Proposal: Web3 Game Economy Workshops

[Aseiberlich207]

Title: Web3 Game Economy Workshops

Summary:

I, Austin Seiberlich, a web3 token economist and machinations modeler, propose to conduct web3 economy workshops in the Game7 forum. These workshops will aim to educate the community about building sustainable and innovative web3 economies. The workshops will review comprehensive papers in the market and also review community member’s gaming economies who are seeking review.

Introduction:
The gaming industry is rapidly evolving, with web3 gaming economies offering exciting opportunities for creating sustainable and equitable ecosystems. However, building a successful web3 economy requires a deep understanding of economic principles and innovative solutions. As a web3 token economist and machinations modeler, I propose to conduct web3 economy workshops in the Game7 forum to educate the community about building sustainable and innovative web3 economies. These workshops will review comprehensive papers in the market and also review community member’s gaming economies who are seeking review. By providing education and actionable feedback to the Game7 community, we can work together to create a gaming industry that is owned and supported by the community.

Comparison:
Currently, there are few initiatives or projects in the web3 gaming space that provide comprehensive education about web3 economies. Most of the available resources are limited to technical aspects and do not delve into the economic principles. It is crucial to prioritize economic design and modeling in addition to technical development to create sustainable and innovative web3 ecosystems that benefit all participants. This proposal aims to fill the gap by providing a platform for education and discussion about web3 economies.

Proposal:
We propose to conduct a series of web3 economy roundtable workshops in the Game7 forum. The roundtable workshops will feature multiple web3 gaming economists from different organizations and teams, who will independently audit the economies prior to the live call with the Game7 community. Each economist will present their analysis during the live call, followed by an open-ended discussion and ideation between them. The community and the team whose economy is being reviewed will also have the opportunity to ask questions.

The purpose of these roundtable workshops is to promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, and community engagement in building sustainable and innovative web3 economies. By bringing together experts with diverse perspectives and insights, the community can benefit from a range of ideas and approaches. Additionally, by providing an opportunity for community engagement and questions, the roundtable discussions can help to demystify the audit process and provide a deeper understanding of the economies being reviewed.

Expert Panel:
We are excited to announce that we have received interest from several web3 gaming economists from different organizations and teams to join our expert panel for the roundtable discussions. Each economist brings a unique perspective and expertise to the table, and together they will provide diverse insights and feedback to the Game7 community. Here are some brief descriptions of the experts who will be joining us:

• Austin Seiberlich, Web3 Token Economist & Machinations Modeler: Austin Seiberlich is a web3 token economist and machinations modeler with a background in pure mathematics and physics. He brings extensive experience in economics design to the table, having served as COO and partner of a venture capital firm and leading investments in various sectors. Currently, Austin is working directly with teams in the web3 space, providing advisory and consultancy services for economy design and machinations modeling. He has worked with prominent companies such as Crypto Executives, which recently won crypto hub of the year at AIBC, and DVerse, a leading incubation company. Additionally, Austin is a go-to token economist for multiple VCs and incubators.
• Kiefer Zang, Senior Associate Consultant (Web3 Game Economy), Economics Design: Kiefer Zang has been involved in the blockchain space since 2014 and has been designing cutting edge token models and Web3 incentive systems since 2018. He has provided economic consulting services as part of the Economics Design team for AAA gaming companies in the Web3 space such as Scopely, Neon (Shrapnel), and Worldspark (Sparkadia) to help them achieve sustainable economies. These services cover economy design, auditing, financial/economic modeling, and Machinations simulation.
• Nick Metzler is a Venture Partner for Shima Capital and an independent tokenomics designer who is working with a wide range of web3 game studios. He was previously the in-house Tokenomics and Governance Designer for Framework Ventures. He has been designing games since he was 4, across multiple mediums including board games, card games, reality TV show challenges, escape rooms, theme park rides, on-chain games, and more. He’s the designer of the newest version of the board game Jumanji and has challenges featured on Survivor. He’s worked with almost every major entertainment licensor including Disney, WB, Netflix, Marvel, DC, Amazon, and more. Sporting blue hair, he’s regularly mistaken for Ninja.
• Rob Carroll, Senior Gaming Consultant (Web2/3 Game Design and Monetization, Economics Design: Rob has been an active developer in the gaming industry for over eighteen years, having launched more than thirty games, as well as publishing and consulting on many more. He is the senior gaming consultant for Economics Design, bringing years of game design expertise to the team. Rob made the leap into Web3, where he launched the Binance Chain powered $RUBY token as a part of the Ruby Play Network. In addition to the Ruby platform, he was also part of the team working on the new Splinterlands Tower Defense game.
• Nghtshft, Web3 Game Economist: Nghtshft is a Web3 Economics Lead at a blockchain gaming infrastructure company. His role encompasses conducting economics research, analyzing web3 game data, and advising various gaming projects on tokenomics, economy design and go-to-market strategy. He also writes about web3 game economics and is the first contributor for Game7’s Medium. Previously, he was a growth capital/private equity investor focused on tech and media. He began covering crypto investments in 2016 and was involved in incubating a decentralized social project.

