DrugWars - Is it really sustainable, and other things.
DrugWars is the latest game running on the STEEM blockchain. Given the success of SteemMonsters, I’m surprised more haven’t arrived, but I don’t think this will be the last.
I don’t ‘just’ want to tell you how much fun the game is and to please click my referral link because that would be super boring, and I may even be flagged by @steemflagrewards for plagiarism.
No, it wouldn’t be a @slobberchops post if it was normal, as I try and write about things that tell you something that you don’t know about.
What distinguishes DrugWars from SteemMonsters is that it is FREE to play and that you can make a daily return (STEEM) without investing anything. That is a great reason to use SteemConnect to sign up and use your initial free resources to start producing drugs, weapons, and alcohol.
'How much can I get for investing absolutely nothing?''
0.016 STEEM was my first payment. You’re not going to retire on the Costa Del Sol on it, but honestly, what do you expect?
My second payment was rather different at 5.161 STEEM, but that’s after a total investment of 58.282 STEEM (to be exact).
‘Is that return of 5.161 STEEM made every day?’
Theoretically, I can make back my investment in just over 11 days, but that figure is based on your percentage of the total amount of drugs produced.
With the explosion the game appears to be getting, I can see every day that your percentage is going to diminish unless you can produce more drugs. Currently it is 4.665 STEEM.
Given that I have invested some real STEEM into the game, there is potential to upgrade the drug producing factories which may offset the influx of new players. This is yet to be determined.
‘Are these payments sustainable?’
I have no answers to this one. DrugWars operates with two accounts, one being @drugwars and the other being @drugwars-dealer. Neither account is exactly laden with funds, with STEEM coming in at an alarming rate and then going out at midnight (GMT) delivering the rewards.
@bozz tells me that he has invested around 20 STEEM and still gets the return of around 5 STEEM daily. I have no reason to doubt him and can imagine his 20 STEEM was invested solely in drug manufacturing with nothing being spent on boosting weapons or alcohol.
Theoretically, it’s a quick win to get your investment back if that amount can be sustained for 4 days. I’m sure he will reply and let me know how it’s going.
‘Are there repercussions in attacking people to steal their drugs?’
This appears to be a ridiculous argument, it's just a game, right? Like SteemMonsters, DrugWars bears no correlation whatsoever to your stake in STEEM.
You might be the smallest plankton ever but get addicted to the game, spend some STEEM and build a huge army to start raiding others for their drugs.
‘But it’s just a game, a bit of fun’
Is it though? The victim may take exception to you raiding their drugs thus preventing them from upgrading ‘Super Drug Producing Factory 83’ thereby placing a halt on their increasing daily STEEM reward.
‘If that arsehole had not repeatedly raided me I could have upgraded ‘Super Drug Producing Factory 83’ resulting in me having a larger cut of the STEEM reward ...... (thinking)
Unlike SteemMonsters, a defeat or raid, in this case, DOES affect you when you lose drugs in the sense that it hinders your progression. People can get very tetchy when it affects their STEEM return.
Just be careful who you raid is what I say. If they have a large stake in STEEM they make exact their revenge utilizing that large stake in other methods. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but it could.
‘@steemmonsters vote up your SteemMonster content if you post your content in their Discord ‘upvote' section, why do @drugwars not have such an incentive?'
While I would say that articles of substance should get a vote, I have seen many @steemmonsters ones gain a vote where it is people repeatedly boasting about their daily quest haul. Honestly, is this content really deserving of anything?
The two DrugWars accounts have little powered up STEEM Power so cannot do much right now. This is another thing I need to question.
‘How are these accounts going to grow if it’s a case of STEEM in / STEEM out?’
I would suggest to the community and developers that there should be an incentive to vote on the daily DrugWars newsletters or reports. That way the account can grow, and some use can be made of the voting power.
This idea also benefits larger STEEM stakeholders who have either slaved to gain their STEEM or invested. Currently, both the @drugwars and @drugwars-dealer accounts are currently running at 100% voting power.
If a well-written article highlights something positive for DrugWars, it should gain a vote.
