Tokenomics
The future is Web3, Pioneers!
Last updated
The future is Web3, Pioneers!
Last updated
One of the hottest topics in conversations surrounding Life Beyond has been tokenomics. As we’ve stated in our previous discussions, making sure that Life Beyond goes beyond just an MMO and is realised as a fully supported Web3 experience is one of our top priorities.
To that end, we recently gave Founders and our closest partners an exclusive opportunity to be the first to hear from two of our most knowledgeable team members on the topic: Vincent Marty, our Chief Strategy and Product Officer, and Emilio Padulo, our Senior Economy & Tokenomics Designer. They had a lot of very interesting things to say, so it’s time to lay it out here for your reading pleasure.
A Disclaimer
It’s important to state that some elements of Life Beyond’s game economy and tokenomics are subject to change. Crypto is frequently a hot topic in the news due to its mutability; laws and regulations are constantly changing, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t state that in the event of changing circumstances, we may have to adapt our vision.
That being said, there are a few elements that will not change and are core to our identity and the sustainability of Life Beyond:
The Custodial Wallet
Life Beyond running on an Edge/Side Chain
Life Beyond’s Dual Currency: DOLS (soft currency) and $FT (premium currency).
Don’t worry if you’re not sure what that all means, as we’re about to explain everything below. Let’s get started.
When designing the tokenomics for Life Beyond, there were three main focal points that we knew we needed to consider. These were as follows:
Token Infrastructure
The Token Infrastructure is the foundation on which Life Beyond will be built. It’s an integral part of the ecosystem and as such will be crucial to the success of the service.
We knew that in order to succeed, we’d need to do something that had never been done before- achieve critical mass, and honour Web3 natives, whilst also building a strong, long-lasting game.
In Game Economics
The in-game economy is of particular importance, as it will be what our persona and key stakeholders will be engaging with from a core gameplay loop perspective. This is represented by the Pioneering, Settling and Governance phases of the game (more on those here).
In development, we know it’s vital that each one of those plays a key economic role in the overall progression of the game, and that each player’s journey and choices are respected as viable when reflected in the game’s tokenomics.
Out of Game Economics
This is where the game and Web3 meet. For everything to be successful, our Token itself needs to be utilised efficiently within the Life Beyond ecosystem.
There are many avenues for the Token to be used such as through Governance, Staking or direct purchases. Each one plays a key role in bringing compounded value accrual for the Token and as an extension to Life Beyond as a whole.
On Terminology
Before we dive in further, it’s important that we explain some terminology. Our goal is to make Life Beyond inclusive, and part of that is understanding that not everyone comes from a cryptocurrency background. So, some definitions:
Main-Chain
This is what traditional Blockchain networks such as Polygon, Flow and Dapps run on. This would be a public chain where users participate in Web3 activities and transactions.
Edge/Side-Chain
A sidechain is a separate blockchain network that’s connected to another blockchain – called a parent blockchain or mainnet.
These secondary blockchains have their own protocols, allowing a greater efficiency in transaction management as the chain is dedicated to only one project/company.
A lot of the time, if there’s an exploit in a Main-Chain game and someone is able to extrapolate a lot of tokens, there’s no way to back-track on that. The individual responsible can be banned, but the damage to the economy has been done, and there’s no way to avoid that. By using a Side-Chain, once this activity gets flagged, we can take the currency that a bad actor has earned to the side, removing any effect on the wider ecosystem.
A good example of this would be a Supernet on Polygon.
Custodial Wallet
A custodial wallet is defined as a wallet in which the private keys are held by a third party. As a result, you only have to give permission in order to send or receive payments.
In Life Beyond, users will utilise a custodial wallet within the Side-Chain. Whenever you interact with the economy, or for example negotiate transactions between players, it’ll all be stored within this.
To alleviate any concerns, it’s important to note that we won’t be controlling how players move currency. The sole purpose of this is to avoid players having to sign contracts constantly. Without a custodial wallet, players would have to sign contracts all the time:
Any time they listed an item in an auction house.
Any time someone bought something off them in the auction house.
Any time they traded items.
And more…
You get the idea. Using a custodial wallet, transactions are seamless, enabling you to actually spend your time playing the game. We believe that this will go a long way towards bringing players into the Web3 world from other areas.
AMM
An Automated Market Maker (AMM) is a decentralised exchange mechanism for Token trading that uses mathematical algorithms to determine the price of assets, based on the supply and demand in a liquidity pool. There are always two Tokens between each AMM.
To prepare for mass adoption, we have designed an ecosystem that will be sensitive to both Web2 and Web3 player concerns. Our intention is that the tokenomics and design approach will address any potential adoption concerns, allowing unique access points for both Web2 and Web3 players in Life Beyond.
In order to achieve this, our approach involves creating a Side/Edge-Chain AMM which will then be bridged to a Fungible Token Main-Chain. Our prioritisation is gameplay, community growth, and monetisation in that order to balance gameplay benefits and monetary gains. Our intention is that you’ll be able to enter the game, play the game, earn soft currency, and if at any point you want out, you’ll be able to move through steps to off-ramp to our Fungible Token.
Life Beyond’s Tokens
A large part of our efforts to respect the economy of Life Beyond and design systems that are sustainable in the long-term revolves around our in-game economics. As a result, we’ve settled on a Dual Currency system that can be broken down into two Token types that we’ve mentioned before:
DOLS
DOLS [Inflationary Token] allows us to connect players from traditional gaming backgrounds to blockchain within the ecosystem, while keeping the economy stable.
