Creating Crafting — How Duo will change the way gamers think about user generated content
How it all started:
We’ve all heard the term “user generated content” thrown around loosely. Every game developer talks about “the importance of UGC” for their game, yet traditional studios refuse to put their money where their mouth is. If players create content that drives engagement, should they not be compensated for it? This ethos guides the team at Duo.
It all started in June, after a community vote finalized the selection of cards to be included in the upcoming Community Deck. When we originally discussed the idea of a community deck internally, we had a simple premise: people love creating write-in responses and perhaps they would also enjoy creating some cards for the next Duo deck. It was with this premise that we presented to our community the idea of a “Community Deck.”
The original pitch went something like this, “You can submit your own ideas for color cards and black cards. If we get a lot of ideas, we will vote as a community on which ones to include in the deck. If you author a card in the deck, you’ll get a 1-of-1 super rare background ‘Author’s Edition’ card for that text.” We had no idea how powerful that would be.
We expected to maybe get a couple hundred ideas if we were lucky; however, to our surprise, over the course of only a few weeks we had over 1,000 ideas come in. As the guy who personally vetted all 1,000 card ideas, I have to tell you that I hope someday each and every one of the ideas makes it into Duo, but in the meantime, we were limited to only the top 10 black card ideas and only 100 color card ideas.
What was made abundantly clear to us was that we had accidently stumbled into something of incredible value: user-generated content. After voting closed in mid-June, we sat down for a team meeting and said, “How can we push this even further?”
Crafting + Royalties: The magic combo?
The incredible thing about blockchain gaming is that we are so early, there’s no telling what we may uncover. NFTs enable us to explore UGC like never before, and for the first time in gaming history, you can truly own and monetize the content you create.
What this meant for us was letting players not only create new cards, but earn from the sale of those cards. Already baked into the mechanics of Duo is a way to create unique content, in the form of a “write-in” response. Our question was, “How can we leverage all of this content to benefit the community and the creator?”
The obvious first step was to make the best jokes permanent cards in Duo. In Duo, if a write-in response wins a match, you’ll be able to pay a set floor price of 8 ADA* to turn that content into a full NFT color card. This was a great step, but we knew we could take it further.
When you upgrade your write-in, not only do you get the NFT card, which will forever be yours to play, but your authorship is attached to that content via the NFT’s metadata. That card idea is then submitted to a voting pool, where it competes against all the other “crafted” cards from that season.
At the end of the season, we will take the top voted cards and use those as next season’s deck. Being voted into the next deck gets the author an upgraded card, which they are eligible to claim. This card, the Author’s Edition card, serves as the royalty token for a 75% royalty* on initial sale. Yes, that’s right, 75% royalties*. Duo wants to put its money where its mouth is. If the community is doing the work, they should receive the benefits! On every pack sale, Duo will keep only 25%, and distribute 75% of the total earnings back to the authors.*
As next season’s deck sells to new players (or players that just want to collect more cards), royalties are paid directly to the wallet holding the Author’s Edition card for the minted content. I’m sure you’re now wondering what the numbers look like. Let’s break it down.
A pack of Duo cards will be sold for 65 ADA and will include 1 Black Card and 5 Color Cards, for a total of 6 NFTs randomly minted from the pool of top voted cards. We break down the cost as 45 ADA for a new Black Card and 4 ADA per Color Card. When a pack sells, Duo will pay a 75% royalty to each creator for their contribution. This means upon a 65 ADA pack sale, the author of the black card will receive 33.75 ADA and each color card author will receive 3 ADA, paid to the wallet holding the Author’s Edition card. Duo will keep only 16.25 ADA per pack sold, distributing the remaining 48.75 ADA as described.*
The number of prompts and punchlines included in the decks will vary based on demand (we don’t want to over inflate the economy), but this isn’t just a one time royalty! If you’re familiar with Duo, you know that duplicates of every card exist. Every time your card idea is minted in a pack you receive that royalty. Let’s play this out and you’ll see how our economy will become creator driven.
