Introducing Glints

TLDR

• Glints are an in-game currency used to make non-NFT purchases in the in-game store.
• Allowing users to make purchases without needing to onboard them to web3 will drastically increase our potential audience.
• Glints can be purchased with $PRIME or with a credit card.
• 20% of credit card dollars spent on Glints will go to the Echelon Foundation to support the $PRIME ecosystem.
• 100% of $PRIME spent on Glints will go through normal sink distribution.
• Making the Parallel TCG accessible to everyone, regardless of their familiarity with web3 concepts, will lead to more players organically becoming interested in owning more of their gaming assets & controlling their gaming experience via NFTs and $PRIME.

Our Hypothesis

The use of blockchain technologies should enhance the gaming experience not impede it by adding unnecessary friction. In the Parallel TCG, blockchain integration enables ownership of digital cards, $PRIME rewards, and more interesting ways to engage and encourage users to dive deeper into the game. By introducing a way to purchase non-NFT in-game items without relying solely on a cryptocurrency, we help bridge the user experience for those who are not familiar with the blockchain and allow them to experience that same gaming experience as they continue up the learning curve.

What are Glints?

Glints are Parallel’s in-game currency used to purchase non-NFT items such as apparition cards, apparition cosmetics, boosts, and more. Players can purchase Glints with $PRIME and/or their credit card. Buying Glints is similar to buying gems or gold in the games that many are familiar with. Glints are non-transferable and non-refundable.

Why Glints?

From Parallel’s inception, we have committed to ensuring that the Parallel TCG is a game for everyone.

Our goal is for the greatest number of people possible to play the Parallel TCG and to ultimately become $PRIME users. By offering a way for gamers who aren’t familiar with web3 to participate, we can greatly expand our potential audience with an experience that is on par with that of traditional games.

In order to appeal to the majority of gamers, we need to meet them where they are with an experience they expect. Countless web3 games have made the mistake of creating barriers to entry for their players and shutting themselves off to a mass audience. We do not intend to make that mistake, and Glints are a part of that plan.

Introducing Glints allows us to appeal to all types of players, including those who are not initially interested in participating in the Web3 ecosystem. However, our goal is to onboard those players to Web3 by heavily incentivizing the use of $PRIME and NFTs.

Additionally, Glints effectively allow players to utilize their $PRIME within the game client without requiring a wallet connection to the application, making for a smooth user experience.

How Are Glints Different From $PRIME?

While Glints and $PRIME coexist, they serve very different functions.

What Can Glints Be Used For?

Glints are primarily used to purchase non-NFT, in-game items such as:

• Apparition packs
• Apparition starter decks
• Apparition cosmetics
• Standard tournament entry
• Boosts
• Card tier level up
• And more

What Can $PRIME Be Used For?

$PRIME has a tremendous amount of utility and is required to interact with nearly every smart contract in the Echelon and Parallel ecosystem such as:

• Purchase Glints
• Card Replication
• Payload
• Artigraphs
• NFTs
• Elite tournament entry
• Bond activities
• Swaps
• Card sharing

Adoption of $PRIME

Winning games of the Parallel TCG allow players to earn $PRIME. The amount of $PRIME they earn is based on a number of factors including the percentage of NFTs in their deck. If 100% of their cards are NFTs, players will earn 100% of the emission - encouraging players to adopt the technology but not becoming a requirement to play the game.

While players are not required to own NFTs or even have a wallet, every time players win a match, they’ll be met with a screen that lets them know how much $PRIME they would have won if 100% of their cards were NFTs.

There will be some who don't care to use NFT cards and disregard the $PRIME reward every time they win. That group will be able to use apparition cards (non-NFTs) which can be purchased in-game with Glints via apparition packs or awarded to them as part of the Season Pass. For those who may want to purchase an NFT, but First Edition and Special Edition cards are too expensive for them, we are introducing the card replication system that allows players to create new NFT cards to fill that demand.

How Glints Benefit the $PRIME token

Glints and $PRIME are symbiotic. 20% of all non-$PRIME purchases of GLINTS will be provided to the Echelon Foundation to support the $PRIME ecosystem. It is up to the foundation to decide how best to utilize the throughput to benefit $PRIME and its network participants. Any PRIME spent on Glints follows traditional game sink models.

By increasing our potential audience with Glints, significantly more people will be exposed to $PRIME. As those new users become more entrenched in the ecosystem, they will accrue additional value that wouldn’t have been realized otherwise. Glints opens the door to more $PRIME users.

Scale And Network Effect

For every 1 web3 gamer today, there are more than 10,000 traditional gamers that are accustomed to the current F2P model. Many of those players will not be initially willing to participate in web3 or even make a single purchase. However, the more we can appeal to those traditional gamers, the more people will participate in the Parallel TCG. The more that the Parallel TCG scales, the greater the opportunity to attract players to owning NFTs and collecting $PRIME rewards. This essentially means that adoption of the game is paramount to the ecosystem’s success. In short, the addressable market is larger when credit cards are included, and web3 enhances the experience rather than impedes it.

In Summary

Due to cultural and UX barriers, traditional gamers are unlikely to utilize $PRIME when they first begin playing the Parallel TCG. Offering Glints provides a more gradual path to eventually becoming a $PRIME user. The path from F2P to $PRIME user is much easier if Glints are there to bridge the gap.

To sum it all up, introducing Glints will significantly increase our user base. The more users we have, the more potential $PRIME users there will be. The more $PRIME users there are, the more important the $PRIME ecosystem will become.

As Parallel is still in active development, the content covered in this article is subject to change.