We are confident that the expertise and insights of our expert panel will provide valuable feedback and guidance to the Game7 community.

Join the Initiative:
The expert panel is an open and evolving group, welcoming individuals who have experience and believe they can contribute value to the web3 game economy discussions. Those interested in joining the panel can reach out to the initiative directly. The selection process involves a review of the individual’s background, experience, and expertise by a few members of the expert panel. Private discussions will be held to assess the alignment of their insights and perspectives with the goals of the Game7 Economy Initiative. This collaborative evaluation process ensures that the panel consists of knowledgeable and dedicated individuals who can actively contribute to the economic counsel.

Proposed Process:
The proposed process for conducting the roundtable workshops are as follows:

1. Identify comprehensive papers related to web3 gaming economies and select one for review in each workshop.
2. Invite community members to submit their gaming economies for review via a google form during the workshops.
3. Three web3 gaming economists will independently audit the chosen gaming economy submitted by community members.
4. Conduct a thorough review of the selected paper and the community member’s gaming economies during the roundtable discussion.
5. Engage the community in a discussion about the reviewed paper and gaming economies.
6. Provide actionable feedback to the community member whose gaming economy was reviewed.

The roundtable discussions will aim to provide the Game7 community with diverse perspectives and insights into web3 gaming economies. It will also serve as a platform for community members to receive feedback and guidance on their gaming economies from experienced web3 gaming economists.

Trial Period: The trial period for this initiative will be 12 weeks. The workshops will be conducted bi-weekly during this period. The trial period will serve to test the initiative before committing to a larger project.

To promote engagement, the following recurring activities with the community will be put in place:

Mandatory Steps:

1. Community members must submit their gaming economies for review to participate in the workshops.
2. Community members must attend at least one workshop to be eligible for a review of their gaming economy.

Optional Steps:

1. Community members can suggest papers for review on an application link.
2. Community members can suggest topics for future workshops.

Submitting Documents:
For the expert economists to conduct a thorough review, the ideal economy documentation should provide comprehensive details on various aspects such as token utilities, token vesting schedules, incentivization design, game design, progression mechanics, and token sinks and faucets. However, it is important to strike a balance between providing sufficient information and avoiding overly lengthy documentation. Concise and focused documentation is preferred, as extensive written papers exceeding 70 pages may be challenging to review comprehensively. By ensuring the submission contains concise and relevant information, the economists can effectively evaluate the game’s economy and engage in meaningful discussions.

Seeking Feedback:
We would like the Game7 community to provide feedback on the following aspects of the initiative:

• Are the workshops informative and engaging?
• Is the feedback provided actionable and helpful?
• Are there any improvements that can be made to the proposed process?

Overall, the proposed web3 economy workshops aim to provide the Game7 community with the knowledge and tools necessary to build sustainable and innovative web3 economies.

[Nexonik]

I am a big fan of game economy discussions, because I haven’t seen a good place to learn more about this topic and I think it’s a very important part of every game (that has resources).I found the initial workshop run very interesting and would love to see/hear more. The game I’m currently working on doesn’t feature a deep economy, but I would be more than willing to suggest some other Web3 games to grill if there’s ever a lack of internal applicants from G7 community.

I think it would be great if there was a way to compactly present information discussed on a workshop in either a blog post or a short video that could be educational to those building in the future or members who weren’t able to attend the actual workshop (sometimes time zones and IRL events interfere with these things). While I don’t mind a longer round table discussion format, some builders might be looking just for a couple of bullet points listing what discussed game did right/wrong in regards to structuring their economy.

