Last February, a confusing voting proposal appeared in the governance forum of the Illuvium community: 'Proposal No. 37: Reduce the trading cooldown period to 12 hours after capturing a legendary Illuvial from 24 hours.'
Technical discussions are normal, what is abnormal is the identity of the proposer—a account called 'YGG-Asia-Pacific-3'. Clicking on the detailed information, the signature states: 'Yield Guild Games Asia Pacific Third Sub-DAO, focused on strategy research for pet battle games.'
The name of the gaming guild has appeared at the forefront of game governance.
What is even more surprising is that three days later, this proposal was passed with a 68% approval rate. Illuvium's chief designer joked on Twitter: 'Now even our game mechanics are designed by the guild.'
This is just the beginning. In the next six months, 11 out of 17 proposals submitted by YGG sub-DAOs were adopted. From economic model adjustments to combat balance, this once 'external gold farming organization' is becoming an 'internal decision-maker' in game design.
An unexpected voting right
The story begins in 2021. At that time, Illuvium publicly sold its governance token ILV, and YGG, as an early supporter, purchased a considerable amount—not for investment, but to 'ensure the guild had a voice in the game.'
But they soon discovered a problem: holding ILV does not equate to governance.
In early voting, YGG once made an awkward mistake. In a vote about 'season duration', the YGG representative voted to 'shorten the season' based on the intuition of the majority of members, but later data analysis showed this would make it difficult for casual players to complete seasonal tasks, harming the game's health.
“We realized,” recalled Mia, YGG's governance lead, “that game governance and making money from games require two completely different areas of expertise. The players who are best at defeating monsters do not necessarily understand economic model design best.”
Thus, an experiment began: YGG decided to 'outsource' their ILV voting rights to the most knowledgeable people.
But not outsourced to external experts; rather, finding 'governance experts' within the guild.
The ‘unorthodox’ scholarship manager
Kevin from Singapore is a veteran scholarship manager for YGG in the Axie project, managing over 50 scholars. But he has an 'unorthodox' hobby: spending three hours daily researching various games' white papers and economic models.
“While other managers optimized gold farming efficiency, Kevin was calculating the inflation curve,” Mia laughed, “Everyone thought he was crazy until we initiated the governance expert program.”
YGG designed a 'chain-based governance credibility system,' completely independent of combat or earning capabilities within the game. To become a certified governance expert, one must pass:
Level 1: Theoretical Testing
· Analyzed three classic game economic collapse cases
· Design a simple dual-token model
· Predict the impact of a certain mechanism adjustment on player retention rates
Level 2: Practical Simulation
· Propose modifications in the Illuvium testnet
· Participate in simulated parliamentary debates
· Write a complete governance proposal document
Level 3: Community Recognition
· Proposals received sufficient support on YGG's internal forum
· Passed the interview of the existing governance expert team
Kevin was the first to pass certification. Now, he spends 10 hours a week analyzing Illuvium's game data, 5 hours participating in community discussions, and 3 hours writing proposals—all of this time, YGG pays him according to 'governance consultant' standards.
“The most ironic thing is,” Kevin said, “the money I now earn from game governance exceeds the total gold farming income of the scholars I manage.”
Illuvium's 'parliamentary system' collides with YGG's 'Athenian democracy'
To understand how interesting this governance experiment is, one must first look at Illuvium's governance design.
It resembles a miniature version of the British Parliament:
ILV token holders = all voters
Parliament = randomly selected ILV holders, serving a three-month term
Executive Committee = professional team responsible for specific implementation
‘Random selection’ is key. Theoretically, anyone holding ILV could suddenly enter parliament and vote for the future of the game.
But YGG saw a problem: random performance prevents oligarchic monopolization but could also allow 'completely uninformed individuals' to decide professional issues.
Thus, they developed an internal system that could be called 'On-Chain Athenian Democracy 2.0.'
Step 1: Proposal Incubation
Any YGG member (not just ILV holders) can submit ideas on the internal forum. The recently passed proposal to 'reduce cooldown periods' originally came from a Malaysian scholar who found that long cooldowns caused players to miss market price fluctuations.
Step 2: Expert Committee Review
YGG's certified governance expert team (currently 17 members) evaluates the feasibility of proposals. They use data models to simulate impacts and predict community reactions.
Step 3: Sub-DAO Voting
Members of the sub-DAOs involved in the proposal vote. The third sub-DAO in the Asia-Pacific region has 312 members, and 51% support is needed to proceed to the next phase.
Step 4: Full Guild Simulated Voting
All Illuvium players in YGG (over 2000 people) participate in simulated voting to test the acceptance of proposals among different player groups.
Step 5: Official Submission
After passing all levels, governance experts like Kevin represent YGG in submitting proposals on the official Illuvium forum, voting in support with ILV held by YGG.
“The whole process took two weeks, much slower than direct voting,” Mia admitted, “But our proposal approval rate is 65%, while Illuvium's overall platform approval rate is only 22%.”
‘Arbitrageurs’ in a dual-token game
Illuvium has a unique design: a dual-token system. ILV is used for governance and long-term staking, while sILV (the derivative token of staked ILV) is used for in-game purchases.
Last June, YGG's governance experts discovered a loophole.
“According to the economic model at that time,” Kevin explained, “Players used sILV to purchase in-game items, and these sILV would be destroyed, which is positive for ILV prices. But the problem was that the item prices were too high, and players preferred to buy with regular tokens earned in-game, leaving sILV unused.”
YGG proposed Proposal No. 42: 'Lower the prices of sILV consumption projects, but increase exclusive attributes.'
