A Random Act Of Kindness (aka Why The Blockstars Community š¤)
Sometimes something happens that restores your belief in the fundamental goodness of humanity, and reminds you of why you do what you do. Today was one of those days.
NFTs & Community
We often hear NFT projects talk about how they have the best community out there. And to be sure, there are some incredibly strong communities in the NFT space. But rarely do we actually sit back and think about *what* makes an NFT community strong, or *why* a community forms in the first place. What are the connections that bind community members?
Most NFTs are designed to be truly unique digital assets ā no two in the same collection are alike. That allows holders to form strong connections with their particular NFTs, and we often hear new owners commenting how a particular NFT āspoke to themā because of a particular trait, or combination of traits. When enough NFTs āspeak toā enough individuals, a community forms around that collection, and the magic starts to happen.
The Blockstars Community
Just like NFTs in a collection, no two projects are the same.
At Blockstars, weāve always tried to focus on the gameplay, which we believe is the primary reason that our community has formed ā management sim gamers who are excited for what we are building.
But we also try to maintain a very high quality bar on the art side, which is why we launched our collection with full 3D models, that are professionally rigged, animatable, and are delivered to owners with the digital files (.fbx files in our case) as well as instructions on how to animate them to bring them to life. The Blockstars even have unique personalities modeled on Myers-Briggs. As a result, we have seen holders of Blockstars form very strong bonds with them.
We have always been proud of our great community, and the connections they have formed with both their Blockstars as well as fellow community members ā weāve tried to nurture a healthy environment for our players and our team, as well as for casual onlookers curious about the game. But sometimes our community goes above and beyond in a way that exceeds even our wildest dreams.
Origin Blockstars
To appreciate how special this story (that I promise I am getting to!) really is, a quick note about Origin Blockstars. These are 110 Blockstars (out of a collection of 10,000 total) that were airdropped to the earliest and most engaged community members, back in December 2021.
Since the airdrop, only a couple of Origin Blockstars have sold on the secondary markets, and as of today, only a single Origin Blockstar is listed for sale on Magic Eden, for 200 SOL ā and this has been true since our mint in February of 2022. Furthermore, most Origin Blockstars have high gameplay skills (more on this in a second). In short, Origin Blockstars are highly valued by the community, are very strong for gameplay and have high financial value to boot.
A Random Act Of Kindness
On to the story itself. It is best told in the words of @rubywaves, an early member of the Blockstars community, but importantly *not* a holder of an Origin Blockstar. This was shared in our Discord, but the story deserves a much wider audience, so here it is.
This is a story about trust, respect and kindness, but most of all community. Itās no secret that Blockstars has the best community and this story is yet another reason to believe it.
When the UI for practicing was released a few weeks ago, it was only made available for Origin Token holders to preview. Now as an avid fan of Blockstars, needless to say, I was pretty bummed because I really wanted to check out the new feature but I couldnāt because I wasnāt an Origin Token holder.
The next day after the release, a community member, whom I knew, DMād me on the server asking if I wanted to check out practicing and asked if he could trust me. I wasnāt quite sure what this was going to lead to, but I automatically said yes, because the truth is, I am trustworthy and Iām proud of that.
So he asked me for my wallet address and that he would lend me an Origin Token to preview practicing with the rest of the gang with the condition that I send it back to him when I was done. I was so happy for the opportunity and even more so that he trusted me. He sent me the Origin Token along with some $ROL so I could practice, and it was awesome.
In the next few days, the team delivered as usual, and practicing became available for Foundation Token holders as well. So I waited for the practicing duration on the Origin Token to complete and I safely returned it back to the community member, along with any $ROL that I did not use. In fact it was more $ROL because the airdrop from the raffle had been sent while I had the Token in my wallet. I thanked him over and over again for doing what he did and that I really appreciated it.
Weeks had passed and I have been busy practicing my Blockstars and enjoying it. Then today, out of no where, this community member DMād me again asking me if my wallet address was the same. I was kind of caught off guard, but I said yes, and asked him why he wanted to know that.
He simply said, āI want to send you somethingā A few short minutes later, the same Origin Token that he lent me was sitting in my wallet. He said āI am giving her to you ā I watched my nieces play ROBLOX this week and they were sharing their in game items ā it got me thinking ā you were very honest with me when you practiced her and out of anyone in the Blockstars game you deserve it.ā
I really couldnāt believe what was happening and I was completely floored by what he did. Was I really just gifted an Origin Token by this community member?? HOLY Sā¢ā¢T!!!
I continued to praise and thank him and told him how grateful I was. Never in a million years did I think this could happen and I was over the moon about it.
My apologies for the long winded story, but it is important to not only recognize this AMAZING community member, but also recognize the Blockstars team for creating such a beautiful nourishing place where REAL people can make REAL connections and display such marvelous acts of trust, respect and kindness. This community member is @sm161616 and I will be forever grateful for what he did today.
The Blockstar in question is Blockstar #70. A stylish vocalist, matching plaid outfit, rank 152 across the entire 10,000 collection, with high musical skills and a Moderate salary. This is an incredible gift from one community member to another.
A random act of kindness, yes. But this level of engagement and mutual trust and respect is the norm in the Blockstars community. We very much hope you will join us.
Join us!
This is just a teaser of what we are up to! If you are intrigued by Blockstars, be sure to read much, much more about the game design, tokenomics and development roadmap in our whitepaper, come and chat with other community members in our Discord and follow us on Twitter. If you want to join the team, check out our job openings here. We will also be posting news about upcoming features, roadmap progress & important events regularly right here, on our blog.
Niko Vuori | @nikothefinn | Founder & CEO | Blockstars