I think it might also be interesting to take a look at some failed game economies and compare them to similar games that didn’t suffer the same future and what might be the reasons for that. Some other topics that I would like to hear more about would include:

1. How to design a game economy to be resistant to external factors (eg. if the market dumps, how to prevent token/game economy death spiral)?
2. How to minimize impact of speculators on the game’s economy? These actors could manipulate asset prices, dump their assets at opportune times and rarely contribute to the project in a meaningful way.
3. How to balance the game’s economy so it’s welcoming to new players while not diluting existing players too much? (is free/unlimited minting a good idea or is it better to limit # of premium assets within a game)
4. What are some of your favorite game economy designs in either web2 or web3 games and why?

Looking forward to the workshops

[russell_bryant]

I think this is a wonderful idea and can be expanded on with bolt on workshops.
Well done!

[dantesismo]

I love this initiative, I’m happy to contribute however might be needed…

I second the Nexonic suggestion of having a written version of the game analysis…

I’ve heard the recording and I would say that I’m excited to see more analysis from the experts in the panel.

For my feedback, let me go with each point:
The proposal looks more like a round table than a workshop, I don’t really perceive any workshop format…
I think it would be better to not only go with white-paper analysis but to actually go all in playing the game + white paper… in some points of the conversation the takes from panelist were generic takes from economy design good practices rather than game specifics… I really think that the audit needs to be done by hours of gameplay + documentation… so instead of asumimg behavior of different player personas, you can actually bring specifics cases and scenarios for that game.
this depends on each game design, but some economies are huge, so imo it would be more interesting to focus the roundtable conversations about specific features on the economic design… just because 1 hour could be not enough to talk about everything about a game economic design.

[Helios]

Love this!

There is a critical need for open-source auditing like this. I cant express how much I would like to thank you @Aseiberlich207 and the others who have volunteered for this.

I think there are a lot of good intentions and ideas presented in this thread along with some valid points on formatting, guidelines, and outcome products for community presentation.

I will go through today and try and synthesize a systemic structure that can support and empower what everyone has brought up.

[Helios]

**Introduction**
.
Overview:
This proposed structure for the community’s economic initiative offers a comprehensive and systematic framework for managing web3 monetization and game economy analysis, modeling, and ideation. It begins with guidelines for project qualification and analysis formats, followed by alpha testing or independent analysis. The findings are then presented in an Economic Round Table to produce high quality technical documentation that is then shared publicly in workshops. Continuous improvement is fostered through new model development and workshops, gathering feedback from the community. Systems such as clear guidelines, a centralized repository, standardized model creation, and workshop formats support the structure. Outcome metrics track participation, model development, and repository of failed models. This approach ensures a well-organized, inclusive, and evolving process for economic growth and innovation through collaborative open-source education.

.

**Structure:**

Selector Stage for Projects:

1. Establish guidelines for project qualification and review.

Type of Analysis and Format Agreement:

1. Determine the appropriate analysis type and standard review format for each project.

Alpha Testing and/or Formal Independent Analysis:

1. Conduct alpha testing or formal independent analysis of the selected projects’ economies and or monetization models.

Economic Round Table to Present Findings:

1. Organize a roundtable discussion where experts present their findings and analysis.

Findings Consolidated into an In-depth Technical Report:

1. Compile the findings from the roundtable discussions into a comprehensive technical report.

Finished Report Presented to Game Team and Added to the Public Repository:

1. Share the final report with the respective game teams and make it publicly available in a repository.

Develop New Models or Failed Model Examples When Appropriate:

1. Create new models or document examples of failed models as necessary for further analysis.

Hold Public Workshop Reviewing Work, Models, and Lessons Learned:

1. Conduct a public workshop to review the findings, share insights, and discuss lessons learned.

Gather Community Feedback from the Workshop:

1. Collect feedback from the community regarding the workshop and the presented findings.

Add the New Data from the Workshop to the Repository File:

1. Incorporate the newly gathered data and insights from the workshop into the repository file.

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**Systems:**

Project Qualification and Review Guidelines:

1. Establish clear guidelines for selecting and reviewing projects Such as white paper lengh, market caps, community size and more.

Repository of Reports and Models:

1. Create a centralized repository to store reports, models, and related documentation that can provide data analysis and metrics to community members.

Standardized Model Creation System:

1. Develop a standardized system for creating models to ensure consistency and comparability across typing as to enhance industry end ecosystem Confidence and standards.

