老青蛙BNB

Back in college, I played DOTA with my roommates for two years. We formed a squad of four against randoms. Winning was exhilarating, but after too many victories, it lost its thrill because the competition was too weak; the wins felt hollow. Eventually, we started grinding ranked matches, facing teams of similar skill levels. Each game was a battle; losing was frustrating, but winning truly felt rewarding. Those two years were the happiest times I had gaming. I later realized that what makes competition exciting isn’t just winning; it’s about having opponents who are worth taking seriously. Every win or loss teaches you something.
The Unions system with ID @Pixels reminds me of that time.
The seasonal competition between three guilds isn’t just a simple numbers game. Each player has to strategize how to allocate their resources most effectively. Should they target the opponent’s Hearth, or focus on strengthening their own guild’s defenses first? There are no standard answers; it all depends on how the opponent plays and how you respond. I’ve followed a few seasons’ Discord discussions, where you can see players genuinely strategizing against each other. Some analyze their opponents' active hours to launch attacks at the right time, while others organize resource allocation within their guild. This sense of strategic competition is absent in most blockchain games. In solo grinding, you don’t have to consider others’ moves, but real competition requires it. The need to be mindful of other players keeps you coming back, as opponents are always changing—you never know what you’ll face next.
However, the competition in Unions has its issues. The biggest problem is when there’s a significant skill gap between guilds; it can leave the weaker ones feeling alienated. In early 2026, Plowmark lost two consecutive seasons, and some players in the community complained about wanting to switch guilds, but the system doesn’t allow mid-season changes. This issue with ID #pixel still lacks a solution. Good competition should give the underdogs a shot at redemption; otherwise, it turns into a one-sided crush, which feels just like my college days playing against randoms. The winners enjoy it, while the losers don’t want to play anymore.
ID $PIXEL puts more thought into competition design than most blockchain games, but it hasn’t reached a level where everyone finds it engaging.

Good news, the booster (ST Phase 3 is here) bad news, I can't access Task 3😭

I have a friend who's into venture capital, and back in 2021, he heavily invested in a bunch of blockchain gaming projects. By 2022, he lost it all. He told me that those projects all died in similar ways: the tokens pumped then tanked, players fled, and the teams disbanded. He said that what he bought back then wasn't really a game, but a story about a game. Once the story was over, so was the project. In 2024, he's taking another look at blockchain games, and now his criteria have changed. He doesn't care about whitepapers anymore; he only looks at one thing: will this game still be around in three years?
By that standard, @Pixels is one of the few projects he's currently keeping an eye on.
Blockchain games have gone through two distinct phases. The first phase was the Axie wave, with simple mechanics that relied on token incentives to attract players. During its peak, the numbers looked great, but it was essentially a Ponzi scheme; it needed a constant influx of new players to keep going, and once they stopped, it all collapsed. There's not much more to say about it. The second phase saw a flood of GameFi projects emerge, with better graphics and slightly more complex mechanics, but the underlying logic remained unchanged: they still relied on issuing tokens to attract speculators, leading to results similar to the first phase. What #pixel is doing now feels like it's writing the third phase, focusing on solid gameplay to retain players because the game is fun, with tokens being a tool rather than the goal.
This direction sounds simple, but it's tough to execute because it means giving up the shortcut of rapidly inflating metrics and instead putting in the hard work to create quality content. Pixels has chosen this path, with Chapter rolling out one after another, and Stacked opening up its rewards infrastructure to external studios. The significance of this move is that once external studios can use this system to design reward mechanisms for their own games, $PIXEL transforms from a single game's token into a foundational asset shared by multiple games. This broadens the base of holders and thickens the token's use cases; Pixels becomes more than just a game.
My friend said this time he's not investing in a story but in a game that's still being updated. Whether Pixels can really write the next chapter of blockchain gaming is unclear for 2026, but at least it's still in the process of writing, and that alone is no small feat in this industry.

