Splinterlands

May 27 2022

Everything You Need To Know About DYGYCON 9

Saskia Wartnaby AH, Articles, News, Saskia AtomicHub, digital event, DYGYCON 9, metaverse event, NFT conference, nft event, nft virtual event, Splinterlands, wax blockchain

Everything You Need To Know About DYGYCON 9

The ninth instalment of this free-to-attend digital NFT event takes place this weekend (May 27-29) and it’s bound to be a blast! Find out who’s attending, what to expect, and how to take part!

MAY 27, 2022. NEWS. WRITTEN BY SASKIA WARTNABY.

With each DYGYCON that rolls around every two months, more and more people are attending and even more awesome activities are taking place – and DYGYCON 9, taking place from this Friday through Sunday (May 27-29) is no exception. With the WAX community coming at DYGYCON 9 full force – as well as representation from numerous other blockchains and influencers – it’ll be a weekend that you won’t want to miss out on!

What is DYGYCON?

DYGYCON is an immersive metaverse experience hosted by Splinterlands – a next-generation online collectible card game. Held on the Gamerjibe platform, DYGYCON allows you to traverse a digital conference space using a 3D virtual character, interacting with others via text, voice and webcam, and exploring the various expo halls, chill-out zones and activities.

Check to see if your computer can run DYGYCON here.

When is DYGYCON 9?

DYGYCON 9 starts this Friday (May 27) at 9am UTC and ends in the late hours of Sunday (May 29).

The Main Event livestream by Splinterlands takes place on Saturday (28) at 18:00 UTC, which will appear at the bottom-right of your screen and can be viewed from anywhere inside the event. There will be talks from industry experts in blockchain gaming, collectables and DeFi – as well as plenty of giveaways!

Loads of other events will be taking part throughout the weekend, so be sure to check the full DYGYCON 9 schedule here.

What Can You Do at DYGYCON?

DYGYCON is a fantastic experience for both exhibitors and attendees as it facilitates networking and making connections that simply wouldn’t be possible elsewhere.

The event has a large array of booths where you can meet and learn more about your favourite games, artists and NFT projects, as well as compete in auctions, load up in the SWAG booth and take part in scavenger hunts, mini-games and various other ventures that are held throughout the weekend.

How Do I Join?

RSVP to the event here and join in the fun by clicking the “Enter Virtual Space” button (if you haven’t registered yet, the button will say “Register for Event”). If a password is required, it means that the event is not open yet. Once DYGYCON 9 is live, you will not need a password.

Your character will spawn in front of the Welcome Room. Once you head inside, you’ll find the various expo hall doors on your left and right-hand sides. Walking through the doors will take you to those respective halls where you can see all the different exhibitors!

An easier way to get to the exhibit you’re interested in is by teleporting there. To do so, click on the top-right “info” icon to view the list of exhibitors. Click on an exhibit you wish to visit, and click on “Go To Exhibit” to be teleported to them in an instant!

Exhibitors at DYGYCON 9

AtomicHub Hall

Splinterlands Hall

Dark Galaxies Hall

Green Rabbit Hall

Castles Hall

NeftyBlocks Hall

Blockchain Gaming Hall

EMP Hall

We’ll See You There!

Each DYGYCON continues to get better and better, and with the amount of fun we had at DYGYCON 8, I’m really looking forward to DYGYCON 9.

Even if you can’t stay for too long or don’t want to turn your mic on, it’s definitely worth popping into the event to see some of the exhibits on display, pick up a few free NFTs or perhaps take part in an activity or two.

I’ll see you there!

Saskia Wartnaby
Artist, digital marketer, writer & animal lover. Fan of all things cute and wholesome, especially cats.
Twitter | Website | LinkedIn

April 21 2022

A Complete Newbie Explores Blockchain Gaming

NFT Insider Articles, Guides, Jazz, Opinion AtomicHub, blockchain gaming, costume clash, gaming, nft beginner guide, NFT game, nfts, play to earn, Splinterlands, The Adventurer's Guild, wax blockchain

A Complete Newbie Explores Blockchain Gaming

With her first virtual event under her belt, it’s time for Jazz to dip her toes into one of the most popular elements of the NFT industry – play-to-earn gaming.

APRIL 21, 2022. BEGINNER’S GUIDE. WRITTEN BY JAZZ MEYER.

When I say I’m not a gamer, I really mean I’m not a gamer. Despite my childhood attempts to like Crash Bandicoot as much as all the other kids, my adolescent desire to fit in when my friends played Mario Kart, and my recent attempt to play Overcooked at the request of my partner, I just can’t get into it.

