# Zeta Question Responses

## Context
Zeta is an alpha and investment community who is doing due diligence on MPL in relation to a long term investment call for their community (zeta-nft.io). This document outlines questions they have directly asked and my proposed responses. Comments appreciated

## Questions

**1. You mention that genesis players will be claimed on L2, and with this an upgrade to their look, can you elaborate on whether you are partnering with any Graphics companies or if this upgrade will be built in-house? What can we expect from the Genesis collection new look?**

> Our characters on L1 remain the "souls" of our collection, they are the explorers of Mars and those that are choosing to play football and explore the rest of Mars. As the bridge takes place to L2, this will look more like a trading card - with a football strip (customisable), stats across the various attributes (automatically upgraded on-chain visually when changed), and a small embedded svg of the origin player on L1 giving it a "visual" link back to the genesisus character. On a broader point, we are working with a number of agencies on graphics/UI/UX such as make associates - but not specifically on this design at this stage.

**2. The risk-based games idea is a great value producing avenue, are you planning to expand on this front beyond the two options currently being worked on and add new more complex games?**

> The risk based protocols will have a novel ability to also allow individuals to gain special rewards and/or increased probabilities based on some of their traits. For example, novice players will have an icrease probability of higher rewards in our gym challenge. In general, we like the idea of risk-based games for token rewards but it can't be the only source of success for our players. One additional idea we are working on is a "penatly" scoring game where you can choose where you will place the ball and the interaction on chain determines if it is saved or not. We see risk based games as fun and interactive for our players - providing ongoing reasons to dip into and engage with the universe as we move to the full game beta.

> Another element we are exploring in the bootcamp is the use of "hidden room" type mechanics to allow people to find and claim limited ERC-1115 NFTs, of which some will be also physical claims and have broader use in the universe. In general, we want these to be "delighters" of our player-base. Somewhat unnecessary - but fun.

**3. The utility token will be of even higher value expanding into the whole ecosystem, can we see this be used to acquire IRL goods as well as in-game items and other exclusive benefits?**

> Yes we see this as a principal component - that includes both merch and also some select physical claimables as described above. Right now, we are working with Loaf Marketing to do a bunch of sourcing for Merch to ensure we are getting high-quality output (we have seen NFT merch be quite variable in quality) and building the front-end of a shopify store that will be token gated. Its important to us that we use our token in the ecosystem - not only to drive value but it also creates another sink which is important for economic balancing.

**4. Can we see a bridge between $MARS and $FOOTY in the future and if so what are some of the concerns regarding the overall integrated tokenomics?**

> A specific pool for $MARS/$FOOTY LP is on the option set, but we need to reflect on what the most valuable LP pools are to seed (and use to drive $MARS emissions - but they likely to link to WETH). It is our intention that $MARS staking will allow some $FOOTY earning whn the governance token is released.

> Our major concern with tokenomics, particularly for utility tokens, is managing inflation. We need to ensure we have specific sinks and ongoing sinks (think: teleporting costs in games + cost of items = sinks for gold/gil etc). As modelled with $FOOTY, going through bootcamp we expect that nearly all tokens will be taken out of circulation as people conduct training etc. More broadly, our sinks are designed as such to not end up with endless token circulation and the need to use it for "basic game playing" such as player salaries etc. That ensures we can use "big sinks" effectively while also having a portion of the tokens being burnt. We intend to be active in managing the demand/supply balancing going forwards

> $MARS is focused on being a governance token with a fixed supply and associated governance decision making, community treasury. Quite a standard approach to governance. We want this to represent the broader game value, but we are open to using it for "high value" actions in game such as recruitment of a new player in the game.

**5.Currently players enjoy 6 game styles, is the team planning to expand the game styles offered and if possible can you hint as to what new styles players can look forward to?**

> We have designed MPL to allow people to play in multiple ways, both more passively and more actively. As the game evolves and the complexity grows then this may offer more ways to play but isn't a deliberate part of the roadmap. As a design philosophy, we do want to ensure as we expand and explore the MARS universe, it does offer multiple points for someone to "jump in" that meets multiple user needs.

