Influence Tokenomics

An introduction to the inner workings of the Adalian economy

Introduction

Last updated: 2021–12–03

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 blockchain-native game based 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 fungible, non-fungible, and semi-fungible token standards for all in-game assets, and utilizes the ERC-20 (fungible) standard for the SWAY (Standard Weighted Adalian Yield) token which serves as the single point of entry into the Influence economy.

In-game Assets

Semi-fungible tokens

The vast majority of in-game items are semi-fungible tokens based on the ERC-1155 standard. ERC-1155 is effectively a combination of ERC-20 (fungible) and ERC-721 (non-fungible) within a single wrapper which increases efficiency and reduces the complexity of transfers. The items’ semi-fungibility is related 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 tokens:

• Raw materials — Ores, gases, silica
• Refined materials — Steel, glass, alloys
• Manufactured components — Reactors, thrusters, plating

Non-fungible Tokens

Certain in-game items are “non-fungible” and cannot be considered equivalent, even when part of the same “collection.” These items are based on the ERC-721 standard and include:

• Asteroids — the base “land” asset in-game
• Crew Members — in-game characters and representation of player’s persona
• Ships — unique, customizable transports and combat vehicles

SWAY Token

SWAY is a completely fungible, ERC-20 compatible utility token designed as the in-game currency of Influence with a set of functional and philosophical goals in mind.

Allow for a single point of entry into Influence

The universe of crypto-currencies is already enormous with many thousands of listed tokens and all the concomitant complexity that brings. To simplify the onboarding experience, provide for a clear delineation, and to eliminate several absurd tax implications for players (i.e. having every in-game trade be a potentially taxable event would be a nightmare) SWAY will ultimately serve as the primary point to enter into (and exit out of) the Influence universe.

Facilitate trading and the exchange of goods in-game

All in-game markets, owned and operated by players on asteroids, will offer 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 traders looking to discover opportunities.

Provide a means for players to “play-to-earn”

Although it is far from the only way to play, there will be numerous avenues to allow players to “play-to-earn” within Influence. Earnings will be facilitated by SWAY as players will be able to swap SWAY for other currencies like ETH, DAI, or USDC on platforms such as Uniswap or other decentralized exchanges (DEX).

Ensure a fair distribution based on active participation

The distribution of SWAY will be explicitly tied to participation in the Influence community and in-game activity. There are no allocations to outside investors and there will be no private pre-sales or discounts provided to insiders. SWAY is Adalian money, 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 primarily driven by speculation with a thin “game” 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, aggressive burn mechanics, hard-coded inflation schedules substantially lower than player-base growth, etc.).

Economics Outline

The following chart identifies the primary flows of in-game goods & materials, SWAY, and other out-of-game currencies like ETH or DAI. The specific implementation details for the relevant feedback mechanisms built to achieve the goals outlined above are described below with corresponding references called out in the chart.

A. Upon the completion of every transaction occurring within an in-game market (owned and operated by players), a maximum transaction fee of 5% is assessed on the sell side of the trade.

B. A portion of the SWAY transaction fee accrues to the owner of the specific market in which the transaction occurred.

C. The market owner is then able to define a percentage of accrued fees that may flow back to the market’s liquidity providers as incentives to encourage market participation, volume, and depth.

D. A separate portion of the SWAY transaction fee accrues to the dev fund to support the ongoing development and maintenance of Influence. These funds will be converted to ETH / DAI via decentralized exchange (DEX) on a regular basis with utmost care taken to avoid creating substantial volatility in the market.

E. In addition to the transaction fee described in (A), a small percentage of each transaction will result in newly issued / minted SWAY which will accrue to the community treasury. This is a dynamic rate which aims to achieve a specific velocity of money (VoM) target on a periodic basis (i.e. bi-weekly). Effectively, when the trailing VoM is higher than targeted, indicating a higher demand for SWAY and the likelihood of rapid price inflation, the issuance rate will rise increasing the supply of SWAY. The reverse is also true, and when VoM falls below target, the issuance rate will fall ensuring that supply of SWAY isn’t increasing while demand / price is falling. When SWAY is newly issued it is imperative for it to be actively moved into the economy which is supported by distribution from the community treasury.

F. Community treasury SWAY will be utilized to distribute SWAY via in-game activity incentives, contests, and ecosystem development grants.

G. To aid in dampening the price volatility out-of-game (i.e. denominated in ETH / DAI), a portion of SWAY will be automatically swapped when the VoM target is exceeded. This will result in the buildup of non-SWAY assets (ETH / DAI) in the community treasury which will subsequently be available to be swapped back for SWAY when the VoM is below target.

Feedback Mechanisms

The SWAY token is designed to respond dynamically to changing market conditions via the feedback loops described above. These feedback loops are intended to dampen price volatility and inflation / deflation to ensure that Influence remains attractive for new entrants as well as to existing players and play-to-earn participants. The following is an example of how these mechanisms operate in the scenario in which new player interest spikes substantially:

1. A substantial increase in new players seeking to get involved will lead to a SWAY / ETH supply crunch and a concomitant spike in the price of SWAY / ETH.
2. As transaction volumes increase in-game, new issuance of SWAY (E) will rise to match as the issuance of SWAY is directly associated with this now rising velocity of money (VoM).
3. This new SWAY will be distributed both in and out of game via activity incentives (F) as well as automated DEX swaps (G) ultimately resulting in higher SWAY supply and a dampening of the rapid price increase.
4. If the spike in interest is maintained, and the VoM stays high despite the ongoing issuance of new SWAY, the dynamic issuance rate adjustment will kick in. This will automatically raise the issuance rate (E) on a periodic basis until the increase in the money supply leads to an easing in the VoM.

Distribution

The total supply of SWAY, prior to ongoing transaction driven issuance, is defined in proportion to the total number of lots on all 250,000 asteroids in Adalia. SWAY will be released into Influence at the same rate as asteroids are made available for purchase. The initial pool of SWAY, proportional to the asteroids already owned via the Arrival and Populate the Belt sales, will be distributed via:

• The initially seeded liquidity pools present on Adalia Prime at the launch of Exploitation (liquidity pools are two-sided and so will contain both in-game materials / resources as well as SWAY)
• Crew assignment rewards via the community treasury
• Recruitment rewards via the community treasury
• Early adopter rewards for Arrival sale asteroids (a portion of the “starter pack” which was defined and shared during the Arrival sale)

Governance

SWAY includes multiple governed components:

• The fraction of transaction fees that accrues to the dev fund
• Which activities are incentivized and to what degree
• The velocity of money (VoM) target
• The percentage of the community treasury to dedicate to price suppression / support

Initially, these factors will be governed centrally by the Influence team (Unstoppable Games). However, as Influence is being built to be a community owned and operated game, we will take deliberate steps to decentralize governance of SWAY. This will be facilitated by the future introduction of an Influence governance token. This token will follow many of the same philosophies as SWAY and will intentionally prioritize active participants within the Influence universe, both in its distribution as well as in any ongoing benefits. The governance token will not be released until after the launch of Exploitation, prior to the Discovery release.