If you’ve ever voted on a Snapshot proposal and wished you could see some simulated lightning strikes on screen to celebrate your contribution, you’ll like the idea of gamifying DAO governance. While that may not quite be what we’re talking about, the idea of making DAO contributions more fun, appealing to people’s sense of competition, and rewarding actions on a micro scale seems a good general direction to take.

In fact, it may just be inevitable. Among the many projects working to make DAO governance more engaging and rewarding are the folks at Game7, through Summon. Taking learnings from Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs), Summon seeks to transform “DAO governance for the better by incorporating the underlying MMO mechanics into the ecosystem: ingraining fair play, competitive collaboration, and diversified contribution.”

As the team at Summon writes this week, “[b]y establishing a meritocratic system that empowers the most productive and engaged members of the organization, Summon helps any DAO create an environment where people are rewarded based on merit and not financial flexing. This means no one needs to be an early investor to reap the rewards of the DAO’s progress and growth.”

We’ve been governance focused as of late, but as always we conclude with a TL;DR on some of the most recent DAO ecosystem takes and thought pieces, making it easy for you to cut through the noise and learn everything you need to know about the current state of the DAOs.

Contributors: Summon Team, ab_colours, angelspeaks, Quilia, Warrior, Vi-Fi, trewkat, Kornekt, HiroKennelly, siddhearta

This is the official newsletter of BanklessDAO. To unsubscribe, edit your settings.

Transforming DAO Governance With MMO Mechanics

Author: Summon Team

Effective governance is a challenge that DAOs are yet to solve.

Although promising an equitable and transparent system, DAOs are yet to define effective methods of governance: organizational participation is skewed, with decision making often lacking in efficiency and engagement. There are no clear incentives in current DAO structures, and interests aren’t always aligned, making it difficult to rally contributors to move the organization forward.

However, the principles of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) can transform DAO governance for the better by incorporating the underlying MMO mechanics into the ecosystem: ingraining fair play, competitive collaboration, and diversified contribution. This approach can revolutionize the way we perceive and operate DAOs, bringing an equal, engaging, and enjoyable dynamic to governance.

Summon unlocks the full potential of DAOs by bringing these principles of MMOs to DAO governance. The platform enables DAOs to reward their communities based on the consistency and quality of contributions. It gamifies DAO participation to enable rewards, non-monetary incentives such as power and influence, and ultimately a more effective form of governance.

Engaging the Gaming Community

Summon’s gamification model is the missing piece of the puzzle in securing active, consistent participation and collaborative decision making among DAO members. Gamification, which is the integration of game design elements and mechanics into non-game environments, is the key to unlocking a new era of DAO community management and engagement. This approach is effective because it taps into our innate desire to level up.

By transforming the often complex and dry process of governance into an interactive, achievement-driven experience that is easy to navigate, we can breathe new life into DAOs, motivating active participation, nurturing collaboration, and cultivating a shared sense of ownership among members. Ultimately, gamifying the DAO experience can foster a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem that thrives on collective intelligence and creativity.

Moving Beyond Monetary Incentives

One of the key advantages of this new way of governance is that it extends beyond traditional monetary incentives. While financial rewards have their place, they do not capture the full spectrum of value that individuals bring to a community. Instead, they incentivize people to buy power and influence, rather than earn it.

With Summon, one token does not equal one vote. Summon gives each DAO member a soulbound NFT that evolves as the member contributes via voting, proposal submission, development, community contributions, and more. By offering status, influence, and power in return for participation, the platform recognizes and celebrates the multifaceted contributions of its community. This approach transforms the DAO landscape by valuing effort, time, and dedication as crucial elements of success.

Meritocracy in Action

DAOs have the potential to dismantle traditional power structures. One of the persistent issues in such structures is the power imbalance between leadership and entry-level workers.

By establishing a meritocratic system that empowers the most productive and engaged members of the organization, Summon helps any DAO create an environment where people are rewarded based on merit and not financial flexing.

This means no one needs to be an early investor to reap the rewards of the DAO’s progress and growth.

