Hello there axie pips!
I'm writing our axie log's 15th entry just a few minutes before midnight (GMT+8). Like we usually do, we are supposed to watch and analyze some of today's battles we did earlier in the arena. But while we were replaying the fights we realized that it's actually our first month in the game. First monthsaries are special, aren't they? Be it in relationships or in business the first month is a good indicator of what the future might hold for us.
Like what I've told you before, I joined the game knowing the risk involve. I did not FOMO, instead I was just optimistic about the game. I did my research for weeks before jumping into it. For me it was a revolutionary concept, something we've never seen in the past. Although I must admit that my confidence seemed to dwindle down a bit because of the current FUD, I'm still on the positive side of things.
Expectations vs. Reality
We invested around $1800 for four axies (including gas fees). You might ask why four while we only need a three for a team. If we go for an extra then why not make it six to create two teams, making the other one available for scholarship. It would be quite redundant to explain it now. So if you are curious, I've written an article for that two weeks ago which you can read here.
It's alot more expensive than the current prices because the demand at that time was really high. The media particularly was hyping it like crazy. The game got too much attention even from government agencies because of taxation issues. There's so much money involve that questions in it's legality is still being mentioned until today. But we're not going to talk about that. We're going to discuss something more personal, like our expectations as both an investor and gamer.
Scholarships are great because they create opportunities even for those who don't have enough capital to invest in the game. The downside is that it's highly scalable making the minting of the utility token SLP faster than ever. Before joining the game I had a hunch that the price of SLP would go down because I already paid attention to the charts (minting vs. burning), but I never imagined that it would be this bad. The prices at that time was around $0.20 more than double than what we have today. I thought that it would some stabilize at $0.12-$0.14 but I was wrong.
I was doing my computations a month ago and with $0.20/SLP I could potentially breakeven in one and half month given that I earned 200SLP/day and the SLP price would still be the same. I accepted that it would be too optimistic so I adjusted it by 150SLP/day and the price of SLP at $0.12/SLP. So, unlike others who bought their teams the same time as me I was actually expecting an ROI of 3 and 1/3 months ( ~100 days ) compared to their ROI expectations of less than two months.
We managed to withdraw a total of 3507 SLP last September 3 at $0.135/SLP which had a total value of around $473. If we subtract that from our initial investment of $1800 we still have around $1327 to grind. If you are curious, that 3507 SLP was grinded for 24 days averaging 146 SLP/day. It was quite low because we've spent a good number of our daily energy leveling up our axies in adventure mode.
It's been a week since we've been focusing all our energy in the arena. We set aside clearing ruin 21 in adventure because the 200 SLP reward from there can be off set by the additional SLP we gain everyday from battling. Currently, we are using all 20 of our energy in the arena for a week now, averaging around 210 SLP/day. At the current rate of $0.09/SLP we are earning around 18.9 USD/day. Computing for ROI we need around 70 days to grind the remaining $1327. Ironically, even with the decline in SLP price from $0.20 to $0.09 we are still within our expected timeframe of breaking even in 100 days (currently 94 days), that is if SLP prices stabilzes at $0.09/SLP.
I got mixed feelings after reading the September Development Update. It's a good thing that the team often mentioned the growth of the game, progress on RoninDex and the innovative design upgrade. It's very vague but the land update pertaining to 'crafting, building structures, and harvesting' seems to be hinting something, maybe burning SLP? Although they are already doing a fantastic job in marketing and development I didn't hear a direct comment or statement about the utility token which made the game appealing to the masses. Quite a shame because most eyes are on SLP but there's actually no news about it.
Lessons and Opportunities
One thing I've learnt so far playing not only Axie Infinity but other NFT games is being patient and cool headed. There's no need to stress ourselves in things that are seemingly out of reach. If we think of it, there are thousands, even millions of people experiencing worse things compared to us. Some of you might say that this is not an excuse, but what can we do? There is a wide world out there. There are plenty of things to do than being anxious every time about a tokens plummeting value, just let things unfold. Grab a beer and chill out. In case of SLP, it depends on our personal opinion as we have different bottom lines but there are still plenty of opportunities out there just waiting to be discovered.
The Axiebuzz community here on Hive is actually very supportive in encouraging axie pips like us. Writing articles and sharing my daily battles in this community have become some sort of release from some of my frustrations. And to tell the truth, playing the game have become more enjoyable and less stressful if you have another outlet to release such emotions. Before even starting my grind I'm already hoping to have some good battles to share with you all. It's a fun and rewarding way that let us appreciate axie infinity as a game full of possibilities.
Anyway, I'm really sleepy. This is all for today.
Hope you all have a great Sunday with your family and/or friends.
See you next time.
Ciao~