How Incentives Broke Dookie Dash

AuthorAuthor

Mark Kennedy & Manuel Olumorin
February 10, 2023

GM GM, Lootbox here with another drop after beating the golem.

In this drop

  • Dookie Dash: A case of incentives driving behaviour

  • Sorare NBA NFT makes record auction sale

  • The Sneakies - Kraken shutting down its staking service

How Incentives Made And Broke Dookie Dash 

You know Dookie Dash, the web3 game created by Yuga Labs?

Yes, the simple yet addictive game in which the player tries to collect as many fragments as possible in order to climb the leaderboard. And topping the leaderboard gets you a mysterious reward - some think it'll be a free mint.

They are waking up to the reality of how incentives can negatively affect a game.

The game was released in late January 2023 and quickly became popular due to its simple gameplay. Now all that remains is to tally the scores...

With great incentive comes great interest...

The incentive of winning a mysterious reward had drawn a lot of interest in the game. And adding in the requirement of being a Sewer Pass holder to play the game, the FP (Floor Price) of the Sewer Pass soared. Garnering even more interest.

The decision to restrict the game to Sewer Pass holders was controversial from the start since the game quickly became less accessible to the average player.

As always, where there's money, there are often exploits

Within the first week, it was revealed that it was possible to exploit the game as several Twitter users revealed they had broken it.

Here's @0xCygaar showing proof, and it only took them 5 days to do it.

  • @0xcygaar did acknowledge that Era Labs had closed most of the obvious loopholes.

  • @0xcygaar also claimed he was not attempting to gain an advantage in the leaderboards, but merely test the strength of the game security.

  • @0xcygaar also admitted that doing so is difficult and requires dealing with many variables, it took the user 3 days to piece together the code to exploit the game.

  • @0xcygaar has not shared the code used to exploit the game publicly and says they are in touch with Yuga Labs to fix the flaw.

The bigger issue...

By far, the biggest complaint so far has been the use of paid pros. Many BAYC and MAYC holders hired pro players to set them a high score, with the hopes of getting a slot on the next Yuga Labs mint. 

But why hire a pro?

Simple...

If setting a high score will have some role in gaining access to the next Yuga Labs mint, the competition is fierce, you've got cash, and don't want to grind. What will you do?

Even respected web3 streamer @Brycent_ had to grind this one out...

People are building businesses on this too...

The high scores have become so unobtainable by the average player, that services have emerged to help you crush the competition. Apparently, you can hire an entire team to set you a high score...For a fee of course.

But for some who paid for the score-setting services, they might find the money ill-spent...

As the scores associated with their wallet that is flagged as cheating have been removed from the leaderboard.

The lessons

Incentives are a double edge sword. When they are not well thought out, they can result in unexpected outcomes - like the government pumping a lot of cash into the system during the pandemic only for us to feel the hangover now.

So what can web3 game creators do to learn from this?

  • Analyze the Dookie Dash playbook to understand why it worked in drawing a lot of interest to the game and the downsides you may want to avoid.

  • Consider what audit processes and ethics need to be in place to ensure a fair mint and distribution when considering a "Play-to-mint" mechanism.

No doubt others would try this playbook and evolve it, so we are keeping our eyes peeled.

Huge NFT Sale On Sorare NBA

Let's go...

Sorare NBA, the officially licensed NFT basketball fantasy game, just had its biggest sale. 

Take a guess who's on it.

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

My man's 1/1 sold for 113.9 ETH, smashing the previous peak sale, Anthony Davis, which sold for 49 ETH.

The Sneakies

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