Inspiring a New Gaming Paradigm

By showcasing the success and potential of this innovative approach, Game7 aims to impact the web3 community beyond the Game7 DAO. The principles and lessons learned through Summon will be shared with other decentralized communities, promoting collaboration, knowledge exchange, and collective growth.

Gamified governance represents a crucial milestone in the evolution of DAOs. By infusing game design elements and mechanics into organizational design, we unlock the immense potential for engagement, motivation, and collaboration within each community.

Summon showcases the transformative power of applying MMO mechanics to DAO governance.

As we embrace this new paradigm, we pave the way for a future where every contributor has a voice and can actively shape the destiny of the DAO. By embracing gamified governance, DAOs can foster a more inclusive, participatory, and rewarding environment for all contributors.

Summon is a project created by the Game7 community. Learn more about Game7 at www.game7.io and follow them on Twitter @G7_DAO.

Ecosystem Takes

🔥 and 🧊 insights from across the DAO ecosystem

‘This Protocol Is Brought to You By’: An Onchain Model for Web3 Advertising

Author: Mason Nystrom

🔑 Insights: Although crypto is hesitant to embrace advertising, it is one of the best monetization strategies available. Ads are the fundamental building block of the web3 advertising stack.

• The three models set to define the web3 advertising space are onchain ads, token-curated ads, and hybrid ads.

• Onchain ads include NFT ads and affiliate programs. An example is the NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam which experimented with NFTs that grant the owner rights to the banner ad slot on its homepage.

Token-curated ads leverage tokens as an instrument of attention curation. These tokens could be used to govern which storefronts appeared first on the front page of a site, marketplace, or social app.

Decoding DAOs Activity — The Importance of a Multidimensional Data Analysis

Author: SeaLaunch

🔑 Insights: This article emphasizes the transformative impact of DAOs in reshaping collaboration and decision making through blockchain technology. It discusses the rapid growth of DAOs, their diverse categories, and the importance of comprehensive analysis to fully comprehend their impact.

• The dimensions of treasury, governance, and token holders collectively provide insights into the activities and dynamics within each DAO and should be analyzed on a multidimensional level.

• When evaluating DAOs, it is important to consider financial metrics to understand financial health, and governance metrics to provide insights into decision-making processes and inclusivity.

• By taking a multidimensional approach to evaluating DAOs and adopting composite metrics spanning across various dimensions, stakeholders can gain deeper insights, set benchmarks, and understand the interrelationships within a DAO's operations.

• DAO Governance Asset Value (DGAV) is a composite metric that offers insights into a DAO's financial resources, community engagement, and distribution of voting power.

Building the Future Together in Web3 Communities

Author: Boluwatife

🔑 Insights: According to early thinkers on the concept of community, Ferdinand Tönnies, Robert Park, and Emile Durkheim, a community is not just a collection of individuals, but a social entity that has its own identity, values, norms, and culture. There is always work to be done to make yourself happier and to make the web3 space a better place. As Mother Theresa once said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across waters to create many ripples”.

• Web3 is helping to build communities that are more inclusive, diverse, democratic, and resilient.

• Communities in web3 are not just passive consumers of content but active creators and participants who shape the future of the internet.

• The Crypto Bootcamp Community (CBC) is a group of enthusiasts who want to learn more about the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

• One of the notable Bitcoin events in the web3 community is Bitcoin Pizza Day, which commemorates the first documented purchase of goods using bitcoin.

• The Crypto Bootcamp Community’s aim and vision is to promote the adoption of crypto and web3 among African youths.

Your Web3 Wayfinder

Author: trewkat

🔑 Insights: When venturing into web3, it can be overwhelming due to the numerous concepts and platforms. To make the journey easier, Bankless Publishing offers a set of articles that cover web3 essentials, including:

• web3’s key ideas of privacy, self-sovereignty, and public good.

• the differences between CEX, DEX, and DeFi, short for centralized and decentralized exchanges and decentralized finance.

• the basics of cryptocurrency wallets, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations).

• blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The web3 ecosystem is vast, and finding your passion within it is part of the adventure.