Feedback requested: An idea for a Steem-based game
Here's an idea for a search game that is intended to harness human attention on the Steem blockchain. What do you think?
The idea is this:
- I'll maintain a list of interesting Steem articles for a daily search puzzle.
- Each day we'll use some python magic to:
2.1. pick out random words from one of the articles
2.2. plug them into a word search, and
2.3 post the puzzle on the blockchain - Readers will be challenged to find the words and also to find the post that they came from.
That part was the easy part. The AIs and I already wrote a proof of concept version last night and tonight . You can see what it might look like in the image, or here.
With that done, we're already past the traditional "word search" puzzles that have captured people's attention for newspapers, books, and magazines over hundreds of years. The next part is harder.
Where to from here?
But on the Steem blockchain, we can make it better. Remembering that the ultimate goal is to identify the source post, each time a correct word is revealed in the replies, the bot will provide a clue about the source posts (beneficiary settings, tags, included pictures, author, date, etc... I still need to work out the details of the possible hints).
The background for this idea comes from the Word Search Posts that I used to do for the Popular STEM community. I actually had this type of idea in mind all the way back then, but I left it unattended until I posted about Proof of Attention a couple weeks ago.
As I noted in that post, I think that these word searches really are a good way to draw genuine human attention. The problem was that doing them manually was very time consuming - and costly, in conjunction with the Facebook advertising that I was doing for the initiative.
But, automation can provide a fun new activity for the blockchain. Instead of having weekly word searches, we can have them daily, and instead of publishing the source post, we can make that a part of the puzzle. So, when I wrote the "Proof of Attention post, I decided to see how hard it would be to be to get started.
Here's what I have in mind as a path forward:
- I'll populate and maintain a (private) list of Steem articles that I think are interesting.
- Each day a bot will create a word search from one of those posts and publish it on a dedicated account and in a dedicated community.
2.1 The post will have a 90% (subject to change) @null beneficiary setting - call it an automation tax.
2.2 The account will keep 10% of rewards to help compensate for development and operations. - Whenever people reply to the word search posts with a new word, the bot will provide a new hint about the source post that the words came from (maybe limited to 3 new hints per puzzle per day).
- When someone replies to the word search post with the correct source post, the game is over.
- After 7 days, the bot replies to the post with the complete word list and a link to the source post.
Benefits
- This gives people a fun puzzle to do whenever they're interacting with the Steem blockchain.
- Sending daily rewards to @null creates a reliable sink that will soak up some of the STEEM/SBD supply.
- It may even claw back some SP from delegation bots if investors decide that their stake would be better used by voting to defend the value of their investment. (probably a stretch, but it's not inconceivable - see @burnpost.)
- It gives the Steem ecosystem extra attention when people are searching to find the source post.
- It increases an author's audience when the correct source post is identified.
- Maybe this can stimulate ideas for other games that are uniquely suited for Steem's ecosystem.
- It can extend the audience-life of a Steem post beyond the 7-day payout window.
The AI added these, too:
- Increased engagement: By providing a fun and interactive experience, you may see increased engagement on the Steem blockchain, including more comments, upvotes, and shares.
- Community building: The word search game could help build a sense of community around the Steem blockchain, as users work together to solve puzzles and share their experiences.
- Content promotion: By highlighting interesting and relevant content from various authors, you may be able to promote a wider range of voices and perspectives within the Steem ecosystem.
Drawbacks
- Some people have staked out a position against burning tokens. This obviously challenges that paradigm.
- Some people are not in favor of automation. This also challenges that paradigm.
- There's a lot of work to get from here to there.
- Privacy: I don't actually see any privacy concerns, since the source posts are already public, but what do you think? At any rate, I'll offer an option for authors to opt out.
Before I go through the rest of the work to implement this, I thought I'd see how people respond to the idea. What are your thoughts?
Thank you for your time and attention.
As a general rule, I up-vote comments that demonstrate "proof of reading".
Steve Palmer is an IT professional with three decades of professional experience in data communications and information systems. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in computer science, and a master's degree in information systems and technology management. He has been awarded 3 US patents.
