IIP-41-R

IMPLEMENTED

Abstract

To create an Illuvium PvP Tournament Fund (IPTF) that allows the DAO to sponsor up to 10 tournaments every month up to a total of 100 ILV in rewards and provide beta codes to participants.

Summary

The IPTF will be created alongside the launch of the Arena PB3 PvP beta allowing up to 100 ILV each month to be given to other entities after an application process. Even though this will be on a case by case basis, the other organization or individual will typically use the ILV as prize money to host grassroots tournaments sanctioned by the DAO. This will stimulate the player economy, make Illuvium more relevant in the Web 3 space and give the DAO invaluable information leading up to the Open Beta launch of Illuvium. Beyond this, it will also allow the DAO to build stronger relationships with existing communities and forge new relationships as it prepares for the end of 2023.

Rationale

Previously, the main argument against rewards for the Illuvium Arena was that it has limited access to those with a beta key, so not everyone can participate. Given the Arena has opened up more in recent months and is naturally expected to open up further with the launch of the PvP beta, now is a good time to begin rewards distribution. Alongside distributing rewards, the DAO will also hand out beta codes enabling the broader community to help engage with newcomers to Illuvium.

This allocation of ILV and beta codes seeks to achieve a variety of different things, in order of potential effectiveness they are as follows:

• Improves the outcome of Beta testing: It’s no secret that Beta testing gives the most valuable information when it closely simulates the conditions that may occur after a games launch. With proper incentivisation, Illuvium has a much better chance at achieving this and gaining more valuable insights due to the increase in player volume and consistency of individual testers. Generally in the gaming industry, closed beta testers are paid to play the game and deliver feedback, there is no good reason Illuvium should stray too far from a model that works.
• Stimulate the player economy: A key issue that is currently present in many Web 3 multiplayer games is a lack of players. This can be seen in a variety of TCG’s and even games like Big Time. What is consistent however, is that games with a clear rewards mechanism have significantly less issues here; Parallel and Spider Tanks are good examples of this. Even though we do not know what to expect when it comes to the PvP Beta, it's easy to assume time zones with less players may have a bad experience overall. Even if you can find a match, battling the same 2 or 3 people on repeat can get tedious quickly. Eventually people will likely stop playing altogether.
• Begin constructing a competitive scene for Illuvium: In gaming, no competitive scene was built in the span of 2-3 months, they took 6 months to 1 year to become recognisable even in smaller circles. Getting the ball rolling early and allowing the DAO to learn and grow as a competitive behemoth is valuable. This will also allow the DAO to kick off the large tournaments it has promised sooner than possible without these dry runs.
• Strengthen old partnerships and develop new ones: Illuvium is doing very well when it comes to building partnerships in the broad Gaming space. This is a way to attract new communities to Illuvium that the DAO hasn’t reached out to yet and continue fostering these connections.
• Grow reach in Web 3 circles: In the past 6 months or so, Illuvium’s most successful marketing campaigns in terms of awareness and reach have been the D1sk giveaways conducted for Wave 1 and Wave 2 of Illuvium Beyond. This can be seen broadly in the Web 3 space as prize money and giveaways typically outperform everything else. By enabling this for the DAO it may attract people to Illuvium that may not have seen it otherwise.

This IIP is specifically for both the Ascendent and Leviathan Arena PvP game modes. These suit the more traditional tournament structures and provide the greatest opportunity to show off and build our competitive scene. As the Illuvium ecosystem of games expands and evolves there will be opportunities to extend the IPTF to future game modes and games.

Current Illuvium Beyond rewards come out of the in-game yield pool the DAO has already set aside for leaderboards, ranked rewards and tournaments. It currently distributes 100 ILV every week (400 monthly) to these participants.

Setting aside 100 ILV every month (25% by comparison) on something that arguably builds a stronger community and helps make an overall better experience in the heart and soul of the competitive side of Illuvium feels like a no-brainer for the reasons mentioned above.

Implementation

It is important that activities like these do not negatively impact the work of Illuvium Labs. Because of this, the Marketing Sub-Council will be the primary filter for these partnerships and present only the strongest candidates to the team and IMC.

The overall process is as follows:

Every month the DAO will transfer 100 ILV to a special wallet held by a key Illuvium Labs Core Contributor that the MSC can request distribution from when needed. This setup is to avoid dozens of transactions going through the multisignature wallet and to maintain efficient ILV distribution. The team will also provide beta codes to the MSC to store and distribute to tournament hosts as required.

External entities will apply for an IPTF Grant by contacting one of the MSC members on discord. They will provide a pitch deck that the MSC will collectively review. Any individual or organization can apply for the grant but they will need an established hosting framework, whether this be a Twitch/YouTube channel, major Twitter following, or discord community.

Before this fund is created the MSC will develop a public specialized media kit that tournament organizers can use for their own promotional needs. It will also include an example pitch deck that hosts can use as a guideline when preparing their own.

