Spark transitive verb
: to set off in a burst of activity : ACTIVATE
Spark is coming, and with it, Upland will be filled with all sorts of new possibilities. Spark will bring creativity, opportunity, and business savvy to the core of the Upland experience.
Today we are excited to announce Spark, the mechanism through which property development (and much more) will be made possible in Upland.
A Resource Token You Own
Spark is a new type of resource in Upland, that is unlike any resource currency you may have encountered in traditional games. Spark is a crypto token that is implemented on the EOS main net, which means that owners enjoy the benefits of True Ownership. While that alone is worthy of an announcement, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Spark is also introducing nuanced and flexible mechanisms that will allow for near infinite types of economic activity within Upland, blowing traditional resource models out of the water.
Using Spark in Upland
You can imagine Spark as a unit of output that allows for the building of any inanimate object in Upland (buildings, statues, cars, etc.). As a player, you don’t spend Spark. Instead, you stake it for the duration required to complete construction or manufacturing. As long as the Spark is staked, construction will progress and when construction is done, you will get your Spark back, ready to be staked against a new project!
Buildings in Upland will be ‘priced’ in a unit we call Spark Hours. So for example — if a building costs 1,000 Spark Hours, it means that if you stake exactly 1 Spark, it will take you 1,000 hours to complete construction. If you stake 2 Spark, the same building will take 500 hours to complete construction, and so on.
Another way to think about it, is that the total availability of Spark in Upland defines the metaverse’s building capacity. So if 1,000 Spark is in circulation, it means that at any given day, Upland as a metaverse can complete the construction of 24 buildings that cost 1,000 Spark Hours. These numbers are just for the sake of illustration and we will release the final numbers when the feature is ready.
The Spark Exchange
The benefit of owning Spark goes even further. If you want to take a break from building, you can always lease your spark to other Uplanders via a unique mechanism we call ‘The Spark Exchange’. All you have to do is indicate you want to lease your Spark, and the exchange will automatically determine the market value of renting Spark, together with your income (in UPX) based on market supply and demand. Just push the button and the UPX earning will begin!
We’ll have more details on how the exchange will work in the future.
Using Spark to Build on Property
While the spark exchange is a complex mechanism, it will be represented through a simple interface. When starting construction, players will be able to choose how much spark they want to stake toward that construction (with a minimum required for kick off). Players will immediately see how their staked amount translates into estimated time for completing the construction. Players who wish to speed up construction will be able to add UPX. While still a developing concept, the Spark Exchange may automatically translate this UPX into construction time reduction according to current market conditions so the player can immediately see how much time of construction the UPX spent can buy.
Initial Availability
You’re probably thinking “Spark is amazing! I need some right now.”
Well we have a special surprise:
If you are an Uplander-or-above at the time of this article’s publishing date, you will get airdropped with spark according to your status, veterancy and engagement level in the metaverse!
The initial Spark distribution will be broken into the following categories:
Citizen airdrop — this is a gift to our community of dedicated beta testers.
Community Reserve — this pool will be owned by the community and be constantly available for lease. This will serve as a reserve that allows a minimal supply of Spark for lease. The UPX paid out for leasing will be placed in the Community UPX Pool.
Upland Reserve — this pool of Spark will be driven into circulation as prizes, retention and engagement awards, and promotions outside of Upland at the discretion of the Upland team. Specific numbers will be released closer to the release of Spark.
Future Availability
As the Upland population continues to grow, and we release more manufacturing features, demand for Spark will explode. Upland will mint new Spark tokens per a predetermined formula based in part upon daily active citizens and development demand trends. Spark minting will be another macro-economic factor controlled initially by the Upland team, but moved to an independent authority (similar to an independent central bank) when the metaverse matures.
Mining Spark
Now that we’ve revealed Spark, we would like to share one last piece of the puzzle, which completes our vision from the earliest days of Upland’s initial conception. In the future, instead of new Spark being minted, it will be deposited in wastelands (empty areas) around the world and left for Uplanders to discover and mine!
On Nature
Are you ready for one more exciting announcement?
Spark is the ancestor token of any resource that will be used for building and manufacturing. However, there is one last resource token that will come to our metaverse and it will be utilized to create living things (e.g. plants, trees and animals).
Can you guess how Uplanders will mint this one? 👨🌾 👩🌾
Do you have any questions about Spark or how it will work?
Our team will be holding an AMA soon, so stay on the lookout for the announcement!
