Thread by @m2e_chris

1/ A few months ago I was convinced that #StepN was going change the 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃!

Today...I've all but given up on it.

Here's why I've lost faith in @Stepnofficial 🧵👇

#MoveToEarn #RealTalk

2/ First let me say I'm not here to make enemies.

I love the #StepN community and I've met some incredible people both online and offline.

I've even met some of the team and they were amazing too.

3/ A lot of you are following me because of a thread I wrote 2 months ago that went a little viral about why I still believed in #StepN.

I'm not here to talk shit. I WANT StepN to be successful.

4/ But the company is going in a direction that I don't think is good.

So I'm just here to give an honest review of what's happened through my perspective as a player and former advocate.

5/ 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐠 #𝟏

Back in March or April, Yawn said in an AMA "Be careful about putting too much faith in the invisible hand theory. It's not reliable."

The invisible hand is basically free market capitalism. Leave the market alone and it will find equilibrium.

6/ I remember being shocked by him saying that, but I was so high on the potential of #StepN and the strength of the community that I let it go.

Funnily enough (or not funny), it's that kind of thinking that got us in this position - at least in my opinion. More on that later.

7/ 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐠 #𝟐

In the early days, we had weekly AMAs with Yawn and Jerry. And they were...awesome.

It felt like we were a lucky few that were part of something special. Something that was going to turn the world upside down.

8/ Those AMAs made us feel like we were part of the team.

Moving from that to corporate-style, scripted questions and answers once a month...🤮

We were no longer part of the team. Now it was us vs. them.

It was a 𝐁𝐈𝐆 mistake and this was 𝑡ℎ𝑒 turning point IMO.

9/ 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐠 #𝟑

So now we're in June. It's the week after the 'big crash'.

Up until this point, I still had full confidence in the #StepN team. As far as I knew, they were incredibly intelligent and capable of turning things around.

10/ Floor prices and GST were crashing on both realms.

What did they do?

They introduced a double-energy event.

11/ Introducing an inflationary event when inflation was tanking prices...what?!?

That was went the team stopped being infallible to me.

That was the moment my faith started to waiver.

12/ 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐠 #𝟒

How many times has the team hyped up a new product or feature only for you to be like...was that it?

SMAC or DOOAR or today's Twitter Space for example.

Let me tell you why.

13/ The #StepN team is entirely focused on back-end.

They don't have 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 focused on front-end or user experience.

Where are the usability tests? The feedback loops?

14/ We, as users, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭-𝐞𝐧𝐝. The design, the buttons, the navigation, the sounds the game makes.

We don't see the back-end.

15/ So when the team says marketplace filtering isn't a priority right now but look at this awesome DEX that we made...

Again, it feels like us vs. them.

16/ 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐠 #𝟓

They take the community for granted.

As someone who's been in the startup world for many years, I can't tell you how incredible the #StepN community is.

You 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑦 people to be bigger advocates than this community.

17/ This kind of community is the golden goose every startup in the world is looking for.

And I honestly don't think the #StepN team knows that.

For one, they don't pay their ambassadors.

For a company that brags about hundreds of millions in revenue, that's deplorable.

18/ Two, it feels like they're just so willing to let their early adopters get burned for the sake of growth.

There's been no acknowledgement or sympathy from the team for players who've lost a lot of money.

19/ You can say that it was their own fault for making a bad investment decision, but these are the same people who made #StepN what it is.

They were the biggest advocates and onboarders of new users.

So to not even acknowledge them feels like a stab in the back.

20/ 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐩𝐩, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

I've seen people say this a lot and...c'mon, you're lying to yourselves.

Making $X per day is what drew everyone into the game.

StepN wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it were free.

21/ 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲'𝐬 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞

Make StepN Great Again.

That was title.

How do we do that? With GMT earning.

The magic solution to all of our problems that's been touted for months.

22/ Except now the GMT earner you've been building this whole time only earns from 20% of the GMT pool.

Want more?

You have to burn shoes for a 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 to get a rainbow sneaker.

Similar to the Ape realm,

Want a 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 at getting in? Burn shoes.

23/ StepN just feels like a casino now.

Every new feature needs you to spend more money.

It's gone from move-to-earn to pay-to-move.

24/ 𝐎𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

My favourite example of a successful game economy is Fortnite.

They have 83M monthly active users and they made $5.8B in 2021.

You know how much it costs to play? 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨.

Players buy things in-game because they love the game.

25/ And that's my biggest gripe with #StepN right now.

They're focused on extracting more money out of players instead of creating features that make the game more fun.

Again, back-end vs. front-end.

This is also why I'm bullish on @genopets.

26/ 𝐎𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

IMO, the team suffers from smartest person in the room syndrome.

They're so used to being the smartest person in the room that they don't take feedback well.

27/ It's why it feels like they micromanage their team and why they have trust issues with their ambassadors.

They need to be in control of everything.

This also goes back to Yawn's jab on the invisible hand theory. He thinks they can control the market better themselves.

28/ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭?

I still have like 4 shoes (used to be 39).

I'm still holding out for the possibility of a reward snapshot for people who were around during the 'big crash'.

Besides that, I'm pretty checked out of the game. It's not fun anymore.

29/ 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

Even though I'm down a lot from #StepN, I'm grateful for what it's opened my eyes to.

If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that this community is going to reunite bigger and stronger over something else.

30/ There's a Web 3 project out there (or coming soon) that's going to shake the world.

#StepN showed me that inevitability.

I hope that you'll all stick around with me while we find out what that project is.