This is done through frictionless implementation within our blockchain infrastructure, which utilises custodial wallets for players. Note that this token lives, breaths and dies within the side chain and can’t be swapped or exchanged for any other token except $FT.
$FT
$FT [Fungible Token] acts as a supporting dual currency to DOLS within Life Beyond’s ecosystem.
It allows us to connect Web2 native players within the economy to blockchain integration in a frictionless way through our blockchain infrastructure.
There is a requirement for $FT for certain types of in-game content. It is a crucial currency that is in high demand and drives all aspects of player progression and gameplay systems. Certain items / systems will only be procurable with $FT (more on that shortly).
So, why are we calling it $FT? Well, “$FT” in this context is just a representation of a Token we will adopt within the future. It’s very exciting and shows a lot of promise, but we’re not ready to reveal it quite yet.
High Level Token Infrastructure Flow
Within the framework shown above, $FT is exchangeable between the Edge-Chain and the Main-Chain through an AMM and a bridge.
The only way to gain $FT “in-game” will be through earning the Edge-chain currency DOLS.
Before reaching this step, there will be multiple sinks and utilities that aim to invigorate the gameplay experience for players and create a cyclical ecosystem that thrives on economic growth.
Our intention is that players will want to invest within the game ecosystem in order to progress efficiently. The edge chain currency will be kept within the game ecosystem, encouraging gameplay and cementing Life Beyond as a Play-to-Earn experience.
Infrastructure Details in Summary
Life Beyond has 1 Edge-Chain currency, DOLS
Life Beyond has 1 Main-Chain currency, $FT
To convert DOLS to $FT, we use an AMM on the Edge-Chain, and a Bridge to the Main-Chain
The AMM is controlled by Life Beyond
$FT can then be converted to non-Life-Beyond tokens via the CEX and DEX marketplaces
Infrastructure Benefits in Summary
Frictionless gameplay experience through custodial wallets to facilitate mass adoption
Security measures to reduce and catch any bad actors
Incentivizes spending $FT outside the ecosystem to generate value from in-game systems and mechanics
Controlled in-game economy with Edge-Chain currencies
Allows for an opportunity to teach and educate new users in Web3
When devising Life Beyond’s in-game economics, we took our time considering what our core micro, macro and meta loop progression systems should look like. Now, with details closer to a state we’re happy with, we’d like to share them with you.
We previously stated that DOLS will be able to be earned through playing Life Beyond content, and the chart above shows some of the ways that will happen. Some examples of things that will earn you DOLS:
Player-to Player Trading
Owning Land (which will emit a certain amount of DOLS over time in addition to resources, dependant on the type of Land)
Performing labour for other players
Providing services for other players
Completing certain Life Beyond content
Conversely, here are some examples of things will cost you DOLS:
Player Progression (upgrading items, progression trees etc)
Building infrastructure in-game
Purchasing minerals and resources
Buying labour from other players
Purchasing services from other players
Many actions take place on the Main-Chain, and incentivise players to participate in the Web3 Community. In order for this to happen, they require the spending of $FT. Here are some examples of $FT spending:
Game Progression Necessities
Repairing/Upgrading/Modifying NFT Tools
Crafting Core Items
Purchasing Gear Enhancers/Consumables
Minting NFT Capacities
Vehicle/Operational NFT Parts
Core Gameplay | Quality of Life
Conversion to DOLS
P2P Marketplace Transactions
Event based Admissions
Player Uniqueness Identifiers
Land Decorations
Pet Personalisation Features
Weapon/Vehicle/Tool Customisation Options
There are three main areas that will drive demand for $FT in Life Beyond.
Purchasing Capabilities
With FT, users are able to purchase Digital Assets and Utilities from Life Beyond and more. Examples include:
Core gameplay enhancements
Lands
Mystery Boxes
Phygitals
Cross-Promoted Game Products (Animoca)
Staking Opportunities
Staking allows for a new take on the compounding effect that brings great value to all users/players. These includes:
Accelerated DOLS Emissions when coupled with a Land NFT
In-game exclusive items for Staking solely with $FT
Governance Potential
The Token empowers users to impact future game systems, features & content releases:
DAO voting capabilities through $FT
Enabling player driven decisions
Life Beyond will support multi-chain tokens. This exciting feature will allow users to interact with the game in new and innovative ways. Rollout on multiple chains will happen in phases, paralleling the on-going advancement of the game. This will ensure that the user experience is seamless and that new features are introduced in a way that is both accessible and engaging. As part of this effort, the team behind Life Beyond has also developed an Open Metaverse, which is the best approach to demonstrate NFT interoperability as well as cross-community social experiences. This platform will allow users to connect with each other across different chains, creating a truly immersive and interactive experience.
Initially, Life Beyond will launch on Polygon, a decentralised Ethereum scaling platform. Polygon is a highly secure and reliable platform that offers the perfect environment for Life Beyond to thrive. With its advanced features, Polygon provides users with a seamless experience, making it easy to use and navigate. Besides, Polygon offers fast and low-cost transactions, which will be a significant advantage for Life Beyond users. This will enable users to transact with ease and convenience, giving them the best possible experience. As Life Beyond grows and expands, we will continue to explore other platforms that offer the best value for our users.
