SIP-13: Run a feasibility study for NFT Evolution

TL;DR

Council Recommandation: Negative

The decision is based on concerns about inefficiencies in the current feature request process, which pulls requests from multiple sources without proper prioritization. This could lead to significant development efforts being diverted away from core priorities.

What	The main headline here is to incorporate better features for NFTs so that we can use them in meaningful ways in our games. The SIP is requesting the implementation of 2 NFT Features: Crafting (Creators can setup a recipe to trade an asset for another asset) and NFT Drops (Game Makers can create NFT drops for certain asset).
Why	Every single successful crypto game to date makes use of cool NFT features, crafting, trading, farming, etc. Sandbox has the best tech platform but is missing crucial aspects of the NFT experience that should be absolute table stakes for an NFT game platform.I think most of us in the community naturally understand the 'why', so more important is the 'why now' question. My response is that with the new rules system, cool new raycast / projectile features, and whatever they are cooking up for 0.11, we have a solid product that can make a diverse array of gameplay mechanics. Now that we have that, we need to focus on what makes Sandbox unique. Players need to be able to earn NFTs without paying, use NFTs for cool gameplay interactions, and feel like they can own their assets without everything being a purchase.
How	The TSB Dev team will start a feasibility check of the feature request as well as a risk assessment to refine the task, then provide an estimation of development cost. Then the community will have to be consulted again.
When	Starting from SIP Acceptance.
Who	CryptoDiplo, land owner and game maker since 2019. @CryptoDiplo #4399 on discord

SIP Details

Problem Description

Our North Star as the Sandbox community should be:

The ability to fully recreate the NFT, economy, and game mechanics of successful crypto games in Sandbox at one tenth the effort (and not care too much about graphics).

Right now NFTs in the sandbox are exclusively cosmetics. We need to evolve that to make them an integral part of game economies and experiences. We can do this by adding in-game NFT drops and NFT crafting mechanics.

Let's look at the even moderately successful crypto games to date: Pixels online and Axie Infinity (there are many others in beta etc. I'm just talking about those that have the most players and a real live game.) They are classic economy games. You have assets (NFTs), you use those assets to build up a stockpile of currency, spend the currency on upgrading your assets, or resources to go out and get a rare drop, etc. etc. The graphics are crap and it is still super fun. The interesting part is the unique types of games that can be built. The sandbox is at the point in its development where it can reasonably support games of higher quality than axie and pixels online in terms of graphics, immersion, complexity, etc.

Solution Proposed

Here are the exact NFT features we are requesting:

Crafting: Ability for item creators to set up specific recipes within their created assets that allow users to trade in X number of one asset in return for Y number of another asset. This would require some sort of wallet to hold amounts of each asset that would be funded by the item minter, and could be replenished given proper catalysts and minting process or simply by sending more of that NFT to the wallet.

Example: Someone creates a piece of wood and a stack of wood, and makes a recipe such that a player can trade in 5 pieces of wood for a stack of wood. This would work only while the user has enough of the stack of wood in stock, and all traded in assets would contribute to this supply or be burned, depending on configuration.

NFT Drops: Allow game makers to create NFT drops for certain assets, that when received in game it adds an asset from their drops page. Would likely be restricted to very rare items until in-game nft transaction functionality is built, due to the friction required in swapping between browser/wallet and sandbox game.

Example: Someone kills a boss and the drop feature has RNG such that 1% of the time a rare weapon is dropped. Upon pickup, that item then is added to a players claims page and they can claim at their leisure.

Benefit to The Sandbox Ecosystem

• Better monetization for creators. They can sell NFTs with real utility and have fun integrating them into their experience.
• More fun games with better replayability. It will make games with fun economies and rewarding experiences to gain levels and build skills over time.

We need more players, and we get them by making more fun games. Sandbox games currently have around 39k MAU. Compare that to axie and pixels which have hundreds of thousands of MAUs. It all comes down to retaining player data over time, and making fun use of NFTs composability. Sandbox games are sometimes fun but there is no payoff. I can play way more fun games on minecraft or roblox; there needs to be a kicker.

I personally want to hop on my Sandbox game, gain levels over time, acquire resources, craft things, and generally build up a character and its assets due to skill and time dedication. I do not want to just build cosmetic NFTs and look pretty while I play a one time play through game (though I do love looking pretty).

Risk analysis

• Adding NFT complexity adds risks that players will lose assets via bugs or carelessness. This is largely true today, however improving wallets will help mitigate this. Specifically Coinbase smart wallet is a good example of an integration that would help players manage their assets in a responsible way.
• Games built on NFT economies may experience bugs that break their economy. If a craft system goes wrong and can be exploited, and a lot of one asset that is key to the in-game economy of a game is minted, the game may not have recourse to delete those assets and will instead have to re-engineer its economy.

Budget requested

Platform Budget: 0$ This is a feasibility study request.

Implementation Plan

The Sandbox Product Team is expected to provide timeline, cost, design and detailed use cases by the end of 2024.

Metrics for Success

• We expect these features to drive all general Sandbox metrics up significantly:
  • Games created
  • Marketplace volume
  • Monthly active players
• We also think this is a specifically great project for game makers, they will be able to create assets that function in their game, which drives up sales of those (think Robux or vbucks). There will be real markets for in-game assets because they have utility. As a result creators will be more likely to be able to monetize their games, as opposed to today where it is extremely limited.
  • Creator earnings ++

Voting Questions: Do you agree to run a feasibility study on NFT composability?