I’m finding, however, that I can’t write about NFTs without writing about blockchain games, and I can’t do that without actually playing them – and so once again I’ve been drawn into a world of RPGs, racers and card games that I thought lay fixedly in my past.

Complete Newbie Starts Blockchain Gaming - Gamer

This time, however, there’s an incentive that Crash Bandicoot just couldn’t offer.

Play-to-Earn (P2E) is a phenomenon that is revolutionising gaming and, given my recent investment in the world of NFTs, is suddenly a very appealing aspect of a hitherto unappealing hobby. Aside from the joy of gameplay, there’s a veritable fortune to be made from reselling game assets on the secondary market, as well as earning tokens that can be exchanged for cold hard cash, and I won’t pretend that I don’t like the sound of that.

So, off I went to figure out how to become a gamer. The truth is, I’m a lover, not a fighter, so games that involve any kind of conflict are automatically anxiety-inducing to me. Couple that with a complete lack of hand-eye coordination, at least when it comes to gaming controllers, and you can see why I never got on board with gaming in general. If I can’t button-mash, then I’m not interested.

The Adventurer’s Guild

For that reason, I decided to start with something that wouldn’t require any skill with a controller, and immediately found the perfect thing.

I’d already heard a lot about The Adventurer’s Guild (TAG) on Discord and Twitter, as well as witnessing the ever-present and helpful creator himself, and, as a Discord-hosted, text-based RPG, it was exactly what I needed to dip my toes into the world of blockchain gaming.

I spent a handful of WAX on a Beta Pass NFT and set off to connect my wallet and start my adventures. I had no idea what to expect, but I found myself immediately fighting goblins and slimes and training up for the quests that would await me.

Aside from being a lover, I’m also a big reader, and the words on the screen came to life in my head, making it a remarkably rich experience. The sharp-fanged, pointy-eared, ghoul-eyed goblins in my mind would put any graphics engine to shame.

Complete Newbie Starts Blockchain Gaming - TAG Gameplay

Complete Newbie Starts Blockchain Gaming - TAG Branch NFT

Surprisingly, I still felt that rush in my chest as I struck out with my imaginary fists against my imaginary enemy, but it was less anxiety than excitement. I even found myself thinking things like ‘Suck it, goblin!’ with genuine gusto.

After completing my initial training, it was time for my first quest, and, embarrassingly, I promptly died in a battle against a wooden chest. This was a good sign that it was time to equip myself a little better, and that’s where the NFTs come in.

I’d already earned a Branch NFT during one training battle, and felt a little jolt of glee at seeing it appear automatically in my WAX wallet. Unfortunately though, without a couple more elements I couldn’t craft any weapons. The noble choice would have been to keep training until I’d earned a few more NFTs, but impatience got the better of me, so off I trotted to the secondary market to find myself something nice and shiny and deadly.

I perused my many options before happily forking over a mere 20 WAX (about $5), and my Adventurer was now ready to face that dastardly chest with a Burning Javelin.

I battled my way through several other foes too, accompanied by plenty of internal exclamations of ‘Take that, Slime!’ and ‘This Mimic is a bastard!’ and I must say I had an excellent time.

When I emerged victorious with the villager’s stolen magic boots, I was rewarded handsomely with half a GUILD – the TAG token earned through gameplay, and exchangeable for WAXP and other tokens.

That reward mechanism, along with the excitement of battling foes, makes for an addictive experience, and at the end of my first session, I’d completed my allotted 10 quests and earned back a small fraction of what I’d spent on my weapon, as well as the title of Level 5 Adventurer.

Complete Newbie Starts Blockchain Gaming - TAG Burning Javelin NFT

Splinterlands

Emboldened by my victory, I decided it was time to try something else. Splinterlands is a name that’s unavoidable once you enter the blockchain gaming world – the fantasy card game is one of the most well-established in this space and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Although I got into Pokémon cards as I kid, I have to admit that I’ve never played a trading card game in my life – I just liked collecting things. For that reason, I started out with some practice battles – to get a taste before investing in the Summoner’s Spellbook required to play the game proper and start earning.

For someone who’s played Magic: The Gathering, or Hearthstone, this sort of game will probably come as second nature, but for me it was a whirlwind of Summoners and elements and Mana points that surprised me with their complexity and layers. Soon, though, I started to get a feel for the basics and, once again, found myself muttering curse words to myself whenever my opponent killed one of my cards, and cheering whenever I returned the favour.

