Shockwaves In-Game Tokenomics

Dear Shockfrens,

As we are approaching the first version release of Shockwaves, we want to explain in more detail how the NEUROS and NFTs are integrated into the game and how the game gives utility to them.

Our goal is to have an economic model that is attractive to both players and token and NFT holders. Through the use of AI agents, rewards are spread across NFT holders which makes the tokenomics more resilient.

The Transmutation of NEUROS token into a xNEUROS balance creates a sink for the NEUROS tokens and improves the player’s experience.

In summary:

• Players earn lootboxes and a small amount of xNEUROS balance that cannot be converted into NEUROS, this amount is greater if they play with their own AI Agent and will also depend on that AI Agent’s rarity
• Lootboxes require xNEUROS to be opened, more than what is typically earned by a player so they would be encouraged to buy NEUROS to Transmute them into xNEUROS
• NEUROS Transmutation into xNEUROS cannot be reverted
• xNEUROS can be spent directly in the game without signing a transaction.
• Lootboxes can contain xNEUROS and items like weapons
• Items can be tokenized to be sold on the free market as NFT with a small fee
• AI Agent and Sentry Turret holders will earn passively both xNEUROS and lootboxes from their agents. They can also earn directly NEUROS and NFTs through tournaments and leaderboards.

Example:

A player plays 2 hours, he will receive 4 lootboxes and 10 xNEUROS in total.

The cost of opening a lootbox is 10 xNEUROS, so he can open only one of them.

He can transmute NEUROS into xNEUROS to a smart contract to increase his balance so he can open more lootboxes or even buy new ones (for 100 xNEUROS each).

After opening a lootbox, it contains 3 xNeuros and one Rare Sentry Shotgun (note that weapons will be relatively rare).

He can use this shotgun directly but since its market value is 30 MATIC on OpenSea, he tokenizes it into a Polygon NFT with a 1 Matic minting fee to sell it on OpenSea.

N.b.: Values are subject to change through testing and balancing but the idea will remain the same.

Earning:

As they play Shockwaves, players will earn lootboxes and relatively small amounts of xNeuros. Those xNeuros cannot be directly withdrawn on the blockchain, thus limiting the selling pressure on the Neuros token and making the system both more secure. The earnings are increased if you play with your own AI Agent by a percentage depending on the rarity of that AI Agent. Staking NEUROS tokens will also increase your earnings.

Lootboxes can be opened for a cost in xNEUROS that is relatively high compared to the in-game earnings so that players who don’t add balance will end up with more lootboxes than they can open which incentivises players to buy NEUROS on the market to transmute them. Lootboxes can also be bought directly in xNEUROS.

For AI Agent and Sentry Turrets owners, their share of the earnings will also be received in the form of xNEUROS and Lootboxes and linked to the wallet.

Tournaments

Tournaments will take place regularly and will give rewards directly to players in the form of airdropped NEUROS and NFTs. It is required for the players to link a wallet to receive rewards for the tournament, which is a way to transition Web2 players to Web3.

AI Agents also participate in tournaments and if they are in the money on the leaderboard, their owner will receive their rewards directly to their wallets.

Lootboxes

When a lootbox is opened, it can contain both xNeuros tokens and items like weapons. The amount of xNEUROS will on average be lower than what would be necessary to open another lootbox. Weapons and other types of items are relatively rare in those lootboxes. Different types of lootboxes will exist with different rewards in them. As it is an important part of the game experience, the lootbox opening experience will be optimised over time to be satisfying for the players.

Accessible for Web2 players

The whole process of playing and earning items can be done even without a wallet. The web3 aspect becomes necessary for the player in these situations:

• To add xNEUROS balance to open more lootboxes
• To sell an item that was looted in a lootbox
• To buy an item on the open market
• To participate in the governance and increased earnings through staking

In all those cases the players will already be in a situation where it is worth spending some time to create a wallet and buy tokens. This underlines our vision to create a game where it is not necessary to be familiar with crypto to get started and to use blockchain in areas where it is truly beneficial to the users.

NEUROS Transmutation into xNEUROS

In order to avoid frequent blockchain transactions which would be cumbersome for the players and would result in high gas fees, the players can Transmute NEUROS tokens into a smart contract to use them in-game. Once they are transmuted on the smart contract, they cannot be withdrawn but can be used directly into the game.

The reasons why the deposit cannot be withdrawn are twofold: first it limits the selling pressure of having players selling their tokens directly and second it mitigates risks of attacks as there is no token to drain from the smart contract. This is subject to change in the future but it is beneficial for token holders and offers a more straightforward experience to players.

Part of the NEUROS that are Transmuted will be burned, the rest will go towards in-game rewards, marketing and development.

Tokenization of items

In order to be able to trade items on the free market, weapons and other types of equipment can be tokenized as NFTs. To tokenize one item earned in-game, the player can mint it on Polygon with a small fee. That fee of around 1–5 MATIC ensures that only items worth some market value will be minted and the collection will not be flooded.

For all the Shocknerds out there, the server basically signs a message that links the wallet to the item and the player can then use that message to mint the item provided he pays the gas fee and the tax.

For the future

There are many possible ways to expand on this economic model. For instance there could be consumables bought in xNEUROS, temporary boosts, customization, etc. These extensions of the economic model could be added after thoughtful considerations, but for the initial version we want to focus on the essentials for the utility of the NEUROS and the released NFTs.