My aunt runs a fruit shop at the entrance of our community. She once chatted with me about crypto and mentioned she wanted to buy some Bitcoin but didn’t know how to go about it. Seeing the news of others making bank got her itching, but she’s also wary of getting scammed. At the time, I wasn’t sure how to explain it to her because the barrier to entry for Web3 is pretty high. Many people stumble at the wallet recovery phrases, and terms like Gas fees and slippage are totally foreign to them, let alone the actual trading. It’s not that regular folks can’t learn; the crypto space has always been designed to keep the average person out. Most Web3 projects attract users who are just in it to flip coins; the savvy ones stick around while those who don’t get left at the door. The high entry barriers aren't accidental; they're intentional.
@Pixels has done a better job than most Web3 projects in being friendly to newcomers. A person with zero crypto background can just register with their email to jump into the game, start farming, and earn PIXEL. The whole process feels just like playing a regular farming game, without needing to learn what blockchain is first. The accumulated $PIXEL can be withdrawn as tokens once you've played enough. This is all handled within the game itself. The Unions in Chapter 3 operate on a similar principle: join a guild, contribute resources, and you can earn rewards without needing to understand DAO or governance tokens. The Stacked system allows players to earn USDC through gameplay, meaning even those who don’t get crypto can earn stablecoins by just playing, rather than needing to buy coins first to participate.
But to be honest, this inclusivity has its ceiling, and that ceiling is still pretty low right now. By 2026, most non-whale players can expect to earn only a few bucks worth of PIXEL each month, and when you factor in the time cost, it’s not really worth it. It’s marketed as a way for ordinary folks to share in the economic pie, but the piece they get is too small. This is a problem that #pixel hasn’t solved, and it’s not something that can be sidestepped just by lowering the barriers. To make participation feel meaningful for regular people, they need to offer a more substantial return.
My aunt ultimately didn’t get into Pixels; she said she was too busy to farm virtual land. But after hearing me, she said one thing: at least now she knows such things exist. The value of Pixels might just lie in making the everyday person aware that Web3 can open up in another way. In itself, that’s already a win compared to most projects.

Guys, I've got my hands on a hot asset, I'm about to make a killing!

I have a buddy who does social media. Back in 2023, during that short video boom, he was dropping three posts a day and racked up over a hundred thousand followers in a month. He told me that during that time, he was completely zoned out, eyes glued to the data, and his mind only on the next topic. In 2025, he suddenly took a three-month break, and when he returned, he switched to dropping just one post a week, but each one was crafted with great care. He later realized that being quick isn’t really quick; being slow is where it’s at. Many of his peers who were hustling to pump out content have vanished, but by slowing down, he’s still in the game now.
This analogy fits perfectly in the blockchain gaming industry.
@Pixels has been around for almost four years since 2022, which is quite a strange number in the blockchain gaming circle. Most projects from that time are either dead or barely alive, and the ones that survived aren't necessarily from the fastest bunch back then. The price of chasing trends in the blockchain gaming world is very real; users are drawn in by the hype, and once it fades, they scatter. Project teams, in their scramble to catch the next wave, often have to start from scratch, and this cycle drains not just funds but also the team's focus on product development. Once that focus is lost, it’s tough to regain. #pixel didn't chase the AI gaming hype, nor did it jump on the TON chain wave. It ignored the narratives that were hyped and then retracted, sticking to its own farming gameplay, updating step by step, and four years later, it has become the most stable game on Ronin.
Slowing down doesn’t mean standing still. $PIXEL has been evolving; Chapter has moved from 1 to 3, and both Stacked and Unions are fresh additions. But each update builds off the original concepts instead of starting over with a new story. This approach keeps the old players engaged while providing new elements with a solid foundation to land on, making the accumulated features more robust.
Of course, there’s a cost to going slow—missing out on a trend is a real miss. In 2024, during that TON gaming boom, Pixels didn’t participate at all, and its user growth curve has been much gentler compared to those chasing trends. This isn’t trivial; missing a cycle means losing out on a batch of users. But where are those trend-chasing projects now? Time will tell. I believe the path Pixels has chosen isn’t the fastest, but in an industry where most projects don’t last beyond two years, simply surviving is an answer in itself.

