Sylo ยท 2022
Stake to Earn: Gamifying Node Infrastructure for Seeker Holders
Overview
I led design, product vision and strategy for The Seekers: a gamified layer over Sylo's decentralised comms network that turned running node infrastructure into something a non-technical NFT holder could do, and earn from.
Role
Design Lead
Timeframe
6 months
Industry
Web3
Responsibilities
Product strategy and vision
Workshop facilitation
Visual identity
Usability planning and testing
Impact
53%
Holders running nodes
84%
Holders actively staking
Challenge
Earning from a decentralised network was locked behind technical skill
Earning from a decentralised network has historically been a highly technical endeavour. Setting up node infrastructure to earn staking rewards required skills that put it out of reach for many entry-level decentralised enthusiasts.
This was a real problem for Sylo. For our communication network to function properly, we needed thousands of nodes, but we were limited to technical users who could set up that infrastructure. That meant we were missing out on a huge population of enthusiasts who were keen to contribute to the network to earn rewards. Democratisation of our node infrastructure was key to our development.
Approach
A discovery sprint set the whole product direction
I facilitated a 7-day discovery with company stakeholders to agree what we were building before any of it was designed. It produced the problem statement, value proposition, feature set, vision, customer journey, user stories, UX flows and roadmap in one pass.
Three journeys for three kinds of holder
Treating every Seeker holder the same would have meant designing for the technical minority and losing everyone else. The core product split into three journeys instead, each with its own level of commitment and its own reward.
1. Seeker activation
The first step in the gamification. Holders are prompted to visit the site, upgrade their Seeker, and increase its value.
2. Node setup and management
Holders with technical confidence set up and run Seeker Nodes: calculate earnings, follow a straightforward activation, then manage it low-touch with occasional top-ups.
3. Node staking
Holders who want rewards without running a node stake against an existing one. Staking against a friend's node grows their wealth alongside the node runner's.
Reducing cognitive load in the hardest journey
Node setup was the step most likely to lose people, so it took the most simplification: calculate what you would earn first, then activate in a sequence of small steps, then manage it with occasional top-ups rather than ongoing attention.
Outcome
An immersive, personalised, hyper-gamified stake to earn experience
The Seekers NFT does the storytelling: it excites, educates and guides existing holders through setting up node infrastructure, so the technical work arrives wrapped in something they already care about owning.
Impact
53%
Holders running nodes
84%
Holders actively staking
What came next
A first release, not the finished game
This was the initial release, designed to land before the launch of The Seekers game and the second iteration of the Sylo network. The gamified dashboard had to carry the story on its own until those two arrived, which is why so much of the design effort went into the Seeker itself rather than the node mechanics behind it.
