Introduction

Splinterlands is a popular online collectible card game that combines elements of strategy, card collection, and competitive battles. The game's ecosystem is carefully balanced to ensure fair and competitive gameplay for all participants.

Xbot is an automation service for Splinterlands that automates battle, manage rewards, card renting and battle helper. Battle Helper is an assistant that helps you choose the best team possible for any Splinterlands battle, whether it's Ranked, Brawl or Tournament, cited from Xbot

State of the Game Ecosystem on Prevalent Battle Helper

Personally, I catergorised Splinterlands into

• Defi Space ( Land, card rental, assets trading)
• Gaming Space ( rank play, tournament, brawl)

Defi space is for investors that do not have spare time to engage directly to the Splinterlands gameplay. I think that automation tools are great additions in the defi space to generate passive income.

Gaming space is for gamers that would like to engage to the game actively while earning income. The prevalent of the automation battle and battle helpers will eventually lessen the player engagement and can be detrimental to the Splinterlands game ecosystem.

Battle helpers proponents may argue that the emergence of public battle helper is to provide a level playing field against private battle helper that are only accessible to a selected few. Two wrongs don't make a right. The easy accessibility to a public battle helper will only accelerate the downfall of the Splinterlands gaming space. The blatant usage of the battle helpers will attract passive investors that has no interest in the gaming. Battle helpers discourage players from investing time in learning the nuances of the game. Instead of experimenting with different strategies, players may resort to relying on Battle Helpers to consistently win battles. This hampers the development of a dynamic and engaged player community that actively seeks to learn and evolve.

A game without community interaction and engagement is as good as dead. Passive investors do not care about gaming UX/UI, lore and game strategy. The gaming space will deteriorate to a card staking game. It will be a competition of who having a larger card collection since everyone is using the battle helper.

Again, for those that argue battle helper is not as good as skilful human players and require tweaking, I will unveil the performance of battle helper that battle helper's addicts trying to conceal in the following topic.

Performance of Battle Helper in the Tournament

For this unveiling, I will use the Xbot battle helper from a perspective of a passive investor that has no interest in gaming other than to earn rewards.

My card collection for this demonstration can be found in the following link.
OMG-SP2 Card Collection

I do not have a complete card collection but it is decent for this demonstration.

As a passive investor, I do not care about the game play and I will blindly select the team based on the top team recommendation (Highest ELO) from the Xbot battle helper.

Armed with the Xbot battle helper, I participated in a few regular foil tournaments that offer good prize money.

1. Modern League of Champion
   Tournament link: https://splinterlands.com/?p=tournament&id=427cabddc319768d33b69664b73de309f135b02e

Result: 17th position
Rewards: 349.5 SPS

2 . Ninhelm Wild Gold Invitational
Tournament link: https://splinterlands.com/?p=tournament&id=6a12a6976207707a8d2bda6c566c990ee0964ff8

Result: 3rd position
Rewards: 1220 SPS

Above is the battle result that will often seen in the tournament when both players are relying on battle helper. This will make the tournament uninspiring, but it does not matter for passive investor where the only objective is to earn reward by any means.

3 . Poseidar Wild Silver Invitational
Tournament link: https://splinterlands.com/?p=tournament&id=a1c64ed9b938943cb770bf8e428d77a9bb41f72e

Result: 10th position
Rewards: 270 SPS

Post Tournament Analysis

In just 3 days from 3 tournaments, I earned 1839.5 SPS for a game which I have no interest in learning and interacting where my role as a passive investor is to gain as much rewards as possible using battle helper. The battle helper is just that good in tournament without any human tweaking of the suggested lineup. The current blatant usage of the battle helper in the tournament deprive genuine gamer that appreciates the gameplay offered by Splinterlands. Battle helper serves as a cash cow for addicts that want to extract the game economy at the expense of genuine gamer. The addicts will grow their card collection and adding more accounts amplifying the extraction process in the tournament scene.

While I oppose the usage of battle helper in the tournament and brawl, it is not specifically directed to Xbot. It happens that it is the most recognised public battle helper with a great performance. The battle helper could only be even better from now and eventually no human players will be able to compete against the battle helper. While currently there is no reliable method to detect the usage of battle helper, it is up to the developer of the public battle helper and Splinterlands working together to ensure a sustainable business model within the gaming ecosystem. What good is the battle helper, if there is no game to use it.

Battle helper addicts will only look at the short term gain and satisfaction of instant gratification in reaping the rewards. We do not need these addicts in the gaming space. Defi space is more suitable for these people that are chasing Return of Investment (ROI).

Conclusion

While the intention behind introducing Battle Helpers might be to enhance players' experiences, the potential drawbacks they bring to the Splinterlands game ecosystem are significant. The negative impacts include the erosion of fair competition, the weakening of strategic skill development, and disruption of the in-game economy. To maintain a balanced, engaging, and competitive game environment, it is essential to carefully consider the long-term effects of external tools like Battle Helpers on the core principles and values of Splinterlands.

I hope that this serves as a wake up call for Splinterlands the company as it affects the company survivability.