Standardized Economic Review Formats and Typing:

1. Define standardized formats and typing for economic reviews to facilitate understanding and analysis as well as to assist in classification and metric tracking for repository.

Standardized Workshop and Roundtable Format:

1. Establish a standardized format for workshops and roundtable discussions to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and quality.

.

**Intelligent Design Control Mechanisms:**

Project Qualification and Review Guidelines:

1. Develop clear criteria for project selection and qualification.
2. Establish guidelines to ensure projects align with the goals of the initiative.
3. Implement a systematic review process for project submissions.

Standardized Model Creation System:

1. Create a standardized framework for developing models related to web3 monetization and game economies.
2. Define guidelines and best practices for model creation to ensure consistency and effectiveness.
3. Provide templates and tools to streamline the model creation process.

Standardized Economic Review Formats and Typing:

1. Establish standardized formats for conducting economic reviews of gaming projects.
2. Define key metrics and evaluation criteria to assess the viability and sustainability of game economies.
3. Implement a uniform typing system to categorize and classify economic reviews.

Repository of Reports and Models:

1. Build a centralized repository to store reports, models, and other relevant resources.
2. Develop an organized and searchable structure for easy access and retrieval of information.
3. Implement version control and updates to ensure the repository remains up to date.

Economic Round Table and Workshop Format:

1. Design a structured format for the Economic Round Table and workshop sessions.
2. Define the flow of discussions, presentations, and feedback exchange during these sessions.
3. Encourage active participation and engagement from experts, community members, and project teams.

Integrating the Systemic Structure:

1. Establish a streamlined process that incorporates the above mechanisms from start to finish.
2. Ensure project selection aligns with the qualification guidelines.
3. Utilize the standardized model creation system and economic review formats for in-depth analysis.
4. Present findings in the Economic Round Table and consolidate them into a technical report.
5. Share the finished report with the game team and add it to the public repository.
6. Incorporate lessons learned from the workshop and gather community feedback for continuous improvement.
7. Update the repository with new data and insights gathered from the workshop.

.

**Outcome Metrics:**

Community Education Empowerment Program (Workshops):

• Measure the number of participants and their feedback on the educational workshops.

Models for Web3 Monetization:

• Track the development and availability of models for web3 monetization strategies.

Models for Open-source Monetization:

• Monitor the creation and adoption of models for open-source monetization approaches.

Models for Web3 Game Economies:

• Assess the creation and utilization of models for web3 game economies.

Failed Model Repository of Economies:

• Maintain a repository of documented failed models and their associated economies.

Failed Model Repository of Monetization Models:

• Curate a repository of documented failed monetization models.

[justingames]

I think this is a valuable initiative overall so I am supporting of it.

Here are my concerns that I’d like the experts to address before proceeding:

1. Target audience: The proposal does not clearly define the target audience for the workshops. It is important to identify whether the workshops are intended for experienced game developers, new entrants to the web3 gaming space, or a mix of both. Failing to address the specific needs and skill levels of the participants could result in the content being either too basic or too advanced for some attendees.

2, Panel of experts: I greatly appreciate the current panelists who are willing to educate the market by dissecting existing use cases and suggesting ways for improvement. However, to ensure we provide the audience with more research-based and implementable advice for building sustainable open game economies, I suggest adding 2-3 experts with strong academic or industry backgrounds, like Tim Roughgarden. Their expertise will enhance our discussions and empower the audience to make informed decisions.

[Blackwater]

Love this initiative, as these are exactly the kinds of discussion that drew me to Game7 in the first place.

If you’re looking for more academic experience on the panel, I can highly recommend Chris (economy director at Star Atlas). Have had some very insightful discussions with him about the topic, and he comes with a very applicable academic background (PhD Economics).

Another thing to consider in an attempt to reach a wider audience; I think it might be a bit of an ask getting a large part of the Game7 community to digest large and complex written economy designs. Instead, if the community member having their economy reviewed could create a more digestible presentation (that summarizes their economic principles in high-level), they could present this (15 mins max) to the wider community in order to get them in the loop.

The auditors, who of course did read the whole documentation, can then fire off their feedback, questions, etc… But at least in this case the wider community is better able to follow along. It would also be much easier to record and watch back the sessions if they provide more context as to the economy being reviewed.

Either way, love the initiative! Let me know if I can help in any way

[emeljot]

Love this. I think for exactly these kinds of discussions we’re all here and love Game7 for