If you’re the creator of a Color Card, you paid 8 ADA to craft that response originally and attribute your authorship to it on the blockchain. Your card idea is voted in by the community to be included in the next deck. You then receive 3 ADA every time that card is minted in a pack. First time, 3 ADA, second time 3 ADA, by the third time that card is minted you’ve already covered the single card mint cost. If your card is minted 15 times, you’ve made 45 ADA from the authorship of that one color card for an ROI of 562.5%.
This is how we want to incentivize the best creators, the funniest authors, and the greatest jokesters to remain in our community and continually contribute.
But that’s not all!
We think we can actually make this even better. Our CEO and founder, Jason, was quick to point out an additional opportunity to reward creators. “What about the secondary market? How can we give the value back to our community for the value they create?” he said in our weekly meeting.
While not ready for mainstream adoption yet, Duo is building a new secondary market royalties structure, that will allow us to continue to pay out royalties (2%)* on the resale of all cards as well.
In addition, we are currently testing our first ever “artist” addition to Duo to create custom skins for the backs of cards. Our vision is to eventually add back of card skins as another customization option for players. With skin royalties being paid to the artists who designed them. We have big plans for how we can continue to empower creators in this new model of creator driven economies.
A tiered crafting system:
Okay, now you’re probably wondering, “How can I start crafting?” Crafting will be launched in conjunction with Season 1 of Duo. However, our crafting system isn’t just fully unlocked for everyone. Any player (even free-to-play players) will have Color Card crafting open to turn their winning write-in responses into cards (write-ins are deleted after 7 days if not upgraded). However, Black Card crafting will be a bit more exclusive.
In order to unlock Black Card crafting, a player must either hold a PreAlpha Player Pass, or have at least 1 Author’s Edition card in their wallet. We do this to keep the integrity of Black Card crafting very high. Only the best authors and earliest players can craft Black Cards.
If you’re a PreAlpha Player Pass holder, you’ll have access to full crafting day 1. You’ll also have 2 free crafting credits to create one Black Card and one Color Card of your choice! This is how we will seed content for our first deck voting period. New players will need to craft at least 1 clever Color Card, that makes it into the deck, in order to unlock Black Card crafting.
Crafting is coming very soon to Duo, and we are excited to see what you all create. Please read the FAQ section below for more questions, or post your question in the #forum channel on our Discord if you have questions. Start prepping your best cards now!
*Please note that this is still a work in progress. The prices and percentages are subject to change, but we will keep you informed if anything deviates from what was discussed in this document. Always check Discord for the latest information.
Jacob Christian | @designerfourteen
CCO and Co-Founder
FAQs
What if my card idea doesn’t make it into the deck? If your card doesn’t make the cut you won’t receive an Author’s Edition card, but you still own the card you upgraded as an NFT! You can keep it, play it, or sell it on the secondary market!
What if I craft a card, but then I sell it before voting is finished? Totally something you can do. Your name will still be in the metadata and get added to Author’s Edition card if it makes the cut. However, in order to claim the Author’s Edition card (which includes royalties) you must exchange the original NFT. This means if you sell your upgraded card and it makes the deck, the current owner (not you) would be able to claim the Author’s Edition card and thus all the ensuing royalties.
What if I sell my Author’s Edition card? Bye bye royalties. Royalties are paid to the wallet holding the Author’s Edition card, not the Author themselves.
It sounds like there will be a lot of cards. Is this game inflationary? Yes and no. We obviously need to have enough of a card supply to onboard new players, but we will also have game mechanics where players can “burn” cards they don’t want (e.g. burn 3 cards to create a new one). While these mechanics won’t be in-game day one, they are in the pipeline! However, the best cards will always hold high value because of their win likelihood and limited supply (once season 1 deck closes those cards are only available on the secondary market).
What are crafting prices? Crafting a card is exactly double the price of buying packs. You can craft Color Cards for 8 ADA or Black Cards for 90 ADA.* However, crafting is the only way to get content into the next deck and thus earn royalties. Packs sell for 65 ADA and include 1 Black Card and 5 Color Cards.
Will someone else’s card mint more than mine? We have designed our minting system to randomize but count. This means of the cards that make it into the deck, our system will mint everyone’s cards once before minting a card twice.
