designs and conduct governing. All these features are not directly proportional to potential token generation, yet they are naturally part of the fun. The variety of token sinks introduced by ArchLoot truly not only serve their sinking purposes, reducing the inflation rate, but also create interactions that satisfy players, giving them other reasons to play the game.
In summary, the first pillar in achieving a sustainable and flourishing economy is inflation control. With respect to all gamers’ private data preservation and asset sovereignty, it is the game’s job to make financial distribution fair and stable. The “central bank” closely monitors and adjusts the underlying mechanisms when necessary, defines and paves routes for crucial participants in the economy, and introduces interesting ways to reduce the overall token supply. Nevertheless, a sustainable yet constantly yielding economy can not be reached unless there are external inflows of capital.
External capital inflow – the integration of web2 in-app purchase
One of the prominent features of web3 projects is its play to earn potential. To reach an everlasting equilibrium, earnings must be associated with reasonable income flows. If there is only an outflow of capital, regardless of how well the economic model is designed, it will be short-lived. ArchLoot attempts to launch web2 in-app store features, in order to attract web2 users as well as web3 ones. The fiat purchase option will be more convenient for web2 users and the team, on the other hand, will be able to allocate this capital inflow to support earnings from other players, maintaining the sustainable loop.
Ads can be another great way to generate revenue and support our project. Although at this moment ArchLoot does not have any plans associated with ads running and distribution, it remains an option for the project in the future and we will only run ads that are relevant and non-intrusive when it happens.
ArchLoot’s economic model is designed to address the problems that many Web3 gaming projects have faced. The lack of sophistication and diligence in economic design has contributed to the failure of many Web3 games. ArchLoot’s economic model incorporates controlled inflation as its core element, with the central bank role acting as the spine of a controllable economy. The pass-gated player differentiation helps to keep the balance of the economy, while the diversified token sinks introduce interesting ways to contain inflation and satisfy players’ needs. To achieve a sustainable and flourishing economy, ArchLoot integrates web2 in-app purchase and ad revenue to attract external capital inflow. With a long-term view and a keen eye on economic sustainability, ArchLoot’s economic model presents a revolutionary approach to designing Web3 gaming projects.
For additional information and business inquiries, please contact: https://www.archloot.com/