Influence Tokenomics Overview
Version 3.0 - June 22nd, 2024
Introduction
Influence is a space strategy MMO set in the Adalia system’s asteroid belt after an ill-fated journey aboard the Arvad, a multi-generational ship fleeing a dying Earth. Players interact in third-person through control of their crew, ships, and the installations they build and compete through multiple avenues: mining, building, trading, researching, and fighting. Players can own any of the 250,000 asteroids in the system and can exploit the asteroids’ resources to further their goals, either solo or in collaboration with other players.
Influence is also a fully on-chain game built on the Ethereum blockchain and its scaling solutions (specifically Starknet) and, as such, is under-pinned by a system of fungible, non-fungible and semi-fungible tokens. Influence makes use of the semi-fungible (ERC-1155) and non-fungible (ERC-721) token standards for in-game assets, and utilizes the fungible (ERC-20) standard for the SWAY token, which serves as the primary on / off ramp for the Influence economy.
This document outlines the current planned implementation of the Influence economy as it applies to both in-game and hybrid assets.
In-Game Items
The vast majority of in-game items are “semi-fungible” tokens based on the ERC-1155 standard1 with modifications restricting their usage to be within Influence only. The items are fungible, meaning they are equivalent and interchangeable, except in respect to their location. For example, “Graphite” is equivalent regardless of where it is located, but there are potentially 250,000 separate “Graphite” tokens, one for each asteroid. Only “Graphite” present on the same asteroid is truly fungible. The following are examples of in-game semi-fungible items:
Raw materials - Ores, gasses, silica
Refined materials - Steel, glass, alloys
Manufactured components - Reactors, thrusters, plating
Hybrid Items
Certain in-game items exist as hybrids in that they are also able to interact outside of Influence on the Starknet and Ethereum blockchains. These items are part of the broader Adalian universe. They are predominantly the “non-fungible” items in-game, which means that they cannot be considered equivalent, even when two items are the same “type.” These items implement the ERC-721 standard and include:
Asteroids - the “land” of Adalia which can be mined and developed in Influence
Crewmates - characters which populate Adalia, and which include unique traits, aesthetics, and histories in Influence
Crews - the embodiment of the player. A collection of crewmates, ships, and associated semi-fungible tokens treated as a single playable unit in Influence.
Ships - unique, customizable transports and combat vehicles built in Influence, but usable across all of Adalia
SWAY Token
Finally, SWAY is a completely fungible, ERC-20 compatible token designed as the standard currency of the Adalian universe with a set of functional and philosophical goals in mind. It is can be interacted with freely in Influence as well within the Starknet and Ethereum ecosystems.
Goals
Allow for a single point of entry into Adalia
The universe of crypto-currencies is already enormous with literally millions of tokens which brings with it significant complexity. To simplify the onboarding experience and to provide for a clear delineation, SWAY serves as the primary point of entry into the Adalian universe (as well as Influence).
Facilitate trading and the exchange of goods in-game
All Influence markets enabling trading between players on asteroids, will operate with all trading pairs denominated in SWAY. As the only system-wide, fungible currency in Influence, this results in a significant reduction in the friction of trade and a more straightforward understanding of the state of the market for players looking to discover in-game opportunities.
Ensure a fair distribution based on active participation
The distribution of SWAY will be explicitly tied to participation in the Adalian universe, including community contributions and in-game activity (initially Influence, but ultimately including any game built around the Adalian universe). There are no allocations to outside investors and there will be no private sales or discounts provided to insiders. SWAY is currency for Adalians, and will be fairly distributed to active, productive Adalians.
Limit speculation and volatility
First and foremost, games should be fun. Influence aims to be a fun and immersive universe enabled by blockchain technology, rather than a project driven by speculation with a shallow gamified wrapper around it. As such, it would be self-defeating to design SWAY in a way that would encourage speculation and high volatility (i.e. hard caps, burn mechanics, hard-coded inflation schedules that undershoot player-base growth, etc.).
Operation and Economics
Initialization
The SWAY contract will be deployed on L1 Ethereum with an initial supply of 97.5 billion. The supply will be distributed as outlined below in the “Distribution” section. Each unit of SWAY can be subdivided into millionths (i.e. six decimals). Prior to the launch of Exploitation, the first fully-playable release of Influence, SWAY will be “soulbound” or non-transferable (except for a whitelist which will include the SWAY Governor and addresses required to support initial distribution).
At the launch of Exploitation, an additional 32.5 billion SWAY will be minted to the Influence wallet to be further distributed per the outline below. No additional minting will take place after launch except as defined in the “Emission” section below.
Restrictions
The SWAY contract on Ethereum is deployed as a non-upgradeable (immutable) contract and will have only the following roles:
TRANSFERRER: can transfer SWAY prior to launch (non-functional after Influence launch)
LAUNCHER: can remove SWAY transfer restrictions upon launch (non-functional after launch)
GOVERNOR: can emit new SWAY based on governance decisions (only functional role after launch)
Additionally, the SWAY contract does NOT implement the “burn” extension of ERC-20. Therefore no role or entity, including Unstoppable Games, is able to administer the redemption (withdrawal from circulation) of SWAY or a reduction in total supply.