While what I write may seem scathing of the game you need to remember I have invested STEEM into it. I think its great that there are more games appearing on the STEEM blockchain and I applaud the developers of DrugWars for bringing this to us.
The discord channel seems to be full of people reporting problems and issues with one moderator responding. There will be issues, as its new. The latest seems to be your entire defence vanishing overnight. I say give them a chance to get things working and be patient.
https://staging.drugwars.io/#!/ref/@slobberchops
I wish every success for them and hope the game succeeds. I’m now going to do a contradiction and add my referral link. Give the game a go, its fun, makes me laugh given the subject matter and is very addictive.
If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, resteem, engage me or all of these things.
Invested about 66 Steem.
My return was similar to yours. I've heard of people investing way less and are getting a higher return but I think that they probably only invested in drug manufacturing. That probably was the best idea at the beginning.
I don't know if it's sustainable or not, but I don't feel bad about my investment. The game itself needs a lot of work in order to be fun because right now it completely feels like pay to win with the giant invest Steem to stop waiting banners everywhere.
Aside from waiting there isn't much to do yet either. Personally, I'm waiting for a strategy game that involves a bit more strategy with the chance to win a bit more money. Something like the old school Heroes of Might and Magic games would be completely awesome.
Now your talking, those were great strategy exploration games that I remember well.
The original M&M games were great too. It's been years since they made one. The old formula may work again if re-introduced with a new face.
As for DrugWars, well we will need to see what happens. I don't want to dis' the game just yet, but there's very little game in there.
Very little indeed. Unlike Steem monsters which has a guaranteed return just because you can sell your cards if you want to, this game feels like it's so up in the air that I have no idea if I'm going to come close to getting any ROI.
Still, it's good to see more games coming out.
Yes, its great to see them coming, and I'm sure the next one will be just around the corner followed by the next. SteemMonsters is very polished now and feels like a game, whereas DrugWars feels like a possible income system with a game front end.
Nice post! I have two things I wish they would fix. I wish you could easily see how many troops you have somewhere. I also wish you could see how many people have used your referral link. My total investment now is a little more because I have taken the rewards they sent me the past two days and invested them back into the game. You are right though. That first batch of 20 Steem was solely invested in drug production and though it gave me a decent payout, it hindered me from being able to build anything else until I also increased my weapons and alcohol production. As of right now I am looking at a payout of 4.5 STEEM tonight plus 1.5 STEEM from the daily bank heist. My drug production has seemed to slow down and I think that is due in part to the changes in the code they made after @exyle pointed out the bug to them.
The daily heist... Is this a sure-fire way of protecting your drugs? if you never have any they cant be stolen! 1.5 from the heist means you have put a load of drug money in there! Is this the way its going to head just to protect yourself?
I don't know, it could be. I do it mainly because I regenerate them quick enough that it isn't a huge deal. 1.5 Steem isn't a ton but then again it is all relative right?
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'The subject matter is very addictive'.
Nice outro!
I'm feeling a bit too steemed out to give this one a go. Also it reminds me too much of clash of clans which just wound me up!
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You should just sign up and use the free resources then. A trickle of free STEEM daily is better than none at all?
I have really kept away from these kind of games until SteemMonsters arrived so cant comment on Clash of Clans.
I would do but I'm feeling like I'm spreading myself too thin!
I'm in a reducing mood atm.
I loved Command and Conquer when it first came out.... buildy games are my thing, but C of C was just shit - set up to make you spend more and more to 'defend' yr territory.
I have a horrible feeling DW is the same. Whales will do well no doubt.
Still it's moot... no time to explore it.. revision season approaches and I've got to play that game.
Also getting more work based assessment work. Busy busy, in a good way!
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Command and Conquer (the original) rocked. It was quite revolutionary I would go on to say and I played it to death. Like SM the more you invest the more you get back.
For king and country! Loved the little British spy in the suit
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Great critical look at things! No wonder, though... you have googly eyes :P
As the daily payout is purely funded by 80% of the STEEM players spend there, it sure looks quite lucrative for the moment... the real question is, how long will people keep spending?
