Steemit is all about Game Theory
We've seen a lot of anguished posts about how some lucky individuals are getting most of the rewards, sometimes because they have networked with whales who own bots.
Part of the problem is down to cases like the following I have taken screenshots of:
As you can see, the individuals got lots of upvotes but very little money. Why is this? To answer the question, we need to go back to the whitepaper.
The amount of Steem produced per minute is fixed
The whitepaper on page 35 mentions that Steem grows at approximately 800 STEEM per minute. The amount generated is FIXED - which means the total payout in any 24 hour period is fixed.
Just to reiterate - IT IS A FIXED POT
Therefore in any given minute, the amount per post awarded in $$s fluctuates due to a) the price of Steem and b) the amount already allocated to published posts. If a handful of posts are getting huge $$$s, by definition all other posts must get less, as the Steem being produced is fixed in a 24 hour period. On the day I took the screenshots above, there was one post that made about $44,000 out of a total pot of $200,000, plus about five others on $16,000 each, which means the rest got squeezed to nothingness despite upvotes. You also will notice this if you are voting too much - the $$ value of each vote starts to drop.
Game Theory Takeaway: If you are a minnow who has written content that day, do not vote for any of the trending posts on the front page. By all means read them and comment on them, but do not vote. Instead go to the "New" tab, and try to find something fresh to vote for. The goal is to ensure that the top posts don't get too much STEEM, so that others including yourself, get something.
Timing Matters
If you are after a curation award, and you are a minnow, the only time you really get a curation award is in the very early period after a post has been published, between about 15 minutes and 2 hours. To gain max curation awards, you need to vote before a whale or dolphin does.
There are some authors who have been favorited by bots who vote for them at the 15 or 30 minute mark.
If the whales and whale-bots have already voted, don't bother to vote yourself, you won't get a curation award, or if you do it will be so minuscule that it doesn't show up in your wallet history.
Here are some known bots and whales:
@steemed
@itsascam
@steemroller
@wang
@berniesanders
@smooth
@xeroc
@dantheman
@ned
@rainman
Check the dropdown for their names before you vote. Don't bother if a whale has already voted - instead scope out interesting stuff that hasn't yet attracted the notice of either whales or dolphins.
Final Takeaway
Steemit has been set up like a giant game. By all means do the basics right - write interesting engaging posts with good titles. But realize this is not enough - you've got to play smart too.
The game is going to turn people away unfortunately. It won't be long before a competing platform comes along and poaches people away from Steemit. Maybe sooner than anyone realizes - like in three days if the rumours are true. Thank you for the post. Upvoted.
Wulf, keep us posted. May the best platform win!
Yeah, just like in politics @berniesanders controls everything :)))
Oooh! What other platform?
Help me out here - what's the name of this new project?
The Ethereum Social Network
http://ethereal.cloud
https://m.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/4udnm4/ethereal_ethereum_social_network_4_day_countdown/?utm_source=mweb_redirect&compact=true
What is Ethereal gonna do differently to Steemit to discourage gaming the system?
From where I'm standing it looks like Steemit is winning the arms race. Then again, there's only a small number of users here still, in terms of the whole interwebs.
Bots are being used to exploit the liquidity reward system. It's because of the complexity of the Steemit ecosystem that so many exploits exist.
Sorry Condra I meant to reply to your follow-up below.
Hey, I'm new to steemit. Nice succinct post that helps me get an understanding of how it all works. Upvote for teatree! I plan to have a careful read of the whitepaper. Any other recommended posts and documents would be appreciated. I was also shown various other sites that use and repackage the steemit content and data. Still trying to get my head around it all.
In response to beowulf's comment about the potential for steemit being usurped due to the game turning people off - for my part it was friend explaining some of the nuance of how steemit reinforces desirable behaviour that got me to signup. I feel it will be (or at least should be) the platform which is most functional that will win out. The question is what's "most functional". For me this is the platform that most effectively supports good debate and sharing of knowledge. Based on my limited knowledge thus far I'm very impressed with the mechanics of steemit. I guess it will be an arms race between platforms with those non-complacent platforms that are responsive to their own limitations who will win out???
I'm getting ahead of myself here but I really like that "correct" behaviour is being reinforces. I think this is something we struggle with increasingly in society, e.g. it is often the pushy argumentative customer who complains loudly that get their concerns addressed, thus this type of behaviour is reinforced. I think it would be tots amaze balls if the mechanics of how best to encourage desirable behaviour could be developed in a microcosm such as steemit, and subsequently integrated into society more broadly. I want to see a better world where you don't get rewarded for being an asshole. Am I being naïve to think steemit could play a role in this?... or perhaps naïve in my general outlook, but that's a whole other debate.
Great comment. I'm also blown away by the mechanics behind Steemit.
There seems to be a sort of arms race between the "gamers" and the "game designers" at the moment. They haven't plugged all the holes, but they're getting there. There's still plenty of #copypasta and low quality content, but there is also very little trolling.
It's somewhat analogous to Google and SEO. In the early days, using very basic methods such as keyword spamming, Google could be gamed for higher placing in the SERPS. Over time however, they refined their paradigm, to the point where attempting to game the system is more work than it's worth.
Comparatively, the Steemit devs have made incredible progress in a very short period of time.
@teatree you gotta popularize this post. I sure am. Posting in replies on other posts. Usually 1 in three upvotes, which puts you in active and may get more upvotes. This is a great post and deserves more views.
Thanks @izzy!
@teatree Looks like we got some steam ;). Would appreciate if you take a look at https://steemit.com/steemit/@izzy/why-steem-is-the-real-libertarian-platform
19 votes in 19 minutes... the fish are swimming and the whales a-coming...
you could get 10000 votes from minnows and still be at 0.00, its all about the steem power in here
yeahp
Waiting for the whale...
I like the post.
I disagree tho.
The difference between real life and a game ?
In a game, there are rules.
Yes, Steem is really set up like a game isn't it? And it is making gamers out of us all. We need to work hard and play harder!!
When you play the Game of Steem, you either win or win more! :D :)
I have read some great submissions that deserved more than I felt they received but I think commenting is just as important to the success of this platform.
Aquí está el post traducido al español.