As of this writing, I really don’t know anymore. Normally, I would leave it at that, but in this case I will explain for the [bookmark] record:
We’ve mostly moved on after re-designing it from an exclusive for ApeChain to a white label platform (similar to other Web3 middleware tech stacks) for other chains - two (of a possible three) of which we are in active negotiations with even as I type this. With advisory from some of my VC friends, and since we had no intentions of funding it ourselves, we even did a small raise to bootstrap the project while waiting to see where the project actually lands first in the coming weeks.
If you’ve read it, you will know that the original plan when I posted it the proposal AIP-487: ApeCoin Community Engagement Platform back on July 8th was for an ApeChain exclusive designed and built for our community and to help the DAO generate revenue very quickly in the short-term. Even as I was putting 3 teams together, I was encouraged to put it through the BB - something that I had been quite hesitant to do. Eventually, in the interest of time (for it to go to vote), and given the DAO voting patterns, as well as encouragement from some of our more influential Apes, we sent it through the BB. While those discussions were going on, I eventually withdrew it as a DAO proposal on Aug 14th.
Despite a lot of exchanges, calls etc (by myself and other team members) with the BB since early August, of which they were already aware of the project since I first posted it back in July, we’ve had no traction, no guidance, no next steps, no deal - nothing. Though I am quite reluctant to say this, from all appearances, it appears as if we’ve been ghosted. And I believe it’s likely due to the AOW component which some believe competes with Otherside. Read on for why we - the team - now believe this to be the case.
That aside from the fact that we’ve been having various BB related discussions in which the team (myself and other team leads) have had to defend the MMO component, AOW, of the project because some influential people - who aren’t even experienced or knowledgeable in these things - have been telling us that it somehow “competes with Otherside”. Having grown tired of having to repeat this over and over, no kidding here, we even had to do a quick and simple non-flashy explainer to express how different it is from Otherside; that AOW doesn’t stand on it’s own, and that it is required by the other 3 project components (ID, web platform, rewards + token) to create a “cohesive whole”. Which is why I refused to break up the project into parts because that would defeat the entire purpose of my designing it that way. Using pre-existing tech stacks, it was designed to be created quickly, efficiently, and to start generating revenue on day one (inside of +3 months from deployment). Just like a low budget indie project would do.
Then yesterday, I was made aware of the The Blueprint which had this in it:
As concerned as we were to see that, seeing as it’s basically the tenets (rewards + token etc) of our ACE platform proposal, we just assumed that it was about our ACE project. But we haven’t even heard from BB, and so we just assumed that this was about a competing project or something else.
Yes - rewards are usually part of chain promotions, but that’s when you have a new token as the rewards funnel at TGE. We don’t actually have that. And it’s no easy thing to just roll a utility token (memecoins aren’t that) with nothing attached to it.
Couple that with the fact that it’s also promoting Otherside thus inadvertently sending the message that ApeChain is for Apes - a community that isn’t even large enough to fill a football stadium - it occurred to us that we were fighting a losing battle. There is a reason that companies don’t tend to promote their projects which compete with their own platform partners. You simply don’t do that. Ever. That they’re promoting Otherside - on the official ApeChain page - as the de facto platform for building on ApeChain - whether that was the intent or not - is bound to make other teams pause and re-assess their positions and competing projects. Aside from the fact that, given the ops costs involved, there is no way feasible that Yuga transitions Otherside into an always-on platform - which they would then have to monetize to the extent that it pays for it’s costs. They’ve said as much.
Anyway, we had even informed them - repeatedly - that Sept 1st was the “go no-go” barrier if we were to get anything up and running by YE24. That’s now come and gone - and just like that, we’ve lost the holiday noise and momentum. Oh well.
Meanwhile, nobody even knows when ApeChain mainnet is going live, nor what projects will be deployed on it or how they are going to bring money to the DAO. Speaking of which, that happened Ape Foundation Transparency Report - 2024 - Q1
It’s just stressing the token even more.
