I've been on steemit for two years now. 👽 Here's a few of my thoughts.

A couple days ago technically was my steemit birthday, but.. I'm busy and it took longer to get this done that I thought it would.

Photo by Tim Zänkert on Unsplash

Also technically.. I'm not using steemit much anymore as I'm on SteemPeak now which I think is a LOT better and actually I heard that busy includes mentions which I don't think SteemPeak does so I may be moving to busy soon. I had a bunch problems with it before, though maybe those are fixed now.. Anyways.. Moving on.

I wanted to start by posting my introduction link from two years ago.. I was so thrilled to have made a couple dollars on just introducing myself! 👽

https://steemit.com/steemit/@apolymask/greetings-steemit-i-m-new-here

Little did I know how much steem would become a part of my life.

The whole idea of digital money that people can exchange on social media that is pretty much virtually unalterable or uncensorable is life changing itself. Just the possibility of such whether this model works long term or not is enlightening in my opinion.

Yet I think what changed my life the most was the creation of an idea called the IFC.. I was trying to think of what I could add to this new developing world as I was seeing so many new crypto coins and ideas coming to life.

I wanted something that could apply to as many people as possible, and my first idea was Information Sharing because I think "everything" is information, also I still think name would have reached more people, but.. In a much less refined manner.

I ultimately ended up going with "Information Finding" instead as I was pursuing a job in internet research at the time and it seemed like targeted research would be more useful in some ways than the more kind of "spammy" information you would get from just sharing in general.

In essence.. It would sort of be like a coin for internet research, or like.. A "human Google", where people interact in a sort of P2P manner between each other as opposed to the more robotic and automated way Google finds things.

And at the time I was seeing so many contests doing so well on steemit that I figured I should try to incorporate a gamification aspect to it all as well.

I figured.. That would be a sort of "ultimate combination" and that making a game out of it, might in the long run bring even more people to the "Information Finding" digital coin elements I had hoped to create.

So.. I came up with the idea for the Information Finding Championship and was lucky enough to meet some really awesome people to help me bring it to life.

I based it off of a couple ideas, one is sort of like UFC, except instead of physical battle it's more of a mental challenge and the other main one was my favorite video game growing up called Suikoden 2.

That was the only game that really made me depressed when it ended.. I wanted it to go on forever. It's basically about a young hero who in one way or another inherits a castle and is joined by 109 other heroes and a whole town full of unique people and shops and gardens and the kinds of things you would expect in a castle.

(Screenshot from Suikoden 2/I sorta feel like all the people in our virtual game world are heroes in a similar way :)

I had already started looked at my social media pages as "virtual property" due to my interest in becoming a YouTuber. A video I watched explained how people come and go through your videos sorta like digital property, and the more houses you can get set up and people walking through them the better essentially.

Our digital castle, drawn by the talented @yeszuzia

It was a perfect match made in like the ultimate heavens of heaven, lol.
I decided to give the IFC a castle, and the heroes showed up soon after. Build it and they will come!

Actually in that movie it says "Build it and he will come" referring to the star, but some people think that was a Mandela effect and swear it was "they" and not "he".. Anyways.. Ahem.. Haha. Sorry. I tend to go off in weird directions sometimes.

Ummm.. So.. Yes.. It was perfect.. Even if there was no money element at all.. I somehow managed to turn my favorite game growing up that I wished would never end, into a real life RPG game with real people who go out into the real world and level up and get items and.. Make friends.. And learn things.. And help others. :)

How did this happen? I dunno, but I gotta say.. Some ideas are just very powerful.
The season started in January and was suppose to end July 18th. Yet It's still going into an overtime in the final championship round. It's been an absolutely epic adventure throughout most of that entire time.

There were a few slow rounds that only got a few entries and unfortunately our All Star round didn't do very well in that respect either.. But most of the rounds got like 5-10 or more and up to 15+ entries in some.

And for a while there, months and months and months every day I woke up.. There was exciting or interesting new news, some cool new story to hear in this digital world.. Whether it was a new witness to help sponsor us or someone telling me that our game helped them learn something new.. Or.. Just so many different things.. It was an absolute blast.

I was pretty depressed before all this too.. And then I realized how important this idea could be and how much it could help others and it helped me value my own health more and it got me back outside in the sun and nature more and exercising more and sleeping better and.. It really did breath new life into me.

