Update ICE Poker Rewards Split to Incentivize Wearable Upgrades and Player Ownership

Background

Today, delegated ICE Poker players earn 70% of ICE rewards, while NFT owners earn 30% – regardless of wearable rank:

Rank 1: 70 / 30 Rank 2: 70 / 30 Rank 3: 70 / 30 Rank 4: 70 / 30 Diamond Hands: 70 / 30

As wearables are upgraded by their owners, the earnings multiplier associated with that wearable increases:

Rank 1: 1 - 7% Rank 2: 8 - 15% Rank 3: 16 - 24% Rank 4: 25 - 34% Diamond Hands: 35 - 45%

Due to the constant 70% player / 30% delegator split, higher rank wearables give a proportional increase in ICE rewards to both players and ICE Poker NFT owners, while the owner is bearing 100% of the upgrade cost. Additionally, the jump from being a delegated player to an ICE Poker NFT owner is from 70% to 100% of the payout, which is only a 42.9% increase in rewards.

Proposal

Update the ICE Poker NFT Player/Delegator split to:

Rank 1: 60 / 40 Rank 2: 57 / 43 Rank 3: 54 / 46 Rank 4: 51 / 49 Diamond Hands: 48 / 52

Note: If a delegated player is playing with 2 or more delegated wearables, then the split would be based on the highest ranked wearable.

Rationale

The rationale for increasing the split by level is to further incentivize owners to burn ICE to upgrade wearables. Consider today – a Level 5 wearable has ~36% higher expected earnings than a Level 1. With these proposed changes, expected earnings would be ~77% higher (based on (0.52/0.4)*1.36). 70% of the incremental value from upgrading an NFT accrues to the delegated player; the NFT owner is bearing the expense of upgrading the item, and it makes sense for more of the incremental ICE earnings to accrue mostly to the owner. This new tiered system accrues most of the increased bonus to the owner yet still gives upside to the player for them to want to play with higher ranked wearables.

The rationale for increasing the baseline delegator split from 30% to 40% is to further incentivize player ownership. Player ownership and upward mobility (getting your own wearable and then delegating them to build your own guild) are essential for ICE ecosystem sustainability. And at the current split, the jump from earning 70% as a delegated player to earning 100% playing with your own item (42.9% increase in rewards) is not large enough of a jump for many to justify purchasing their own wearable. With the proposed 60% rewards as a delegated player to 100% playing with your own item (66.7% increase in rewards), purchasing your own wearable is a much more attractive proposition.

Furthermore, wearables owners are more inclined to reinvest their earnings back into items (upgrading or buying new ones) at a higher rate. Ecosystem long-term sustainability is paramount and will ultimately result in better payouts for everyone over a longer time horizon.