Moonkarts is a game with a troubled past already. A history of bugs, exploits, toxic behavior and imbalanced earnings have given Moonkarts a bad reputation, less than a year after its release. There are a few people grinding the leaderboards and earning decent Colony rewards, but from the point of view of a casual outsider interested in crypto games, Moonkarts is a difficult beast to ride. Buy a kart and start racing, only to find yourself slower than everyone? Okay. Buy a better kart and realize you don't have the fuel to race? Alright... Now you finally have the fuel to race after buying and staking cards, but the race track is empty most times of the day? That's inconvenient. And we aren't even talking about the challenge posed by other players, and the tactics they can use to block you from earning. Once you add all of this up, it's not worth it for most players. Even in the best conditions, you need a lot of time on track to earn any significant Colony rewards. The game demands a lot, but offers little to the casual player.
How can this be changed in order to make the game more appealing to the wider Hive public? I would suggest that putting together a weekly live event with animation and rewards could be the solution. One of the most iconic aspects of car racing is that it is a mass event. Teams come together around a circuit, work to get the cars ready for the race, and at a set time and place, the race will start and everybody competes at the same time. Once the race is done, everyone leaves and reconvenes for the next event. Racing is about participating in one special event in time, and winning means triumphing in that particular event, where rules are laid out and everyone gives their best effort. In Moonkarts, it is about how many driving hours can you log in a season. More hours, more rewards. I don't think it should be that way.
In order to bring these live events to Moonkarts, Discord is the perfect tool. There is a tournaments section but it has never been used. One of the first things GLG did when the game came out, before ranked play was even ready, were tournaments with prizes handed out. With Moonkarts, that aspect was totally ignored, and we have not had any tournaments. This has to change. There could be one specific time window in the week when this live event would take place. For instance, Sunday nights between 8 PM and 10 PM could be the choice. A snapshot of the leaderboard could be taken right before the event starts, and for two hours players are encouraged to just go ham and race to try to climb the leaderboard. At the end of the two hours, another spapshot would be taken, and rewards can be handed out based on how many ranking points were accumulated during that time. Or, it could be orbitals, or something else. Another thing that would be fun and encourage people to participate is a bounty on 6 player races. If 6 players can get into a race together during the event, and take a screenshot, all these players would receive a free pack.
There are many ways to spice up Moonkarts and attract players. This game needs attention from its own developers, and not just players. Let's make it fun and rewarding for everyone!