Sure enough, in the meantime 20% stays with the app... let's see what they build with it or if we're just funding another pyramid here :P
The word pyramid did enter my head but I held back saying it. I got roped into BitConnect and lost money and it's made me a lot harder when looking at other things.
I hope it works out as we need more things interfacing into the STEEM blockchain. If it doesn't, there will be others following.
As with most pyramids... it can be quite profitable to enter early... you just have to be smart enough to not over-invest and pull the plug before it's too late...
I had a quick look at it, but will pass. The structure does seem a touch pyramidal in shape! It seems like early players will get the line share, and it appears (at the moment) to require a steady and possibly increasing stream of players who are paying Steem. Maybe I'll be wrong...
Two respondents now with that word 'pyramid'. There is a referral system, but it doesn't work downwards in the way a pyramid does where the original guys get a cut of a cut so it's technically not one.
The focus for me on this game was more of getting the return bigger. I don't know, maybe its just me who's looking at it this way. More drug production = larger return. Am I being to cynical?
Well, it seems that you need to outpace other people's growth in production. Otherwise you get a smaller cut, even if you are growing in absolute terms, it is the relative growth that counts? Plus, it is only a cut of the new incoming Steem (which is not guaranteed to be steady after the initial hype...). Again, I could well be wrong, but it looks a little funny to me... But that said, I've not spent much time researching it either!
Maybe people wont want to hear this and will deny they are doing it too, but I know I was fixated on the amount of STEEM I would be getting at midnight rather than the game itself.
After the initial upgrades in the 'Drug' tab things get a lot more expensive to upgrade tempting the player to buy using STEEM. It's a clever system and will hook people in.
Well, best of luck with it! Maybe in a month I will be regretting not joining! I don't have so much liquid Steem at the moment anyway... I just bought a silver bar with a chunk of Steem!
Strangely, I find this more alluring than steem monsters. There's something about "producing drugs, weapons and alcohol"! I did see someone else describe it as a Ponzi scheme, but at the same time it does look a lot of fun and it's good to see these different activities growing on the chain. let me know when you become a drugs baron 😎
The subject matter is hilarious, I will give it that but is there much of a game in there? It's early days and I personally love 'empire builders', but with SM there is some strategy albeit in a rather limited way. I think there's room to make something good here, but do they have the resources?
@hightouch seems to be running flat out. Maybe he will have time to respond but I think all his minutes in the day are dedicated to getting to all working.
Like any good pyramid scheme, it's sustainable as long as new players come onboard and push money into the game. The guys that got in early should be able to make their money back within 2 weeks or so. If the game continues drawing more members... sure even realise a profit.
Of course it IS a game, and if you look at it from the point of view that you're paying to have some fun, then an "investment" of 30-50 Steem doesn't seem that bad.
However... I'm hoping that the developers DO indeed have some plan to monetise posts/reports/something and push that money back into the pool (reward players with in-game drugs for upvoting posts? Introduce a new "heist"... I'm thinking a "gamble" to keep with the theme... that only accepts Steem, but pays out fewer winners, takes a cut and pushes the cut taken back into the pool etc. etc.)... THEN it's no longer a pyramid scheme, but a sustainable model.
It's still early days, and the bugs will be sorted and then hopefully we'll see "improvements" and added extras. #TimeWillTell
If not... well... it was fun spending 30 Steem for a bit of nostalgia ;-)
I hope for all our sakes that it is sustainable. The word pyramid make me shudder.. I have had my fill of those things and have no desire to ever go back.. even if I am one of the first people. Thanks for dropping by :)
Great post. I was also thinking how it will be sustainable . They are keeping a 7% of total every time I think so this may build them somewhat. My question is where does the game go. A few of the heavy hitters already have a considerable amount built up so soon the returns will be minuscule and not worth playing. But for now I’m gonna ride the wave and see where it gets us. I am earning around 4.5 steem from 100 steem investment but I’ve divided equally among the 3 vices .
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The returns are shrinking on a daily basis. Unless you can up your drugs production then it may be less than 1 STEEM per.. soon.
After the initial Drug purchases,,, to get any more costs lots of resources or STEEM if you buy.
Im not falling for any of that!
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