ROI Channels for investors only

[stable escarp]

I posted the below in chat but the idea comes from my WEB 2 life experiences. I think we need a seperate channel for those whose only focus is ROI and not consumer expereince. I would think of these as SHAREHOLDER meeting from publicly traded companies.

What i put in general chat:
"I want to start by expressing my belief in the team and the vision you're driving forward. I've been following the crypto space since around 2019, and I’ve seen firsthand that people may not always remember exactly what you say, but they rarely forget how you make them feel.

That being said, I come from a Web2 background and have spent an hour into the AMA this morning, with about 30 minutes left. One recurring issue I’ve noticed in the crypto space—and I believe this sentiment is shared by 99% of the people I know personally—is a strong focus on ROI and profit rather than creating enjoyable, consumer-focused experiences.

A significant portion of the community, from the chats to the AMA, seem primarily concerned with returns rather than how to improve the game and make it fun for the end user. I’ve noticed that many of the same individuals who repeatedly focus on ROI often present problems without offering solutions, or if they do, it’s only in ways that maximize their profits without enhancing the player’s overall experience.

As a gamer, my priorities are quite different. I don't care about ROI at all. I’ve spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars on gaming across platforms—PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox—and I’m currently saving up over $2K to build my own desktop. My motivation for gaming stems from:

Enjoyment and fun
Escaping daily stresses, even if just for an hour or so
Connecting with family and friends
Engaging in competitive play with good-natured banter
If I happen to make money while playing, that's a nice bonus, but it’s not the reason I game.

What I won’t do—outside of Illuvium, which I consider a personal experiment in crypto—is play a game solely to make money for others. I’ve even stopped trying to bring others into the Discord because of the overwhelming focus on ROI, particularly in channels like ZERO chat.
Based on the discussions I’ve observed, I find it hard to envision how this current community mindset will resonate with Web2 users. It’s my belief that if the focus doesn’t shift toward making the games fun and engaging, it will be challenging to attract a broader, more traditional audience"

[dusky creek]

Though I'm not sure if segregating discussions about ROI from the other channels will have the kind of impact we're looking for, I'm upvoting because I still share the same sentiment and understand why you would want to pursue this idea.

My main concern is that even if I look at it from a shareholder perspective, the focus on ROI isn't the main issue. I would love to see a huge ROI for myself especially for investing early in a project as bold as this. But I also realize that in order to get there, the gameplay and user experience HAS to come first.

In contrast, I often see the attempts to solve the problem for increasing player count and DUA is by offering more financial incentives, which I find to be more of a mere projection of one's own desires to make money over all else. The fact is that anything worth giving a damn about in the long-term has always been driven by the quality of product/service vs price. I'm saying that if I was just introduced to Illuvium right now in its current state, you'd have to pay me thousands of dollars to have me sit here and grind through these games. But if the game is great and worth spending time on, I'll gladly pay for it, even in the thousands when it really hits home with me. What's the need for offering incentives if the game itself is worth playing?

Time and time again, I've seen this happen where the fixation on ROI has ruined so many great things, usually due to short-sightedness. Don't get me wrong, money is great, but it's a proxy for the tangible things in life and should be seen as a means to an end, not the end itself.

So if we're wise enough, chatting about gameplay and improving the user experience from a web2 perspective IS chatting about ROI. That's where I would hope this community can come to an agreement.

[stable escarp]

Great perspective and fully understand your point. I know this isn’t a root cause solution to bigger problems, but I brought this up bc everyone I had asked to come to the Illuvium discord has now said this is another crypto scam….i know it’s not just what happened to those exchanges recently/last year-ish that is still fresh on people’s minds. All they saw was people wanting others to play so they could make an ROI….it hard to talk up the game when just so happened at the moment they would look at the discord to see if they want to become apart of the community. The entire chat for the last hour/ couple hours is about “why can’t I make ROI” lol.

[dusky creek]

Yeah, it's a tough sell at that point. I already find it extremely repulsive when the emphasis on making ROI becomes about convincing new players to buy our NFTs or fuel when there isn't a solid reason to, yet. That smells so crypto scammy for any newcomer.

[stable escarp]

It’s a vicious cycle. Another plus and minus i just thought about

Pro:
Better filters of concerns of investors/gamers.

Con:
If people do not check that chat they may not known the direction of the company as much. Need to change the title to ROI channel for investor/“shareholder” talks or something. A locked channel in crypto would not sit well with that community.

[ember forum]

When you buy land for 40k$ it's not just to play and have fun.