**6. Looking ahead at the 3D Voxel Characters, what types of utility can holders expect? Any possibility of elaboration on that front?**

> There is a much broader world of expansion as we think about the MPL. 3D Voxel characters that allow them to explore some designed parts of the MPL metaverse is something we know will delight our holders - but its a delicate balance on timing. I would say for the next 6 months, all the energy and effort will be focused on the full roll out of MPL moving out of beta and really delivering on a further ambitious vision (both on and off chain) exploration of Mars that allows people to get deep into the story. Is a 3D voxel collection in that vision? Yes, but its not urgent priority number one right now.

**7. It is exciting you are looking at a merchandise line, are there plans to offer exclusive merchandise to holders only and separately a public range of merchandise for non-MPL holders?**

> Token gated merch for sure - including some print on demand for your specific character (we are trying to source print on demand with the right quality level). We will have some limited merch for public consumption, but we do want to mostly keep this for holders and the ecosystem. We will also have merch for our NFT NYC event :)

**8. Are there any plans to expand real world partnerships to boost recognition and have any relationships already been developed or in the process?**

> We are not without offers for sports partnerships, but we have not found ones that are the right fit for us at this stage. We do have a number of ongoing conversations with potential partners including venture capital (not a high priority as cash is not a concern - so needs to be a strategic fit) and traditional media. We are specifically developing alongside John Nee (ex-Marvel Publisher) not only the origin story comic but a transmedia/creative bible that will not only delight holders with quite deep lore, but will drive further our conversations with traditional media. As you can imagine, given our backgrounds, we have strong links to the industry to get in-front of them much more readily than nearly any other NFT project.

**9. What strategies are being implemented to make the game increasingly valuable in the long term? Are there any plans to increase holder utility at any point in the future? If so, can any specific examples be given?**

> The key elements to us in creating long term value as focused around: (i) delivery of MPL and excellent tokenomics that support that delivery (ii) expansion of the MPL universe into other blockchain games - this is an 2022 H2 activity for us (iii) expansion of the creative and worldbuilding that hooks people into Gaffer's world. The first part of that is really focused on the origin story comic (free physical and digital claims) that will be expanded, the broader lore/world building and entertainment franchise. In all of this, the L1 genesis collection is the mint pass to that broader world giving it ongoing value in the ecosystem. I think we have made a really important step here vs. other projects which are very locked to providing "one thing" as they either a PFP or very specific game that makes expansion both on & off-chain very difficult. We don't have that concern - and entertainment franchise growth through digital & physical products is what we have done for the last 10 years.

> If we look at projects that are surviving their first year in the NFT space, it is because they have kept expanding and building the universe. There is often a simple solution of "aidrop" another collection, but I think giving people *more stuff* in the universe as it expands + the airdrop of governance tokens is a really big ongoing value-add for those holders. I think as Phase One rolls out and people start to see the depth of what we are doing, we will see a strong floor price increase + token value, and this starts to reinforce the idea that this is a team that delivers with quality, and I want to be part of the next exploration in the Mars Universe - the comic series, the blockchain card-game, the mini-games etc. which reinforces the value of holding our collection because it is a asset giving a constant set of fun/interesting/valuable "dividends"

**10. In respect to Whitepaper 2.0 what future plans are there to expand the mobile UI in order to accommodate more utility for holders? Are there any solidified time-frames for the app and can we expect a ‘Hub’ or a full fledged mobile game from this?**

> The game will be on-chain and browser based in the beta (Phase 2). However, mobile native UI so people can update/change their teams/tactics etc. is planned for the full launch. We want to make it easy for people to play from their desktop, out for coffee or sat in their living room and making sure we design with mobile native in mind is critical.

> We are somewhat limited due to any on-chain reactions and hence it needs to be compatiable in a metamask wallet. However, we have acknowledged as as the game grows in complexity some elements will likely become "off-chain" which makes mobile native much easier.