Components

Season

A season refers to a competition period for a specific game as determined by the relevant Game Studio. Seasons on Shards are time-based whereby the Game Studios are able to define specific start and end dates. Game design heavily influences the form of in-game competition hence Game Studios will be best positioned to configure seasons which matches their games.

Seasons are an important component of Shards as earnings distribution occurs on a per-season basis. More info can be found in the Revenue Distribution section.

Team

Teams are an association of gamers who have united together based on common goals. This is usually for the purposes of participating in tournaments or even just to enjoy the fellowship of like minded gamers. Teams implement their own governance rules and usually have a sub-culture that is closely tied to their reputation (i.e. brand).

In Shards, Teams can be created by any Player who would then become the Team Owner and have administrative ownership of the Team. This includes the creation of Team governance rules, Team membership, as well as distribution of Team revenues. Ownership of the Team will be transferable in the future.

Seat

Specific to Shards, a Team is composed of a maximum of 50 Seats (excluding Team Owner seat) which can be acquired by any in-game Player. Aside from indicating Team membership, ownership of a Seat also entitles the Player to a proportional share of the Team’s revenue. Each Player is only allowed membership in a single Team and can only hold a single Seat. Seats are transferable enabling Team membership to evolve according to the Team consensus.

As Teams become increasingly renowned, an in-game market for the limited seats will naturally emerge with a portion of trading fees being funnelled back into the Team as well as Fraction owners. The current Shards iteration enables seats to be bought and sold on the open market. Teams will also have the ability to pre-approve a list of potential buyers as Shards matures.

Fraction

A Fraction represents shared ownership of a Team and can be held by Players or Non-Players. Shards implements a revenue share model whereby a percentage of a Team’s ongoing revenue is distributed proportionally to Fractions holders.

Fractionalization forms the core element of Shards that enables the gaming experience to be shared across users with varying intents:

• Team Members: In addition to direct payments from the Team, Team members can also individually own Fractions to directly benefit from Team trading revenue and prize rewards.

• Non-Team Players: Players who do not belong to the Team might still believe in the growth of the Team and therefore own their corresponding Fractions. This could be due to the player: already having an existing Team Seat; being unable to qualify for skill-based Seats; supporting multiple affiliated Teams.

• Non-Players: Users who prioritize the social and competitive aspects of the game might choose instead to completely forego the gameplay. Through ownership of Fractions, Non-Players have a vested interest to see their favorite Teams succeed.

• Other Teams: Other Teams might also decide to own an affiliated Team’s Fractions.

Users can trade Fractions directly in the game or leverage the Shards Platform wider ecosystem to trade via browsers and dapps. All trades are immediately synchronized across all interfaces ensuring seamless interaction between Fraction holders and Teams.

Apart from revenue sharing, Fraction ownership might also entitle users to supplementary benefits such as access to private chats, etc. The list of benefits is expected to grow as the relationship between Players and Non-Players deepens.

Fractions Bonding Curve AMM

Shards leverages an automated market maker (AMM) pool with a customized bonding curve to facilitate the minting and burning of Fractions. Put simply, there is effectively a single marketplace for Fraction trading whereby the price of the next Fraction traded is determined by the total supply of Fractions.

AMMs maintain a liquidity pool of assets against which trades can be made automatically along a pricing curve (i.e. bonding curve) in exchange for a fee. Fractions are minted whenever a buyer purchases an additional Fraction from the pool. Conversely, Fractions can be sold back to the pool whereupon it is burned. Consequently, the price of a subsequent Fraction is always determined by the bonding curve. Every additional Fraction bought pushes the price up the bonding curve and vice versa.

Marketplace

The Shards Marketplace facilitates the trading of Fractions without the need for users to download and install the game. Implemented as a web3 enabled website and accessible through any browser, the Marketplace enables users to participate in the game economy via any smart device. While the Marketplace is targeted at Non-Players, it also enables Players to access the Shards economy from their non-gaming device.

Critically, as all critical gaming information is stored on the blockchain, all actions taken on the Marketplace are automatically reflected in-game and vice versa.

Referral Mechanism

Shards also implements a referral mechanism that incentivizes user growth through the sharing of platform revenue. By successfully onboarding a new user to the gaming ecosystem, the referrer gets 1% of the fees generated by the onboarded user. In cases where there are no referees, the referral fee is instead redirected to the Game Studios.