What’s interesting about Splinterlands is that the gameplay itself is automatic, playing out without any user interaction, which means it’s all in the pre-game strategy. The more you play the game, the better you know your cards, and the more strategic your decisions can be. That sort of preparation literally pays off when each winning game is rewarded with in-game tokens.

If I wanted to take advantage of its Play-To-Earn nature, I could complete daily quests to win NFTs, packs, tokens, or in-game currency.

Splinterlands is one of the heavy-hitters in terms of earning potential, and if you’re into that sort of thing, you can make a very pretty penny from such a hobby. This became painfully apparent when I stumbled across their secondary card market, and saw some cards priced in the five figures. That information alone left my head spinning and I exited quickly before I was tempted to throw in the towel on this writing gig and leave you, dear reader, without an end to this story.

Complete Newbie Starts Blockchain Gaming - Splinterlands Gameplay

Costume Clash

After regaining my bearings, I finally felt I was ready to try my hand at something in three dimensions.

I’d been hearing about Costume Clash since the moment I landed in the WAX NFT space, and had already witnessed the racer’s gameplay many times on various Twitch streams.

As a former noughties emo-kid, the Halloween-themed game is actually right up my alley, and my partner, ecstatic that I was finally showing an interest, gifted me a Magicoon NFT. This cute little creature sounds like a raccoon and looks like a cat and, either way, is responsible for driving my car.

So, with my Magicoon in the driver’s seat, and my fingers on my keyboard, I was off! I’d like to report that I whipped through the racetrack with grace and aplomb, elegantly sliding in at first place, but what really happened was that I smashed into every wall I possibly could, and got stuck in a rock several times. I cheered to myself when I crossed the finish line, despite coming in last, because, honestly, it was an achievement for me to make it there at all.

Although I continued to get myself stuck in a lot more rocks in subsequent races and basically blow myself up trying to get out, I can say I’m already a huge fan. There are plenty of fun, colourful, themed maps to race through, populated by a smattering of head-nods towards other projects in the WAX space. This, once again, illustrates just how supportive and inclusive the WAX crowd is, and gives me an extra incentive to keep playing Costume Clash and digging deeper into this community.

Speaking of incentives, just by owning my Magicoon, I earned a handful of Hallow Cores, which I can cash out for WAXP if I want to, and, if I eventually get myself away from those rocks, I can compete in weekly leaderboards for NFT rewards. There’s already a whole microculture springing up around the battle for first place, and I’ve witnessed, live, the intense but playful races between users intent on reaching that coveted position.

Complete Newbie Starts Blockchain Gaming - Costume Clash Gameplay

Complete Newbie Starts Blockchain Gaming - Costume Clash Hallow Cores

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Blockchain gaming is expanding rapidly, and, whilst some of the games I started with required buying entry to start earning (or having a generous boyfriend with a spare Magicoon), many titles are free-to-play, making the barrier to entry virtually zero.

While I might not be a gamer at heart, I’ve certainly rethought my previous disinterest in this space – and it’s not just the earning potential that’s convincing me.

I’ll be honest and say that I was almost late in completing this article because I got caught up in the ‘research’ portion of things – battling goblins, and learning my cards, and trying desperately to avoid rocks. I guess that’s a good sign that I may have found a new hobby in blockchain gaming after all.

Jazz Meyer
Multidisciplinary artist, exploring the space between old-world crafts and modern technology. Pagan silversmith and aspiring NFT artist. Figuring it out as she goes.
Halfmoon Craft | Twitter | Instagram

April 7 2022

A Complete Newbie Attends a Virtual NFT Event

NFT Insider Articles, Guides, Jazz, Opinion AtomicHub, Digital Conference, DYGYCON, metaverse, nft beginner, nft community, Splinterlands, Virtual Environment, virtual event, wax blockchain, wax nft, waxp, Web3

A Complete Newbie Attends a Virtual NFT Event

Follow along with Jazz as she explores DYGYCON 8, a metaverse experience hosted by Splinterlands, to see what all the hype is about!

APRIL 7, 2022. BEGINNER’S GUIDE. WRITTEN BY JAZZ MEYER.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you your eyes would turn square if you stared at the TV too long? Well, after attending DYGYCON 8, I can confirm that that’s true – and furthermore, that it’s entirely worth it.

I’d heard about DYGYCON’s last iteration back in January, and, at the time, I just didn’t get it. Why would anyone stay up all night, feverishly chatting with internet strangers, ‘walking’ around a building that didn’t actually exist, and living vicariously through a digital avatar?

I glanced at it briefly at the time, curious to what all the fuss was about, but ultimately my ancient laptop struggled with anything beyond the welcome screen, and I gave up without putting too much effort into finding a solution.