The SWAY contract on Starknet is initially deployed as an upgradeable contract with an administrator role, but the role will be revoked prior to launch rendering the contract immutable and uncontrolled by any entity.
Emission
All ongoing SWAY emission will take place on L1 Ethereum. The L2 Starknet implementation of SWAY will NOT be capable of emitting (or “minting”) SWAY. The SWAY “Governor” contract deployed on L1 Ethereum will be responsible for, and the only account / contract capable of, emitting new SWAY. “Beneficiaries” can be set (as described in the “Governance” section below) on the Governor contract with a minimum per period emission rate and an excess emission split defined.
The Governor utilizes information about the total SWAY transfer volume to calculate the appropriate periodic emission rate to maintain a target velocity of SWAY (VoS).
The Governor calculates the emission rate in the following manner:
The Governor calculates the velocity of SWAY (VoS) as the ratio of total transfer volume to total supply per period
SWAY contracts (on L1 and L2) track the total volume of all transfers on a periodic basis (every 1 million seconds) and the Governor is able to receive / request that information
The VoS target (Vt) is set initially to 0, and is updated at the end of each period to equal the 30-period moving average of actual VoS values
During each period, the SWAY is issued based on the minimum per period emission rate (Em) for each Beneficiary. The rate is multiplied by the current total supply (T) to determine the total SWAY emitted.
Additionally, if the current period VoS (V) is greater than the moving average of VoS, an additional portion of SWAY is emitted (Eₐ). The amount is determined by raising a sensitivity (S) value (between 0 and 1) to the power of the inverse of the difference between current period VoS and monthly average VoS.
Distribution
The initial supply of 97.5 billion SWAY will be distributed as follows:
30 billion - allocated to Unstoppable Games to be made available during the initial launch of Exploitation to support new player growth.
30 billion - distributed to holders of Arvad crewmates with additional weighting applied to co-owned Arrival and Populate the Belt sale asteroids.
22.5 billion - distributed as incentives, including for:
Participating in public play tests prior to the launch of Exploitation
Being selected as an Adalian Creator’s Collective winner by the community
Aiding in moderation of the Influence Discord community
Taking specific incentivized actions within Influence: Exploitation
15 billion - distributed to current asteroid or crewmate owners who refer new players that ultimately purchase a new asteroid or crewmate
The subsequent supply of 32.5 billion SWAY minted at launch will be distributed as follows:
10 billion - allocated to support the expansion of the Adalian Creator’s Collective to power the development of ecosystem tools, additional games set in the Adalian universe and content creation.
5 billion - allocated to dynamically support the buy side of the Adalia Prime marketplaces during Exploitation initial launch period, including those materials included in the Arrival sale starter packs. The intention is for this facility to be in place for one month only.
17.5 billion - in addition to any SWAY remaining from the above 5 billion allocation, these funds will be dedicated to the formation of the future Adalia Foundation (DAO) which will progressively take on governance and control of the Adalian universe.
Governance
Ethereum SWAY Governor
The “SWAY Governor” will be deployed on L1 Ethereum and is responsible for:
The sensitivity of the SWAY velocity target
The set of “beneficiaries” and the respective minimum and split of emissions
The designation of L2 SWAY contracts as reporters of SWAY transfer volume
The upgrading of the SWAY Governor contract
The SWAY Governor will initially be operated by Unstoppable Games. However, as the Adalian universe is being built to ultimately be a community owned and operated world, deliberate steps will be taken to decentralize governance of SWAY. This will be facilitated by the future introduction of a governance token.2 This token will follow many of the same philosophies as SWAY and will intentionally prioritize active participants within the Adalian universe. The governance token will not be released until after the launch of Exploitation.
Activity Incentives & Community Funds
The SWAY dedicated to activity incentives and community funds are emitted by the SWAY Governor and held in dedicated accounts on L2. The degree to which activities are incentivized and the allocation of community funds to rewards and grants will be initially determined by Unstoppable Games, but will be rapidly subject to community input via asset-gated voting (i.e. Snapshot or similar). Ultimately, these funds will also be subject to the same decentralized governance as outlined above for the SWAY Governor.
Summary of Changes
Since the previous versions of the Influence tokenomics, several changes have been incorporated to improve gameplay and streamline the implementation of SWAY. Specifically:
In-game marketplaces will be implemented as order-books rather than as automated market maker (AMM) swaps. Community feedback was clearly in favor of order-books as a more entertaining approach.
SWAY fees paid to the Influence development fund and community treasury as part of trades executed via in-game marketplaces have been eliminated. This reduces the gas cost of in-game market transactions and simplifies in-game decisions for players.
Influence development and community treasury funds are now consolidated into the overall SWAY emission which captures all SWAY activity.
The velocity of SWAY target will now evolve dynamically based on a moving average of historical SWAY velocity rather than being explicitly set by the SWAY Governor.
SWAY initially allocated towards buy orders on Adalia Prime was identified as being significantly over-allocated, and has been mostly re-allocated towards the ACC and DAO creation.
In-game resources are based on ERC-1155, but do not strictly implement its interface and are NOT composable outside of Influence.
Influence assets should not be purchased with the assumption that they will include governance tokens. To discourage financial speculation, active participation in Influence will be required.