Pixabay license, source
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I like these puns, no question about it. I've always taken part in them too... :-)
But that's exactly the point: I don't think these crossword puzzles are attractive enough to lure “players” or people interested in games. Especially not if the “source of the words” has to be found first. At most, they are attractive enough to get people to participate because they are there. A nice add-on, not a charming come-along...
By attractive games (which also appeal to outsiders and use the possibilities of the blockchain and the Steem with its reward system) I mean more elaborate games such as @the-gorilla's zombie role-playing game attempt. There must be real “fans” who get involved with the blockchain precisely because of the game on offer. Who then say “Wow, I can use that for my business!”, but are initially fascinated by the game themselves.
I like your word games and I would continue to play them - but never visit your blog for that very reason.
Yeah, I agree with that. It's about providing more options to the people who visit Steem, and potentially retaining more of them. It's not something that's going to draw people all by itself.
In baseball terms, maybe it's a single, but it's not a home run, and definitely not a grand slam. Better and far more engaging games are definitely possible.
I'm not sure if this can be applied to this particular game, but when I read your earlier post about attention stuff I was thinking that Steem-based games can maybe take advantage of some of the cryptographic aspects of the chain (like memo encryption) to do spoiler-proof social games (for example, everybody gets a unique daily WORDLE rather than there being a single one each day for everybody on the planet).
Not sure how this would be implemented yet, but for a game played on a social media site it would be cooler if there was a semi-cooperative element to play, so that players are also rooting for others to be successful. Maybe the puzzle identifies several different articles, each player is only allowed to "win" with one of them, and the second level is somehow unlocked once they're all found.
I think the idea of social-enabled games on the chain is a good one. Word searches have the positive of being pretty straightforward, but there's a downside that playtime will be pretty low so if someone isn't checking the site very often they may never see puzzles when they have time to work on them, just before they're posted or after somebody else has already won. Also, I suspect it will be a bit aggravating to play a wordsearch on a webpage without some UI support (maybe a custom frontend, or some kind of support built into Steemit itself).
Yeah, I agree. That's where the hints idea came from. If one person guesses a word, the resultant hint helps everyone. But this is a very simple concept, so there's plenty of room to do this better.
I agree with this, too. I was also thinking of implementing it as a browser extension, but that would have totally killed any cooperation that might have happened. Thinking about it now, as a future enhancement, I suppose it might be possible to read the post into a browser extension and provide UI support that way.
I think this is key, regardless of whether it's this particular game.
It seems ironic to me, if Steem is going to really grow, it has to happen at the social/attention layer (IMO), but so many of our developers want to focus on the blockchain layer. An experienced developer or two from FB or Twitter could have a huge impact here. SteemMonsters was a start, but it was too much of a standalone product. With its transactions all buried in custom_json, it was sort-of a free rider. I think the ideal game needs to plug into the social media more directly.
Yeah. Even in the gaming space I think people's first instinct is to focus on the financial aspect (micropayments, "owning" components, etc.) rather than the social media interaction aspect. One of the ideas I was toying with some years ago was a digital version of a simple social drawing game, the idea being that the group would have the fun of playing but in the process you're also creating an "artifact of play" that works as a light social media post. (This is what made WORDLE so big, playing it produced something that looked like it would be fun to post as a tweet). Unfortunately I currently can't really justify putting much time and effort into projects that don't have a reasonable chance of contributing to keeping a roof over my head and food on my table, so I doubt I can do much experimenting myself.
Integrating word searches with blockchain adds a unique twist to engagement, boosting interaction while promoting Steem content. The automation aspect will streamline the process and sustain user interest. The potential for daily challenges can keep users returning, creating a fun ecosystem. Looking forward to seeing this evolve.
Solution, Getting, Simple, Tap, Improving sounds like a great idea
Simple is the best I can manage. 😉
Ah, just realiized. Words have 4 letters or more, so tap is out. That's either part of a bigger word or random placement of letters.
I like this idea a lot!
Upvoted. Thank You for sending some of your rewards to @null. It will make Steem stronger.