This rebound is pretty much over; whether it's $BTC or $ETH , we're close to the top or might already be there. Recently, altcoins are still having some pumps every day, but the vibe is fading fast. The whole social media scene is lacking that 'xxxx just pumped' energy. This altcoin rally is nearing its end. The last wave of downturn is coming soon, are you ready?

My cousin was totally hooked on World of Warcraft back in high school. His mom had to call him three or four times just to get him to come out for dinner. He told me he wasn't ignoring her on purpose; he just really couldn't hear her. All he could see was the screen, and all he could think about was the next quest. Time flew by. Later, I learned there's a psychological term for this state called 'flow.' Good game designers try to get players into this state because once you're in, you just can't stop. It's designed that way, not just because players lack self-control. $MOVR
The essence of flow is that the difficulty of tasks must match the player's skill level. If it's too hard, you get frustrated; if it's too easy, you get bored. The skill system in @Pixels handles this really well. It doesn't rely on an algorithm to sense player ability in real-time and adjust dynamically. Instead, it uses a skill level mechanism that naturally creates tiers. When you're at a low level, you can only unlock low-difficulty crops and recipes. Once you level up, you can tackle more complex crafting chains. This design keeps players working at the upper edge of their abilities, not too easy and not too hard. New players start by growing the simplest crops and can harvest every few minutes, getting instant positive feedback. As you level up, the crops get more complex, the crafting chains get longer, and the single yields increase, with challenges and rewards rising in sync. This pulls the player's attention layer by layer, and before you know it, two hours have passed. $KAT
Chapter 3's Unions added a social dimension to flow, with real-time feedback on guild competition. You can see the Hearth value change with your Yieldstone investment right away, and your opponent's progress is also moving. This continuous feedback mechanism grabs players better than a static task list because it gives the feeling of competing on the same timeline as others, making it easier to get immersed than solo tasks.
However, the design of flow also has its downsides, and I want to clarify that. Games that make it too easy to enter flow can lead players to sit down and not stop, turning two hours into four, impacting sleep and real life. #pixel didn't implement any proactive design to address this issue, like fatigue reminders or logout prompts; it's all up to players to control themselves, and Pixels didn't do enough here.
$PIXEL
Have you ever felt like you just couldn't stop playing Pixels?

I have a former colleague who worked as a product manager for three years, and he told me he’s seen two types of teams. One type is during the post-mortem meetings, everyone’s just tossing blame around, looking for external reasons, and the conclusion is always that the market sucks or users just don’t get it. They go in circles, and there’s never any accountability. The other type directly acknowledges, 'We messed up here; let’s fix it for next time' and actually goes ahead and makes those changes. He said he’d rather take a lower salary in the second type of team because in the first type, you won’t learn anything and just become more delusional.
$SPK
I see the Pixels team as more like the second type.
2025 isn’t looking great for Pixels; daily active users have plummeted from the peak of a million, and the token price has dropped about 95% from its all-time high. Player attrition is pretty obvious. Most projects at this point would come up with excuses, saying the overall market is bearish or that competitors are pushing them down, but when Luke was interviewed in early 2026, he bluntly stated that the only way to save blockchain gaming is not to create games for blockchain gamers. That took some guts to say because it’s basically admitting that Pixels has had issues with its direction recently—making games specifically for blockchain gamers means your user base was primarily in it for the profit, and the quality of the game is secondary; as soon as rewards drop, they bounce. Luke saying this publicly shows he’s come to terms with it.
$CHIP
He also mentioned in the interview that he had a phase of busywork due to anxiety, not effectiveness—something you don’t often hear from CEOs, as most people instinctively try to maintain their image in public.
However, being able to express self-criticism is one thing; being able to translate that into actual product changes is another. Pixels launched Chapter 3, Stacked, and Unions in 2025, indicating that there’s action following the critique, but it’s still uncertain whether these new designs will truly address the issues. A daily active user count of 120,000 in 2026 is a signal, but it’s still a far cry from a million.
My former colleague said that a team that can articulate what went wrong still has hope, but those that can’t are genuinely at risk. Pixels is currently one of those teams that still has hope.
How important do you think a team’s ability to self-critique is for the long-term development of a project? @Pixels #pixel $PIXEL