Opposition was strong. Some large ILV holders worried this would 'dilute' the value of sILV.
But YGG brought out their trump card: they simulated using their real player behavior data.
Data shows:
· According to the YGG plan, the sILV usage rate is expected to increase by 47%
· The amount of ILV staked (the prerequisite for generating sILV) is expected to increase by 31%
· Although the sILV destroyed per transaction decreased, the total destruction amount is expected to increase by 22%
Smarter still, YGG added 'experimental terms' to the proposal: run a trial for one month and validate the effects with on-chain data.
The proposal passed with a narrow margin. A month later, the results were shocking:
· The sILV usage rate actually increased by 52%
· The influx of new players led to an 18% increase in ILV prices
· Originally opposing large holders, due to asset appreciation, turned into supporters of the YGG governance proposal
“It’s not that we won,” Kevin humbly said, “It’s that data and logic won. We just were more willing than others to spend time studying the data.”
The parliamentary debate at 2 AM
The most dramatic moment in governance occurred last November.
The Illuvium parliament is debating Proposal No. 58: 'Should a downgrade protection mechanism for PvP ladders be introduced?' Supporters believe this can reduce player anxiety, while opponents worry it could diminish competitiveness.
The parliamentary vote was deadlocked: 48% in favor, 47% against, 5% abstained.
At this moment, an account called 'YGG-Competitive-Play' published a 30-page analysis report on the forum.
The report had no opinions, only data:
· Compared the ladder mechanisms of six mainstream competitive games
· Analyzed behavior data from 5000 test players
· Simulated the impact of three different downgrade protection schemes on player retention
· Even included psychological research: how many failures lead to permanent player exit
The report's conclusion was: 'It is recommended to adopt the 'three consecutive losses protection' instead of the 'rank protection', which can alleviate anxiety while maintaining competitive pressure.'
Parliament members began to cite data from this report. Three days later, a re-vote passed the new proposal with a 71% support rate.
“Later everyone realized,” revealed Illuvium's community manager, “That report was the result of collaboration among five sub-DAOs under YGG. The competitive players' DAO provided practical experience, the data analysis DAO ran models, and members with psychological backgrounds were responsible for behavioral analysis—it's like a mini think tank.”
The leap from 'voting rights' to 'proposal rights'
In the past six months, YGG's role in Illuvium governance has undergone subtle changes.
In the early days, they were mainly 'smart voters'—deeply researching each proposal and casting reasonable votes. But now, they are increasingly becoming 'initiators of proposals.'
The latest Proposal No. 73, regarding the complex design of 'introducing a cross-season achievement system,' was entirely drafted by YGG's governance expert team. The proposal spans 50 pages and includes technical implementation plans, economic impact assessments, and player survey data.
More importantly, YGG began systematically training the 'next generation of governance experts.'
They launched the 'Governance Apprentice Program': selecting potential ordinary players, pairing them with senior experts, and involving them in the real proposal drafting process. Contributions from apprentices will be recorded on-chain, forming an immutable 'governance resume.'
“We have a 22-year-old apprentice from the Philippines who was previously an Axie scholar,” Mia shared, “Now he is the lead on a proposal about ‘optimizing the new player guide,’ which is currently under review by the parliament. He may have never met any members of the Illuvium development team, but his ideas are shaping this game.”
When the guild becomes a 'game think tank'
Looking back, YGG's governance experiment in Illuvium reveals a deeper trend.
Traditional game development is 'top-down': designers design, players play.
Early blockchain games were 'bottom-up': players voted with their feet, expressing opinions through token transactions.
And YGG is exploring a third path: an organized group of professional players becoming 'co-developers' of game design.
Their advantages are unique:
1. Scalable player insights: behavior data from thousands of real players
2. Cross-game governance experience: from Axie's economic collapse to Big Time's asset custody
3. A specialized division of labor system: experts specializing in economics, combat, social dynamics, and psychology
“The Illuvium team once privately told us,” Kevin revealed, “What they value most is not our voting rights, but the ‘stress tests’ we provide. The effects and issues of a mechanism running in YGG's player network for a week become clear.”
The future governance landscape: The Game Republic
If this model continues to evolve, what might the future look like?
Imagine the year 2030, a large game:
· The core development team is responsible for technical foundations and artistic design
· The player governance parliament is responsible for economic balance and content update direction
· Professional guilds like YGG become 'permanent expert committees,' providing data analysis and proposal drafting
Games are no longer 'products of developers,' but 'digital republics co-governed by players and developers.'
And YGG may become the 'policy research institute' in this republic— not directly ruling, but deeply influencing governance.
“We’ve recently been discussing a more radical idea,” Mia said finally, “What if, in a future expansion of Illuvium, it is completely designed by player guilds, voted on by players, and produced with player involvement—while YGG plays a role in organization and coordination?”
She paused: “Three years ago, we were just lending money to players to buy Axies for the guild. Now we are involved in designing a game economy worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Who knows what will happen in three years?”
Perhaps by then, game companies will not hire 'game designers,' but 'player community governance coordinators.' And the governance experts at YGG, their on-chain resumes will become the strongest resumes.
From internet cafes in the Philippines to the Illuvium parliamentary forum, this journey has taken three years. Ahead, a new era of game governance by players is emerging in the dawn light.
As you capture your next legendary creature in Illuvium, consider its ability stats, appearance rates, trading rules—perhaps some detail comes from a midnight proposal by a former 'gold farmer' from the other side of the Earth.
And behind that player stands a guild learning how to govern the digital world: YGG. They are no longer just players of the game; they are becoming its creators.@Yield Guild Games #YGGPlay $YGG
