Adventurers,
I think perhaps the time has come for a bigger conversation about the direction and organization of Loot. There is no doubt that many amazing things have happened and continue to happen in and around the Loot ecosystem, but is it possible that we can do better? The Loot Project gives new life to the idea of a decentralized NFT community and ecosystem - the prospect of a true “bottoms-up” approach to community, media, storytelling and building. I get the uncomfortable feeling, however, that the community has sacrificed progress in the name of fundamental principles that are undefined and misunderstood. Here I am going to try to outline these misunderstandings (as I see them), clarify what I see as the larger narrative and value proposition of Loot, and outline a few first steps that I think can keep us moving forward.
Loot and its associated projects are an experiment in decentralized world-building. The fundamental notions are two-fold: 1) since assets are interoperable, many different groups can build independently and create something together, 2) since assets are owned, everyone deserves a seat at the table. I believe these things to be true, but in the context of loot, taken to a perverse extreme. These tenets seem to result in fundamental misconceptions about the nature of decentralized world-building. First, the misconception that different cohorts (teams, sub-communities) within loot are fundamentally independent. And second, that in order to maintain the narrative about true “bottoms-up” decentralized world-building, there can be no hierarchy. These beliefs are particularly limiting in the case of content creation, lore, and integration, since a narrative needs to be and feel consistent to be useful. The pieces of the puzzle are only valid in their relation to one another.
To me the vision of Loot is not the idea that many pieces can be built, but that the pieces together create something better than the parts. The story is written in how these pieces come together to be something coherent. This may be a subtle shift in perspective, but I believe it to be a meaningful one. Here’s why. If we take the vision of loot as collective, rather than apart, it becomes clear that (at least) three things are fundamentally missing from the infrastructure. 1) constraints - the model of the Lootverse cannot be without structure if pieces are to be linked in a way that feels coherent. 2) organizational structure - decision-making about the relation between projects and the above constraints, made with authority, is a must. And 3) the ability to fund the public good. If we believe that the vision is about coordination to the benefit of all, then we need a clear and consistent way to inject the needed funds into thinkers, builders, artists, writers, etc. that will define the story together.
The ideas above might sound a bit esoteric, but I have some suggestions about the first steps, most of which are about accelerating action and movement in the community. We can make significant strides with two simple decisions:
Step 1: Remove quorum on Loot Improvement Proposals (LIPs)
Current quorum on LIPs is 10% (~800 bags). Rallying this many voters (even for free voting on snapshot) is a hefty challenge. An alternative is to remove quorum and replace it with a 7 day voting period instead. Let’s let the community members that are truly engaged make the decisions that need to be made; Let’s let the story actually be written.
Step 2: Elect a board of advisors and create a Loot Fund that can be allocated by the advisors.
We elect a group of trusted and voted on community leaders that can help shape the vision. We give them a block of the Loot treasury, with the explicit purpose of building cohesion and vision into the broader loot community. These advisors are not permanent and should be voted on regularly. I would suggest the following. 5 advisors with (3 of 5 majoring voting on fund allocation), a term of 3 months, and an initial block allocation of 75 Eth.
Just these two steps can (at least begin to) create a system where the organizing principles are defined and acted upon, informed by the community, but not left to the ununified masses. As always, these ideas are open to critique, improvement and discussion. To conclude, a friendly reminder that Loot truly is an experiment with an unknown outcome, but we all know the outcome of doing nothing.
- Bag #7183