All that, however, was before I was really part of the NFT community myself, and this time around I could barely contain my excitement in the lead-up to the eighth iteration of the virtual event.

After having explored the NFT space a little more, I recognised why an event like DYGYCON, hosted by the team behind Splinterlands, was an important part of the evolution of this community.

Over three days, NFT creators and collectors from all over the world, and from all different backgrounds, meet in a virtual conference hall to learn about new projects, attend talks, and generally just have a good time together. For a community as widespread and disembodied as ours, this is the most accessible way to get everyone in the same place at the same time, even if that place exists only on our screens.

I’d never attended a virtual event before, or anything remotely like it, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. All I knew was that this would be an opportunity to meet some of my newfound internet friends in slightly realer life.

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - Hosted by Splinterlands

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - DYGYCON 8 Welcome Room

Determined not to be thwarted by my laptop this time, I’d procured a decent PC just for the purpose of DYGYCON.

On the Friday of the event, I arrived home from work right as the official start of the conference was kicking off, and eagerly rushed to the computer, not wanting to miss a single waking moment. I got myself comfortable on the living room couch – keyboard, mouse and headphone cables snaking all over the floor, TV hooked up as a monitor. I already knew I’d be spending the better part of the next three days here.

My first task was setting up my avatar, and I was pleased to find that there were enough combinations to make a relatively unique character. Purple hair was even an option, and with that I felt myself become one with my avatar. My digital body inhabited, I entered the event proper, and found myself spawned in front of a huge conference hall.

The blue sky overhead shone with promise, soothing music played in the background, and the logos of dozens upon dozens of NFT projects beckoned to me from inside. At that invitation, I sent my digital self into the building to begin my very first digital conference experience.

Immediately I was presented with a number of portals, each of which would whisk me away to a different hall which, in turn, would be filled with a huge collection of project booths.

My first stop, of course, was the AtomicHub Hall. This is where I knew I’d find much of the WAX community that I’ve grown to love, and where I hoped to see a few familiar names, transformed into faces. It was still quiet when I arrived, but I immediately stumbled across a name I’d seen prolifically, and the voice to go with it.

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - Portals at DYGYCON

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - chatting with others at DYGYCON 8

Having been a part of the AtomicHub Discord server for a while now, I was more than familiar with z3us – one of the community managers, and co-host of the weekly stage calls and Twitter Spaces. I found her chatting with Larcey from the WAX team, and I was immediately struck by the accessibility that an event like DYGYCON offered.

I joined their conversation on the presence of women in the NFT space – something I’m becoming increasingly passionate about – and despite the initial awkwardness I felt within my digital body, I also felt an immediate sense of welcome and belonging.

This set the tone for the rest of the weekend. All my favourite creators – MikeeMyk of Waxy and Red Panda Adventures, Sas of Cat Stickers, Floyd of Floyd Jenkins’ Deck of Mythical Varmints, Stuck of The Adventurer’s Guild and SixPm Software, Josh of Costume Clash, Dan of Immersys, alongside countless others – were all there, ready and willing to chat with me. Red Ro, of Order of Other, even gifted me my first accessory unlock code, allowing me to don a witch hat, and making my avatar an even more accurate depiction of my real-life self.

After a long first evening of virtual socialising and booth exploring, I went to bed, tired but already excited for the following day, which I knew would be full.

The Saturday of DYGYCON is always the pinnacle of the event, featuring the majority of the presentations slated for the weekend. However, the fact that everyone is in different time zones means there’s never a moment when the halls are empty.

Overnight, MikeeMyk had done an impromptu live drawing session and, as much as I value sleep, I was kicking myself for succumbing to the needs of my physical body and missing it. As Floyd Jenkins so eloquently put it, “The FOMO is real at DYGYCON.”

Nevertheless, my regular sleep schedule meant that I was up and raring to go when Stuck hosted his presentation on The Adventurer’s Guild in the SixPM Hall the next day.

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - DYGYCON 8 TAG AMA

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - Laptop & Monitor Setup

Much like a real-life conference, DYGYCON is the perfect opportunity for projects to announce new developments. Along with a few dozen others, I was one of the first to see the amazing new TAG avatar NFTs – an exciting moment for a recent blockchain gaming convert like myself! We had the opportunity to ask questions, and Stuck proceeded to screenshare some live gameplay while he chatted with the audience.

