Steem: The world's largest Choose-your-own-adventure

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For user experience, I support simplification of all factors that matter, remove the complication and barriers to entry caused by a steep on-ramp and learning requirements. However, I think that this should be done at an individual application level where the enduser experience is delivered by a smooth and clean interface design and rule set.

When it come to Steem itself though, I believe that there should be some level of complication and learning curve involved as it is the investment layer that supports the global city being built upon it. I see learning curve as skill building and while it doesn't have to be extreme, investing into knowledge development is much like buying into a project and once there is significant buy-in, there is the sense of ownership.

And, what I am getting more and more excited about is the increasing range of pathways one can take and I hope that this continues. For example, the proposal changing the way powering down and inflation rewards could work, would introduce another path that would be interesting to some user - another game to play.

Choose-your-own-adventure

We are all gamers on Steem and we are all gaming the system, but we aren't all doing it in the same way and for many of us, the games we play are beneficial to the spread and support of the ecosystem as a whole. What I like about all of the variations of gameplay and paths to take and it is growing exponentially and potentially infinitely. Steem is not confined by the game design and will continually change through thousands of layers and fragmentations that open up new experiences - Screw Minecraft.

Not only that, because it is a content delivery system with multi-token economic integration, a mutlitude of new layers can be created and owned. Communities can organically develop, formalize and disband without stepping on the toes of other communities, tokens can carry immense value without having to impact on those not interested in them, and there can be so many tailored end user experiences created with overlapping use case, intertwined pathways and interoperable economics that the possibilities of choice are endless.

What this means is that while we are all gamers, the games we play vary greatly as will our results. A person who focuses on earning Steem could earn less than one who focuses on earning LEO or an SMT. An Appics user could gather 100,000 followers and build an off-chain business around their personal brand, an Actifit consultant helps gyms tokenize their client experience and a developer builds a business around integrating SMTs into established websites and communities. There are endless possibilities and the potential for real-world integrations as Steem has economic capabilities that are not confined to the digital landscape and blockchain and can create jobs and markets that are yet to exist.

Steem is much like an organism that can evolve in its lifetime and the driver of its evolution is the innovation through its user base, we the community. There is a very high degree of complexity in the dynamics and potential as every action on Steem has a reaction that influences all other future movements. A single micro action can turn into a macro trend that creates new branches and swaths of digital land to build upon and to fertilize new crops that will bear their own fruit in time.

Yes, there are a lot of weeds and the challenges will be ever present, but through the resistance comes strength and as the ecosystem develops, any individual can enter in and play at the level they choose. They can stay narrow on one gaming interface, spread their experience out to different medias, develop their own end user experiences or invest their wealth into underpinning it all.

Steem is not STEEM. Steem is an ecosystem that has the potential to reshape our online experience, build social capital and question what ownership means and the way we value and manage our available resources - physical and digital.

Your choice. Your adventure.

 

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

Onboarding

Posted via Steemleo



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19 comments
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Well your title was some kind of clickbait for me and I was curious what would follow. In contrast to a regular clickbait title, this articles does make a lot of sense.

I did change the game I play in the Steem Ocean. I used to be all about blogging and commenting, but my focus did change more towards the steem games which are offered. I wasn't a sudden change in my game plan but more an evolution. And we all like evolution in contrast to revolution. The biggest trigger to change my game plan here on steem was the latest HF. While it was maybe good for the steem economy it just killed my engagement. Not that I was engaged to be rewarded but the HF did show me that it maybe did save some investments, it killed a lot of new and small bloggers.
The idea behind the hardfork was great but there are just not enough big accounts doing enough to feed the small fishes in the see. If you don't have the support of a curator group, it can be very frustrating writing on the steem blockchain. I know that you could force some support in your own direction by writing about the popular items or participating in writing contest or so. But I did decide that I write about what is on my mind or things in my circle of interest. No monkey here dancing for money. (Or is this is too big and bold statement to label some of the writers here on the steem blockchain, could be).

so, yes I do agree with you that we all are playing the game differently. It is more like a big sandbox mode. Some will change their gameplan deliberatly, while others are more or less forced to change their game plan.

Sorry for this rant. Better could have written a post about it!

Cheers,
Peter

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What I have found interesting is that I think my commenting has gone up, even though the comments on my own posts may be down at times. Commenting has never been about the chance at a vote for me, it is just the best way to build relationships and in so doing, have fun. It is hard to have inside jokes between friends without making friends first.

And yeah, it is like a very big sandbox, except the boundaries aren't made by an authority, they are pushed outward by us.

!ENGAGE 30

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Sorry for this rant.

Good rant. Glad to see an evolution in your use of the blockchain. Will check your blog for a post about your gaming experience.

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That's a great message! Steem, How will you experience it?

Anything that gets people to pause and imagine something is a powerful message. Marketing 101

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The imagination is the most useful tool to engage.

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Love it, would like to see us pitch the idea...

  1. It moves past "content" being the main focus.
  2. Encourages community growth
  3. Allows people to consider other perspectives.
  4. By far the most important message!!! IMAGINE what you want your experience to be!
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It moves past "content" being the main focus.

The experience has to take focus with even the rewards taking a backseat.

BTW, I think your #milkerandtators initiative did well :)

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I think some people sat back and had some fun and more importantly engaged with others.

If I run it all the time it will lose it's influence, but I would love to see others do things to encourage people to relax and engage with each other.

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If I run it all the time it will lose it's influence, but I would love to see others do things to encourage people to relax and engage with each other.

I think it is starting to happen and I reckon that communities will encourage this a lot as not every post will be on the main account. Should be fun. =)

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You had me at adventure. I'm so happy you are one of our biggest bloggers now, your metaphors and comparisons are always so fun to play with

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Hmmm... This was a really interesting read. I feel very similar and the potential applications and implications are not just staggering, but, also I think unknown... This appears to be somewhat new territory and I'm curious to see what develops.

The gamification aspect really intrigues me especially as I started a lil contest on here around two years ago and it's been one of the most fascinating and enjoyable experiences of my life, I wish I could somehow show people the possibilities who are still stuck on Facebook and traditional social media... Yet, so many of them just don't seem to get it and are happy with less. Hopefully someday they get it and we collectively move towards more "empowering" options like steem. I like that pic at the end there that says "empowered by steem" that's perfect! It really is an empowering platform in many ways and in significant ways which older traditional social media are not.

I'm not sure if we've talked before, but, I've seen your name around a number of times and actually bookmarked one of your older posts that I still plan on responding to, I just got super busy and haven't got back to it yet, it was partly about people's attention spans and news cycles and such and it was worded in a way that really made me think deeper. So... That's two posts now where you've got me thinking and I appreciate it! Thanks for sharing. :)

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