This pitch deck should contain the following:

• The name of the Organization or individual
• Relevant social media reach and typical engagement
• Comprehensive details of the tournament they plan on running including
• • Prize distribution
  • Any other giveaways
  • Tournament rules structure
  • Tournament hosting plan
  • Social media activation plans
  • Times and dates
• Anything they request of the DAO including
• • Quantity of ILV
  • Social media posts or reposts

If the MSC accepts their proposal they will confirm the terms of the agreement and distribute the required beta codes as needed. If not, they will notify them of any concerns with their pitch and they will have to wait a minimum of 2 weeks before they can re-apply. Once a tournament host has been approved they are welcome to apply again in the future.

There are no major restrictions on the quantity of ILV any individual can request from the DAO given it makes sense to allocate significant amounts to large organizations. However it should be clear that everything in the pitch will be taken into consideration when determining which candidates are appropriate.

Weekly, the sub-council will decide on the strongest and weakest proposals and create an MSP (Marketing Spend Proposal). The MSC will frequently liaison with the appropriate team members should they have any questions or should this cause issues with future partners under strict NDA. They will also discuss the potential social media involvement the DAO can have with any given tournament organizer but have no obligation to support the host outside of the ILV and Beta codes set out in the agreement. The MSP will include the amount of ILV the DAO is allocating from the IPTF to the various tournament hosts, a full breakdown of how it will be used and the expected result.

Once this has been created it will then be passed to the IMC for a typical snapshot vote across the usual 3 day time period. To maintain a fluid process the IMC can make minor adjustments to the proposal (such as removing 1 or 2 candidates) with the sponsor’s approval. Given the urgency of these proposals, outside of any individual publicly abstaining due to conflict of interest, if any member of the IMC does not vote it will count as an approval.

Following the tournament, the entity will provide all relevant player numbers from the competition and the ERC20 wallet to receive ILV from the DAO. The MSC will verify the details with the appointed Labs CC and then send the funds. The host has 48 hours to send the Etherscan transaction hashes of their prize distribution to the competitors so the MSC can verify the outcome of the tournament and reflect on the data.

In the name of fairness to tournament competitors, the DAO will not be liable to send the ILV if the Tournament organizer did not meet all of the following requirements:

• A minimum of 3 competitors must win ILV as a part of the tournament's outcome.
• • This cannot be less than 10% of the IPTF Grant per person.
• The tournament must have had a minimum of 32 participants to be eligible.
• The tournament's rule structure cannot give a discernible advantage to any group of competitors, at minimum the rule structure should be disclosed to competitors with enough notice for them to prepare.
• Tournament organizers must use a provably fair RNG method to decide on the bracket order and round 1 byes (if applicable). Recording this process is preferable to ensure high standards of fairness.

Entities are welcome to ask the MSC questions at any time during the process for assistance and clarification.

Some other considerations pertain to conflict of interest. If any member of the MSC or IMC is clearly affiliated with an organization applying for a IPTF Grant then they must recuse themselves. If 2 or more of the voting members fall under this category for a given vote within the IMC or MSC, then the Game subcouncil will vote on this specific candidate instead. For example if Wildfire were to apply then Scoriox would have to abstain given their direct affiliation.

After each month (except the first, given the lack of available data points), the MSC will provide a report to the community detailing the success or failure of the program. They must discuss participant numbers, social media engagement and consult with Perry regarding overall user numbers and how they are impacted by the tournaments run that month.

If the community finds these outcomes unsatisfactory then they can write an IIP to dissolve the IPTF.

At the end of the month the IPTF will be topped up to the maximum threshold of 100 ILV as set out in this proposal. An ICCP is required to change this quantity.

Transition to Gov V3

If Gov V3 is approved by the IMC during the current epoch then these changes to the proposal will take effect. As written in Gov V3, the Marketing Sub-Council no longer exists and the core structure is made up of a Community Council and IMC. Following the end of elections for Gov V3, responsibilities within this proposal will fall to the newly elected councils. The IMC will retain its role in approving Marketing Spend Proposals (MSP). The MSC responsibilities will instead be allocated to the Illuvium Community Council. This includes reviewing IPFT Grant applications, being a contact point for individuals and organizations applying for funds, and preparing MSPs for Snapshot voting.

MTG Case Study

One of the closest references to community building through widespread tournament participation is the early creation of ‘Friday Night Magic’, created by the Wizards of the Coast. In short, as they shifted their focus to amateur players, they provided prizes to thousands of local game stores to host in-person Magic the Gathering tournaments.

Not only did this build up a sense of community broadly across Magic the Gathering players, it allowed them to network with one another. It's far easier to hold retention and engage with a smaller community than with large social platforms such as X or Discord. The key difference with these tournaments is that their prizes often consisted of special promotional cards distributed exclusively in these events. Although these weren’t necessarily new artwork, they were often holo or foil versions of existing cards, sometimes cards very important to the metagame. We can see similar instances of this with Hearthstone's seasonal card backs where you have to play a minimum amount of games within the month to earn a card back unobtainable otherwise.

Conclusion

I expect this IPTF to evolve over time, but starting off with strong incentives is the easiest way to kick it off well so that it can gather momentum early. If successful, I expect the DAO to increase the ILV quantity but more importantly give even more opportunities to external Web 3 and Web 2 communities.