Later in the day, as the halls filled up again, I found myself jostling for a position in the Cat Stickers booth to listen in as Sas presented ‘the cutest little cat stickers on the WAX blockchain’. I say jostling as though I were literally shoulder-to-shoulder with other people, but in fact, I was standing in the booth alone, waiting for a good 10 minutes before I realised I was in the wrong instance.

This is how I discovered the limitations of the conference. In much the same way that a physical space has a certain capacity, so, too, do digital spaces. The Cat Stickers AMA had filled up and I hadn’t made it. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to skin a… never mind. There’s more than one way to take part, and I was able to catch the rest of the AMA through Discord, as Sas streamed live from DYGYCON.

As a burgeoning creator myself, I was spending a great deal of my time scheming about the future possibilities for my own collection. I’d already gotten to know some amazing new creators, as well as becoming even more invested in projects I was already connected to, and I could see what an amazing opportunity DYGYCON was creating for visibility. Never in a million years, however, did I expect that any of that would apply to me this time around. That’s where I was wrong.

About 15 minutes into a casual chat with StabbyQuack of Digital Ducks, he offhandedly announced, “I just bought your NFT.”

I thought I’d misheard. The only NFTs I’d minted until that point were the free promo stickers that had been mostly claimed by flippers with no interest in my project, and had then been listed on the secondary market for laughable prices. This new friend had gone and bought one without a second thought, simply for the sake of supporting me as a new creator in the community. I was floored, and spent the rest of the day with a huge grin on my face. I had just earned my very first WAX and I was ecstatic.

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - chatting with Digital Ducks

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - DYGYCON 8 stream by Hydropwrd

Perhaps the highlight of my weekend, though, was the AMA and live drawing session that MikeeMyk held later that day. I was determined not to miss out this time and made sure to show up nice and early to the booth that was to house the talk. This time, I really was shoulder-to-shoulder, the space packed to the brim with fans of Waxy and Red Panda Adventures.

Not only had I made it, but all my friends were there too! Mikee himself, as it turns out, is a man of few words, preferring to let his art do the talking, and so it became more of a group hang-out session than a presentation.

As Mikee wowed us with his incredibly efficient illustration skills, the rest of us alternated between showering him with compliments and making jokes about his secret Waxy factory. It was the most heart-warming and community-building experience I’ve had in this space so far and it makes me want to dig in even more. Hydro even live-streamed the event on Twitch, meaning I can relive that moment all over again if I want to.

From there, I went to check out the Digital Ducks AMA one booth over, along with everyone else, and we executed a mass exodus – jumping as one enormous group from one booth to the other in a comic arrival. It might sound silly, but in that moment I felt like I was one of the cool kids – that I’d chanced my way into a group of amazing creators, artists, and community builders, in whose company I felt like a complete imposter. The magic of all this, though, is that I was a very welcome imposter, and once again, that huge grin spread across my face. I like to think my avatar had an extra sparkle in her eye too.

After the Digital Ducks AMA, which ended up moving to a theatre out of sheer popularity, I spent the rest of the evening in a dedicated chill space, chatting with Sas, Stuck, Phoenix of AtomicHub, and Mikee, who proceeded to comically harass Sas with an ever-increasing number of hilariously-named alt-avatars. I was thrilled to catch Sas in an impromptu live-drawing session, and felt my FOMO melt away with each line she added to her DYGYCON cat.

I went to bed late that night, satisfied and happy, and ready for one last day of digital socialising.

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - Digital Ducks AMA

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - CryptoPups Booth

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t struggling with the screentime by then, but I knew that I’d miss the conference as soon as it was over, and I battled through my TV-induced headache to make the most of one last day. I’m so glad I did.

The Sunday of DYGYCON is comparatively quiet, as people recover from the late-night conversations of the night before, and prepare to return back to the ‘real world’. I spent this day visiting all the booths I hadn’t had the chance to see yet, signing up for the enormous array of swag that so many of these projects offered. In between, I took as many opportunities as I could to chat with familiar folks I’d met along the way.

I learned about so many new projects, and met so many new people, that by the time I arrived at the AtomicHub giveaway that night, I felt like I was surrounded by a little virtual family. As the closing remarks were made, and the event wrapped up, I took a moment to reflect on the weekend.

My first digital conference was an entirely unique experience, and yet it was imbued with such a sense of familiarity. I realised, as I often have before, that the heart of the NFT space is the people, and I was so grateful for the chance to connect even more deeply with this incredible community.

With reluctance, I left the event for the last time that weekend, leaving a trail of heart emojis behind me – my eyes square, my heart full, and already yearning for DYGYCON 9.

Newbie Attends an NFT Digital Conference - chatting in a group at DYGYCON 8