I also realize now that it was possible before steemit and could exist without steemit, so.. If something ever does happen to this platform.. The IFC will find a way to continue. Even if the rewards are much less.. I think there's quite a few people at this point who have so much fun, they'd probably do it even if there wasn't money involved.

And that's one reason why I say this was possible before steemit, I could have done it on Facebook if I had the creativity to think of it back then.. I used to run a decently popular photography forum that I created and I held a photography contest there as well.. That was also partly an inspiration for this cause I had experience already, I totally could do something like this on Facebook especially if people enjoyed it enough to not worry about monetary rewards.

BUT.. I wanna go more in that direction. I want to reward everyone more. I think our contest is as good as any honestly.. It's different, but.. I think it has it's own unique place and has incredible potential. If we could get more sponsors to fund it, I believe that it could end up being a really big deal.

That will be one of my continued goals, to try to gain more help to keep this growing. I saw curie is reaching out to the community more for groups like what we are doing and our players got at least 4-5 curies during the season so.. I think we'd be a great match! I'm going to do an application soon and continue to look for more other sponsors and I see tons of potential in our game and our community of awesome people who really care about others. :D

I think.. Our first season couldn't have gone much better. Outside of those few slow rounds.. It was.. Epic. I don't really have any stats in front of me, but we had a bunch of people donate their time and steem to help in many ways, we're close to 200 people on our discord, we had around 40 players who scored at least one point and I'm guessing around that many that didn't make it on to the leaderboard, we got the support of like 5-6 witnesses or more, with a few other high level peoples sorta watching what we're doing.

I think next season hopefully we can increase on that and get the support of 10 witnesses or more. We're just getting started! These are baby steps. :)
Plus! I didn't even really mention The Marketplace I don't think.
We created a place on our discord for peoples in our game world and outside of the game world to come together and trade and buy and sell.

At the peak before things slowed down we had over 20 shops and over 20 transactions, I forget exactly how many transactions though I'm thinking closer to 25 or 30, but.. At least around 20.. People buy and selling all kinds of stuff with steem or whatever currency.

I bought numerous things myself. It's been fascinating to see digital steem turn to a physical item or job done. And while it's been extremely slow due I think mostly to our season ending and very few being around as they are no longer in the contest.. But, I have a feeling when we start up the next things it will become busier again.

Once again.. I think we're just getting started. If we could get funded by curie or someone else.. That could make this absolutely epic. I've had like 10+ people tell me things like that they like our community more than steemit itself.. I really think we have something special here that is some day capable of it's own coin.

I am open to using SMT's! Definitely looking at that. We'll see how it goes, though I do definitely think this idea could some day be worthy of its own coin. We'll see if that ever happens! Until then.. My goal is to just keep plugging away and trying to improve and build more support and sponsors and players and appreciators/fans/audience members etc.

I'm a big believer of doing the hard work and letting it speak for itself, so I think if I and the others who believe in this idea work hard, that people will notice and respond accordingly.. And they will hopefully show appreciation for the hard work we have done.

I really do think it has a bright future, however.. As I mentioned before.. I think even without prizes.. This idea could still work on a platform like Facebook.. So.. I don't see it going away. I'll most likely keep doing it for the rest of my life even if my funds dry up.

Oh also just the other day one of our players said after a year of being here the IFC was still their favorite thing, or something along those lines I'm paraphrasing.. And he also asked if we'd be at Steemfest, and while I can't afford it.. I think maybe some day we could send someone there. If we get noticed more. I see a lot of value here, and I think others do too, and in time.. I feel like even more will also see that this idea is a special one, and that there's also a really awesome community of good people involved.

Okay enough about the IFC. Onto a few general things about steemit then going to wrap this up.

I think.. Despite my two years here on steemit and everything I've learned.. I'm still similarly skeptical of some things about how all this works and also simultaneously a believer that this is a great step in the right direction.

I feel pretty similar as I did when I first discovered it despite getting somewhat deep into the behind the scenes with all the connections I've made due to the IFC.

There's definitely some shady shit going on. But.. That happens in the regular world economies as well. I'd say almost everything you can find that sucks on steemit you can find in the regular world economies also.

