Author: TPan Source: substack Translation: Shan Ouba, Golden Finance
Over the past year, an area of web3 that has continued to interest me is SocialFi. How applications can use social platforms and unique on-chain mechanisms to create new ways of interaction, socialization, and games is just wishful thinking on my part.
We are still in the early stages of exploring what works and what doesn't. For now, developers will continue to experiment with new mechanisms and features, some of which have caught my attention.
Fantasy Top Launches Tactics
Fantasy Top, an application that combines fantasy sports and Twitter engagement metrics, launched Tactics earlier today.
How does Tactics work?
Tactics is inspired by the daily betting concept of DraftKings
Tactics tickets cost $19.99 and players can participate multiple times
After purchase, players select their 5-hero lineup from a randomly selected list. Lineups must be completed in 5 minutes and within the maximum star limit (more star heroes = stronger Twitter engagement, resulting in more points on the leaderboard).
You do not need to hold any hero cards to participate
The first Tactics game has 3,432 slots and a $60,085 prize pool. Additional rewards include Blast Gold (Blast Layer 2 network user incentive) and FAN Points (possible token issuance) allocated based on ranking
Tactics will have a platform commission, which is allocated to heroes and the Fantasy Treasury. Heroes will receive 20% of Tactics revenue based on their Twitter performance during the match
Why this is interesting?
We are now seeing Fantasy Top expand the available game types. Compared to the flagship Classic mode, the Tactics expansion does several things right away:
New budget-friendly ways to play – Instead of hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, it now costs $20 to play a Fantasy Top game
Creates ongoing engagement – In addition to daily streak rewards (effectively daily check-ins), Fantasy Top players now have a reason to return to the app every day to engage in the game
Leans towards skill-based play – Tactics is more geared towards play based on skill, rather than just having the biggest budget. That is, skilled players will play multiple times to maximize their chances of ranking, just like in DraftKings
Scoop Launches on Farcaster
Inspired by Fantasy Top, Scoop launched last week.
What is Scoop?
Scoop is a SocialFi game on iOS
Each Farcaster profile is converted into a card, with pricing determined by a bonding curve (higher demand = higher price). This is different from Fantasy Top, where heroes are pre-selected
A 4% transaction fee is charged every time a card is bought or sold, which goes into a community pool. Part of the fee is distributed to creators
At the end of each day, Farcaster creators are ranked based on engagement scores. Top ranked card holders will receive rewards from the community pool
Gameplay starts on Wednesday, June 26
Scoop's Getting Started
Although Scoop has not yet started, I downloaded the app to check it out and found the getting started experience particularly enjoyable. Here are some observations:
The initial getting started experience is based on scrolling on one screen, rather than tapping on multiple screens. For me personally, scrolling through the tutorial is much more refreshing than tapping the "Next" button multiple times.
Scoop connects to your Farcaster account to track creator engagement, similar to how you need to connect a Twitter account on Fantasy Top
A direct example of Scoop leveraging Farcaster connections is the invitation and referral mechanism. In order to join Scoop, you need an invitation code. If you don’t have one? Scoop will identify accounts you follow that have extra invitation codes and tag these users with interesting templates. This is a great example of Farcaster bringing richer interactions to top applications and their social graphs.
Scoop also has a sticker feature. In one of the images, the app shows stickers from recent buyers. This feature may become a separate marketplace or become a bonus for specific milestones and creators. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.
No one knows when or how SocialFi will truly break the mainstream barrier. However, the attempts are becoming more frequent and accurate.