Welcome to the final instalment of our 2-part article series. This one is a deep dive about Pooky’s in-game currency. Game design is hard. But designing a play-to-earn game with a crypto-economics component is even harder! That’s why we have put measures in place to prevent unintended negative effects and to be able to test whether our assumptions about game dynamics match players’ behaviour.
The team has begun by introducing a soul-bound $POK token. This token is an ERC-20 utility token on the Polygon blockchain and will serve as the gameplay token for the early version of Pooky. The $POK token will have all the functions of the future token, except for the ability to be sold or monetised directly. Instead, players will be able to use it to increase the value of their Pookyballs.
An uncapped, soul-bound token provides the flexibility to run the game for several months without any token value fluctuation, allowing players to experience the core mechanics of the game and improve their Pookyballs while preparing for Phase 2. In addition to this ERC-20 soul-bound token, Pooky will also issue NFTs, called Pookyballs, during the first phase. These NFTs will capture and accumulate value in the system through the level-up mechanics.
To support this transitional system, Pooky has decided to allocate up to 50% of its primary market proceeds from 2023 to the reward pool (MATIC tokens). Additionally, the reward pool will be filled with a certain amount of $POK matching the reward strategy described above and following the reward threshold in place. This will allow players to both progress in-game using the $POK and to earn immediate liquid proceeds from their involvement in the game ($MATIC).
In short, the goal is first and foremost to protect players and the integrity of the game. This is why, starting with a soul-bound $POK token is the perfect way to test all our mechanics before committing to introducing our final capped token, $TPK.
Once learnings have been digested, and necessary changes made, Pooky will use a single utility token, $TPK, which is easier for players to understand and identify value drivers. This token has a capped supply, which ensures scarcity and long-term value in a deflationary model due to effective burn mechanics. By reducing the supply over time, Pooky creates a game economy that has more sinks (spending flows) than faucets (reward flows) to create demand for the token. In contrast, most other play-to-earn games have an uncapped supply, which is inherently inflationary, and token values tend to decrease over time.
$TPK is an ERC-20 utility token on the Polygon blockchain and will cover all the use cases of the $POK, and will be tradable, meaning you can exchange it for dollars or euros. $TPK will be the main fuel of Pooky’s ecosystem, but people will still be able to finish spending their $POK and will be able to convert any residual $POK they have into PXP for the Pookyball of their choice.
Overall, the Pooky project aims to create a seamless transition from an uncapped, soul-bound token to a capped, tradable token, all while providing players with the opportunity to earn liquid proceeds and increase the value of their Pookyballs through gameplay.
This concludes our series of articles about Pooky’s game design and virtuous tokenomics. We hope you enjoyed reading, and of course, don’t hesitate to join the conversation on Discord for any questions / remarks / thoughts you might have ! We’re eager for your input.