Some people myself perhaps included thought this might be like a.. Sort of Utopian solution with no major problems or corruption, and while it is amazing new technology, we're still a world full of corrupt humans. Until humans choose to be more respectful and honorable, virtually every system of money (and many other systems for that matter) will be with it's problems of people trying to take advantage of the power it represents.

Here's my thoughts on a few issues.

I don't see bidbots as the serious problem many do even though I haven't used them. People do the same thing in the real economy. I've paid to have posts boosted on Facebook before. At least on steemit it's going to individual peoples in a free market as opposed to all of it to corrupt Facebook or YouTube.

I admit I don't like seeing good content flounder while shitty stuff surfaces to the top, but once again.. This is more an issue with human ethics than the technology itself in my opinion.

Reward pool rape is still a concern of mine.
Others don't seem as worried by it, but it just seems.. Not good in the long run, perhaps I just haven't heard the right argument yet.

Low value is a concern.
But I was here and went through times when it was MUCH lower and I was making virtually nothing every day, if you can look at it in a mindset of it not being about the value or the money, you'll probably do a lot better on here. Especially if this platform is around for another 10 years or more.. Who knows what will happen! I don't.

I'm still incredibly optimistic about steem in so many ways.. All the decentralized apps and initiatives and communities.. Really make me think this is not going away any time soon. And that many would stay even if there was no monetary reward.

Steemit INC I believe has said they're not worried about the first few million users and that they are worried about the first few hundred million, which I disagree with.. But they plan to sort of remind everyone when they get their "shit together" for lack of a better term and perhaps people will come flocking back as the tech improves!

Additionally I think they have millions set aside for marketing when this goes live, and SMT's in the not too distant future, there's too much still going on for me to say.. I think things look very positive though!

Even if it never reached mainstream, I think there's still epic potential, and even if the value stayed around $1 I think that would be amazing.
I wanna see this all blow up as much as anyone, though I think what's already happening is pretty amazing.. Especially for people in poorer areas in the world.

I'd say my biggest mistake was taking a break to finish a movie I was working on when I had a whale upvoting my photography every day for like $50 to $100.. That was so dumb of me. If I had just maintained that, I'd have so much more money and influence right now.. But I was overwhelmed and wanted to see if the whale would keep voting for me when I returned after a break, and it did not.

Also, this last year.. I haven't made barely anything! I've actually done the opposite. I've invested steem back into the IFC, so even though I haven't made barely anything if I even have..? I believe in this so much I'm investing my earnings back in.

I think if more dolphins and orcas and whales did that this would be much better. I'm a small fry and I'm giving 1/5th of my account value back to the peoples, imagine if Haejin and other big fish did something like that? I think this place could be much more amazing if some of the bigger peoples gave back more to the community.

I still have not powered down or cashed out anything yet either. That should tell you a few things about how I feel about steem. I believe in it. I'm investing in it. Even though I'm poor, I see something special happening here.. I feel like this is sort of the "new internet" or at least the one that's not nerfed and censored into oblivion.

This is getting long! Okay so.. In summary..

There's some problems yes, but.. There's also some awesome benefits as well.. Much like many things in life, there's a good and a bad. And.. To me it's been worth it just to meet the cool people I've met alone and to have helped others and for so many other reasons including an account worth thousands of dollars.

If you're a newcomer who reads this, I suggest doing your due diligence and research everything of importance, but also if you wanna get more involved, try to find a community of some sort.. That's super important on steemit I've learned!

This is social media, being social is very helpful, so leave lots of useful/thoughtful comments and resteem peoples stuff and you'll probably do better! Also you can ask me any questions if you want. I'll do my best to try to help answer, though I admit.. There's still a lot I don't know even after two years!

Steemit can be incredibly simple and easy to sign up and use for just about anyone, but also incredibly deep and complex and it could take you a long time to learn some of these deeper sorts of aspects.

Anyways.. That's enough for now! Thanks for reading if you did! And peace! 👽

PS.. I might consider trying the witness thing some day if I could team up with the right person or people. But I'm already so overwhelmed I can't even keep up with my messages.. So.. I'm definitely not going out of my way looking for that, I just know that.. I am interested in getting more involved in the politics of the platform and am on some level interested in that. Might be something I consider more down the road in the future.. We'll see! ._.