Fantasy is both a TCG and a fantasy sports game.
Author: TPAN
Translator: DeepTechFlow
Introduction
Recently, the field of SocialFi has seen a new revolution, combining traditional fantasy sports modes with social media influence to create a brand new way to play. Fantasy.top and Perl represent this innovative trend, redefining the way users interact with content creators and providing new ideas for the monetization of social platforms. This article will delve into the working mechanisms, innovations, and potential impact of these two platforms on the future of the social finance field.
Main Content
Ever since I reported on friend.tech six months ago, I have been patiently waiting for a SocialFi product that would excite me as much as it did back then.
Now, it seems that day has finally arrived, as a new category has brought about changes to the established "fantasy" mode commonly seen in the sports world.
Fantasy
I encountered Fantasy last week when the platform went live on the Blast testnet. Watching their announcement video, I couldn't help but laugh:
After registering, I immediately understood the intention behind Fantasy upon seeing the image below:
Essentially, Fantasy is a combination of fantasy sports and Twitter influencers, starting with crypto Twitter.
Editor's note: Fantasy sports refers to online games that allow participants to form virtual teams composed of real athletes. For example, the popular football manager game FM.
How does it work?
Create your fantasy lineup by collecting influencer cards and setting lineups for weekly matches
There is a market for buying and selling influencer cards to improve your lineup
Participants can earn rewards such as BLAST, ETH, FAN points, and influencer packs
That's all there is to it. For anyone who has played fantasy sports before (player statistics, creating the optimal lineup, waiver wire, etc.), this is particularly easy to understand.
In terms of SocialFi, Fantasy provides clear incentives for players through the market and match rewards. But what about the influencers (or "heroes" as Fantasy calls them)?
Passively earn 1.5% of ETH from the trading volume of their cards. This is additional income beyond the 4% native yield earned on the Blast L2
Receive additional FAN points, which can unlock additional benefits and claims
Regularly mint your cards for free, which can be gifted to your community or supporters
Imagine if professional athletes were to receive bonuses based on their performance and frequency of being included in the starting lineup. This may be unrealistic for professional athletes, but it's not far-fetched for influencers on emerging platforms like Fantasy.
What do the heroes think of Fantasy? At least some of them find it interesting.
What else is interesting about Fantasy?
Fantasy is both a TCG and a fantasy sports game.
While I compared Fantasy to fantasy sports (a popular online game abroad), the product has a strong trading card game (TCG) aspect, which is how the team describes itself.
Fantasy is a SocialFi trading card game (TCG) where players can use trading cards of crypto Twitter influencers to play online games, thereby monetizing their social capital and research expertise.
Hero cards have different rarities (common, rare, epic, legendary) and seasons (all cards are currently S1). Rarity affects the circulation of hero cards, while the role of seasons is not yet clear (perhaps it will encourage more trading volume for future rewards?).
Hero Ratings
Each hero has a rating that determines their performance in matches. This is a composite score, including factors such as (and possibly more):
Hero's ranking in terms of views (compared to others)
Hero's influence ranking (compared to other heroes)
Total views of the hero
Naturally, this makes lineup decisions much more complex than "I'll just pick the influencer with the most followers." Serious players will study these metrics to create an optimal lineup and increase their chances of winning.
If Fantasy becomes popular enough or the prizes become enticing, observing players using subtle strategies to boost their hero statistics, and how Fantasy responds to these strategies, will be very interesting.
As an extreme example, what if a player hacks into an influencer's account and posts some absurd but virally spread content, causing their hero score to skyrocket?
Optimizing Lineups
The behavior of users optimizing lineups is familiar, but the way optimization works is different.
There are no fixed match dates; influential individuals can post whenever they want. If they don't post when the Fantasy event goes live, they are effectively "injured."
On the other hand, some influencers may be "injured" (not posting) for several weeks, then suddenly become active again, like Hsaka. Unlike in sports, there are no injury reports. Sometimes, influencers just want to post again, or there's some kind of catalyst.
In another extreme scenario, what if you "bribe" an influential person to post or post content more likely to spread like a virus? A very different assumption, which may not violate the rules. Or at least, it would be harder to detect.
Adjusting Creator Incentives
This is where platforms like Fantasy may have more staying power, while friend.tech struggles to retain users over time.
The magic of platforms like Fantasy (and fantasy sports in general) is that influencers/players don't need to do anything extra. In contrast, friend.tech requires creators to regularly log in to different platforms and create exclusive content for their key holders, or else face selling off.
For someone like me, friend.tech is a new form of SocialFi narrative, which is interesting, but after posting regularly for 5 months, I eventually became inactive.
As Fantasy inevitably becomes more popular, it will be interesting to observe how the platform encourages users to keep coming back to play while maintaining a neutral rating method.
Despite these challenges, why do I believe that Fantasy will "inevitably grow"? They are one of the 47 winners of the Big Bang competition, receiving marketing support and a large airdrop allocation.
Furthermore, from last Friday to yesterday, 4,491 new players (connected X accounts + new wallets) joined the testnet version of Fantasy.
Invitations are currently closed, so if you want to check for invitations, stay alert for when they reopen.
Perl
Fantasy is not the only product exploring the SocialFi genre. Perl is a SocialFi platform built on Farcaster, allowing players to bet on users and their social engagement. The mechanism of Perl is even simpler than Fantasy.
How does Perl work?
Perl is a free skill-based prediction game
There are two game modes: MORE/LESS and VERSUS (e.g., will X or Y get more likes?)
$PERL is the in-game currency used for betting
Perl may offer a decentralized, on-chain version of the token in the future (i.e., there may be airdrops)
Farcaster Frames allows for direct decision-making on the Farcaster client, making it easy to attract new users or maintain the participation of existing users.
Perl reminds me of PrizePicks, a daily fantasy app with a simple MORE/LESS mechanism.
What's next for SocialFi?
I have no idea. (I really love asking these big brain questions and then disappointing you with a dumb answer, sorry)
However, the right incentives, understandable mechanisms, and unique features like Farcaster Frames bring new vitality to this type of SocialFi that didn't exist before. These platforms are built on top of social platforms, rather than creating a new social network. This is similar to fantasy sports, as it is based on sports, not the sports themselves (although some people take it very seriously, haha).
And it's not just me who thinks so, venture capitalists are also paying attention to this area. At the very least, it's a good thought exercise challenging the traditional notion of "fantasy sports."
As for friend.tech, although they are in a tough spot, they have not exited the market. They are about to do an airdrop and have been quietly building v2.
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