With over 20 million monthly users and 3 million active daily users, this web3 meme coin is reshaping the industry through gamification.
This approach demonstrates that competition fosters progress. In a rapidly evolving tech landscape, even industry giants must innovate or risk falling behind. Recognizing this, established players are diving into the web3 arena with fresh strategies.
Telegram is leveraging this trend, transforming into a web3 social super-app with a unique offering: a gamified meme token called Notcoin that operates on the TON blockchain and is setting new standards in terms of fairness, adoption, quality, and engagement.
Amidst growing interest, I aim to demystify the gamification behind Notcoin using the Octalysis framework, a comprehensive tool created by Yu-kai Chou that has delivered dramatic results across the board and has been studied and cited by thousands of research papers.
This framework, which has influenced over two billion people, analyzes eight core motivational drivers and the mechanics that support them.
I plan to explore these concepts further in an upcoming thread. For now, let’s focus on how the current case study exemplifies the application of these core drives.
Notcoin is a community-driven meme coin on the TON blockchain, accessible through simple screen taps or task completion within the Telegram app.
The core mechanics involve upgrading three features to enhance coin generation: energy regeneration rate, multi-tap capability, and total energy level. These upgrades, which permanently consume coins, in turn boost your mining efficiency by increasing energy regeneration and coins earned per tap.
Users progress through five ranks—bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond—by actively mining Notcoins. This system encourages both individual achievement and team collaboration, as users can form or join squads to advance on the leaderboard collectively.
These mechanics align with two key motivators in the Octalysis framework: Core Drive 2 (Development and Accomplishment) and Core Drive 5 (Social Influence and Relatedness).
The former motivates users through a sense of progress and achievement, while the latter fosters community and collaboration by encouraging users to invite friends, track collective progress, as well as playing together.
Those motivational drives enhance both social connectivity and coin earning potential.
Moreover, the aspect of earning additional Notcoins by whatever means taps into Core Drive 4 (Ownership and Possession), a dominant motivator in web3 spaces.
The underlying philosophy is that, once you own something, you want to keep it safe, improve it and ultimately want more of it (multiply it).
This is exactly why meme coins have proved so successful, as people would rather own 1,000 units of something that’s worth $1, rather than owning one unit worth the same value.
This motivator will play out once Notcoin will be officially listed. Users have already developed a sense of ownership and will now want more of it.
This extrinsic motivator is so efficient that it will make users perform different tasks that link to different projects in the TON ecosystem, such as becoming familiar with a platform or feature (Onboarding) or becoming part of the community on different social mediums.
This drive underpins the game’s appeal, encouraging users to deepen their engagement and investment in the Notcoin ecosystem.
The anticipation that a significant portion of the 3 million active users will transition into active buyers of Notcoin is grounded in the project’s strategic use of gamification elements.
The option to personalize one’s experience by spending Notcoins on skins—ranging from pizzas to dragon coins—exemplifies Core Drive 3: Empowerment through Creativity.
This feature not only allows users to express their individuality but also encourages further interaction by incentivizing the burning of coins, with over 7 trillion coins already removed from circulation.
The project’s most compelling engagement lever lies in its approach to coin availability. Once Notcoin is listed, no new coins will be created. Acquisition methods will be limited to purchasing them on the open market or earning them through specific in-app activities. This limitation, coupled with the permanent removal of coins spent on skins and other features, effectively introduces scarcity into the system.
This scarcity principle aligns with Core Drive 6: Scarcity and Impatience, generating a sense of urgency among users. The finite minting period for Notcoin, coupled with a lack of a specified end date, creates immediate pressure to mine coins and improve leaderboard standings.
This urgency is not only about seizing the moment to maximize returns but also fosters a competitive environment where users are motivated to invite friends and increase their holdings before the coin gains market value.
Exploring my favorite aspect of Notcoin, let’s delve into the role of boosters and easter eggs, the unpredictable elements that spark curiosity. The Octalysis framework identifies “Unpredictability and Curiosity” as a core motivator, and Notcoin employs this principle masterfully throughout its platform.
Randomly appearing rockets offer dynamic boosts, energy bursts randomly refill your energy bar for extended play, and surprise easter eggs add an element of the unexpected.
A particularly intriguing feature was the option to donate 10, 25, 50, or even 100 percent of one’s coins directly to Pavel Durov’s wallet.
This action came with no clear outcome other than the assurance that Durov would not sell the coins, purportedly reducing inflation and benefiting the community, and was active only for a limited time (couple of days).
The response was overwhelming, with over half a million users sending a total of 1 trillion Notcoins to Durov’s wallet. Remarkably, 203,000 of these donors gave all their coins without any expectation of a return. Initial concerns about the fate of these donations were quickly alleviated when the team announced that donors would receive double their contribution back, turning the act of giving into an unexpectedly rewarding experience.
Another Easter Egg was the Morse code text you received while playing. The hint given was “wakeup.” By swiping and tapping on the coin you could write the message in morse code like this .– .- -.- . ..- .–. and earn an epic Notcoin eclipse skin.
Beyond the immediate engagement mechanics lies a deeper, less visible motivator: the aspiration to be part of a movement that aims to revolutionize the web3 landscape. This is encapsulated by the Octalysis framework as Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning and Calling, which might be the most potent driver of all.
Early adopters are drawn not just by the platform’s features, but by the sense of belonging to a global community of innovators and enthusiasts committed to transforming the web3 ecosystem for the better.
To wrap it up, Notcoin and Telegram are excelling in addressing users’ intrinsic needs, offering a fair and transparent launch within an ecosystem that is both engaging and rewarding.
This project serves as a paradigm, likely setting a standard for future endeavors to attract a broad audience and provide genuine value in an industry often criticized for its exclusionary practices and unfair entry practices where retail investors are lured into buying highly inflated assets bought for pennies on the dollar by VCs or received for free by influencers.
I am keenly anticipating the next stages of this project, eager to witness its continued influence on user engagement and community development – the very foundation of web3’s potential.
