The question is not whether to give points, but how many
Almost every content platform has handed out points. Week one is lively, month three starts to deflate, and by month six nobody looks at the balance — because points can be created out of thin air while the things you can redeem them for stay limited.
So we started with one constraint: every point must come out of a real pool. World owners see “how much can I release today”, not “how much do I feel like issuing”.
Central banking: each world can only issue from its own pool
Every world has a public pool fed by join fees and a share of unlock revenue. Owners set the rules, but two gates apply: the pool balance, and a daily release cap of 5% of that balance (minimum 1).
When the quota runs out, that day’s rewards pause and resume the next day. The circuit breaker looks conservative, but it blocks the most common failure: draining the pool for early activity and having nothing left to give later.
Two currencies: one you spend, one you can only prove
Points are accounted per world and can be spent on unlocks and world events. Reputation is global and cannot be spent; it only answers one question — how much have you contributed to this universe.
Separating spending power from contribution records means a price change never dilutes honour, and honour is never treated as a coupon.
Gated blocks: reading becomes a small tip
Every pixel now has three states: public, gated or private. Gated blocks still show their title and cover on the map; the body unlocks for points from that world, permanently.
Unlock points split 70% to the author, 20% to the world pool and 10% burned. Burning is not a penalty — it lets circulating supply fall naturally as people spend. Gated area is also capped at 15% of a world: unlocking is a tip, not a paywall.
The flywheel: someone has to wander before someone writes
Rewards cannot go only to producers, or newcomers simply pass through. Five qualified reads a day (8 seconds or more on each) earns 3 points from the pool, turning browsing into something that pays; the more real the views, the more trustworthy the creator’s numbers.
Owners can also run time-limited events that double or triple check-in or building rewards during an opening week, funded from the same pool. Events expire automatically when the budget runs out or the window closes.
Letting creators see what they are worth
The dashboard is now split into overview, works and assets: opens, qualified views, unique viewers, traffic sources and top blocks across 7 / 30 / 90 days, with unlock revenue reported separately from reach.
Every view metric counts other people only — your own previews never inflate it. When the numbers are modest, at least they are honest.
What comes next
Next we bring events and reputation to more public surfaces, so a first-time visitor can see what is happening in the universe. If you run a region, set up your rules and an event now.