I used to work at a company that made apps, and during that time we chased DAU every day. The boss would ask one question at the weekly meeting: how many users were retained the next day, how many after 7 days, and how many after 30 days. He once told us something I remember to this day: he said acquiring new users relies on budget, while retention relies on the product. Whether a product is good or not isn't determined by how many users come on the first day, but by how many are still there on the seventh day.
Applying this standard to @Pixels , the answer is more complex than many think.
#pixel reached 1 million daily active users at its peak, dropping to 45,000 in 2025, and then rising back to over 120,000 at the beginning of 2026. The fact that it could rebound from such a low point shows that the product is excellent, not just a hollow project that can't recover once it drops. Monthly spending in the game reached 10 million coins $PIXEL , indicating that those who remained weren't just idling but were willing to spend money as active players, which is rare in blockchain games. In the staking system, deposits consistently exceeded withdrawals, and holders weren't in a hurry to cash out, which is another form of retention.
However, the downside must also be made clear. The drop from 1 million to 45,000 indicates that a significant portion of the early users came for the rewards, and once the rewards decreased, they left. They weren't truly retained by the game content, exposing the fact that Pixels' product appeal is more dependent on token incentives than it appears. The redesigned Stacked reward system in 2025 and the Chapter 3 Unions gameplay aim to address this issue. Stacked ties rewards to player behavior rather than simply distributing tokens, while Unions provide players with a reason to collaborate with others. The goal of these two designs is to encourage players to stay not just for the money but because there are things to do and people to do them with.
My boss also said that products with high retention rates may not necessarily earn much, but products with low retention rates will definitely not earn for long. Pixels is currently working to move from the second situation to the first, and how far it can go depends on the project's future operations.
In the games you've played, what was the reason that kept you around the longest?

How many people have taken Guo Erbao's black car?

I came across an interview with Luke Barwikowski, the founder of @Pixels . His story is not like that of typical entrepreneurs. He started coding at 12, sold his first app at 18, and received a six-figure offer from a company at 19, which he declined—not because there was a better opportunity, but because he wanted to travel. Later, he drifted on a boat through New Zealand, the Pacific, and Africa, and #pixel is what he created while on the boat. In 2024, Pixels achieved $20 million in revenue, and he still manages to camp while being the CEO.
This background indicates that he wasn't aiming to build a large company; he wanted to create something fun, and it just happened to turn into a business. I think this kind of motivation is quite rare in the Web3 space, as most projects start with the goal of launching a token, but Luke is different. He first had a game idea and then sought out the right technological solution; for him, Web3 is a tool, not a goal. This order is important; it determines that what Pixels creates is completely different from those projects that make games just to launch tokens—it’s not rushed and not so utilitarian.
But to be honest, this temperament comes with its costs. Luke's approach of doing things while traveling was fine when the company was still small; with fewer people and clear tasks, the CEO could manage from the boat. However, Pixels is now a project with millions of daily active users, the team has expanded, there are more partners, and external coordination is much more complex than before. At this point, if the CEO's working style still relies on personal status rather than a systematic operation, decision-making will be slow, execution will be scattered, and problems will accumulate unnoticed until often, by the time they are discovered, the game is already in decline.
Luke himself mentioned in the interview that he had been in a phase of busywork due to anxiety about the company. A CEO who admits to having been anxious is more honest than one who always claims that everything is fine. Pixels has come this far thanks to this foundation, but how far it can go will depend on whether he can adapt his working style as the company grows. $PIXEL
Do you think a CEO camping while managing a company is a good or bad thing for the project?