In Spite of all that is positive, there is one aspect that works agains the game - the referral system.
How Splinterlands could get an additional boost
Splinterlands is a relatively complex game and for new users it can be challenging to understand how things work. It is now possible for newcomers to play the game for free to learn how it works. This free system doesn't allow them to participate in the things where they can earn cards or tokens. This is nice but there is still a problem.
With a game of such complexity you need users to be coached and who could do that better than existing users?
Unfortunately existing players don't have much incentive to bring new users to the game because the referral system doesn't work well.
What is wrong with the referral system?
When new users start the game, they have to pay 10 Usd for a starter pack. The referrer get's a 5% commission on that. This means that he get 0.5 Usd. The chances are that after that he won't get anything at all because there are so many ways to buy packs that do not generate referral income. If the referral buys a pack over steem-engine, over peakmonsters or he pays on splinterlands with DEC, the referrer won't get any comission. Even if the referral buys some cards on the market, the referrer can be bypassed easily.
It's simply not worth to find referrals under these conditions
How it could be done better
A good referral system should encourage existing users to get new referrals in the long term. The aim should be that existing users not only acquire new players but that they also educate them. The referrer should have an incentive to produce new users that will actually spend money on the platform because they want to get better.
It would be much better to reward referrer with a precentage of the DEC's earning of a new user.
Why it would be a great idea to reward existing users with DEC rather than with a money comission
Let's say I'm an existing user and I have the possibility to earn 1% of all the DEC earnings of my referrals. 1% is not much and could be deducted quite easily from the normal earnings of the users. So there would be no additional cost for the website. This marketing would in a way be paid by the users because everybody profits if there are new players joining the game.
I could now bring new users to the game but I would have a real interest in encouraging them to take the step to buy the starter pack. I could even pay their starter pack for them. Then I would make sure that these users understand the game. I could even lend them some cards I don't need at the beginning. My interest is to get them hooked and to make them play. The better they get, the more DEC they earn and the more I will earn as well. I could develop it as a real business where I provide youtube videos, online tutorials, newsletters to get more referrals. But I would need this incentive to earn regularly from my referrals.
Everybody would profit and Steemmonsters could delegate the marketing of the game to its users!
by @achim03
