Overall scope of scholar effect in Splinterlands
Important disclaimers
Before jumping into the data, a few things need to be made clear:
This dataset includes only the top 50 Splinterlands accounts.
It is not meant to represent the entire player base, only the very top of the leaderboard.Some accounts earn significantly more SPS due to tournaments.
This inflates their monthly SPS compared to players who focus only on ranked play.The first chart covers two seasons (roughly 30 days of activity).
“DNK” means “Do Not Know.” In these cases, I don’t know who is piloting the account. Scholars often rotate between accounts, which makes tracking difficult.
Average SPS per win is approximate.
There may be small discrepancies, but the numbers were cross-checked with multiple scholars and account owners and are directionally accurate.The 30-day range was estimated by doubling the previous season leaderboard. This means the numbers can be off by 10–20%, especially because of energy from gift boxes.So this is not perfect, but it is close enough to reveal the trend.
What could we, as a community, do?
Based on this data, here are some ideas worth discussing:
*Limit SPS from liquidity bot farming
For example:
Only the first 7 wins per day against liquidity bots would generate SPS
Any additional wins against bots would either:
Not generate SPS, or have the SPS burned
This would greatly reduce pure bot-farm exploitation while still allowing some improved matchmaking.
*Limit how many accounts a scholar can pilot
For example:
Maximum 3 accounts per scholar
With the option to reduce this to 2 later if needed
*Add transparency around account control
Introduce a mandatory tag such as:
“Piloted by: Scholar”
This would make it clear whether an account is owned and played by who.
*Revisit the rating system
The current system clearly has weaknesses in this environment.
If anyone has good ideas on how rating, matchmaking, or SPS distribution could be improved, I’d genuinely like to hear them.
The goal here is not to attack anyone — it’s to make Splinterlands fairer, more transparent, and more sustainable for everyone playing and investing in the game.
In details:
If some data is wrong, I apologize in advance
In conclusion, we can see that around 350 000 SPS per season goes to scholars in Champ top 50.
*it has come to my attention that one scholar is automatically paid with stables so the SPS never gets sold, and this diminishes the number to 320 000.
How to check it yourself?
You can easily verify a player’s SPS activity using the official Splinterlands API.
*. View SPS payment history
Enter the player’s in-game name (IGN) in the username field to see their most recent SPS transactions. This is how many scholars are paid.
api.splinterlands.com/players/balance_history?username=USERNAME&token_type=SPS&limit=200
*. Check active SPS delegations
This endpoint shows whether the player is currently delegating SPS to another account.
Just replace USERNAME with the player’s IGN.
https://api.splinterlands.com/players/reward_delegations?username=USERNAME
Thanks for sharing! - @azircon
Yep, this is what I expected. Only 6 accounts played by the account owner in the top 30 - it makes a mockery of the leaderboard, doesn't it?
It is a bit like hiring someone to have sex with your wife, because they do it better than you! :D
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STOPPlease update the table with the information I gave you.
I will soon, ty
Right so I’ve got $23,000 in SPS in game. Other amounts outside the game.
We currently have multiple scholars dumping 100,000’s of SPS on holders ass’s every season with no skin in the game.
Bollox to this.
Maybe we need a KE ratio in Splinterlands as well? If you need to not be an "extractor" for your post to get curated on Hive, then maybe it's a good idea for you to have to hold some % of the SPS you get on your account in order to be a top scholar?
What is KE Ratio?
What is the KE Ratio for your account?
It is what it is. What's yours? You want engagement on Hive and then you're being an asshole. That's not how it's supposed to work. Fine I won't suggest anything and I won't engage in any discussion. Let's have it your way.
It is my way or the highway.
Choose.
FYI. For others: I invented the KE ratio. Also, everyone KE ratios is visible on PeakD.
It is a display setting that can be turned on. Lower KE is better. You typically want it below 1.0.
For more information on KE ratio, you can read this post.
https://peakd.com/hive-180505/@azircon/ke-ratio-a-personal-perspective
Thank you!
Also for the record: calling me an asshole won't get you very far.
Notice: I have asked you for a definition of a term that you have used, and second, since you have used that term, I requested if you have known the value for that term for your account.
In return you have called me an asshole!
I wanted to include the image so that you can't remove it from the blockchain. I am rather experience in these kind of items :)
quite interesting. makes us lose the will to fight. :)
Thanks for letting me know. Very interesting.
Matchmaking is extremely unfair at the moment and favors wealthy players farming with bots.
Any matchmaking should be by power - that should include, owned, delegated and rented.
The reason is simple logic - In any situation where 2 players of equal skill face each other the outcome will be determined the player with the most power.
At the moment we have a plutocracy.
insane boy is making 200k sps per month
This is quite interesting :)
BTW, I made a quick and dirty page to look up SPS rewards delegations:
https://seattlea.z5.web.core.windows.net/splinterlands_sps_delegation_viewer.html
You can select season (current is 175), Choose leaderboard (default is champion) and Format Modern or Wild (default is Modern) and see where the leaderboard players are delegating their SPS.
Keep in mind that Splinterlands does rate limiting so don't change parameters too quickly or you will have to wait for a while to refresh the data...
@azircon
This analysis collapses because it equates scholars with extractors, which is a category error, not a controversial opinion.
If scholars were extractors, you would see systematic SPS outflows from scholar-piloted accounts. The author explicitly points readers to the SPS transaction API, but never actually uses it to test their own conclusion.
That API makes this trivial:
• Scholar accounts overwhelmingly show direct payouts, stablecoin swaps, or delegated SPS, not market dumping.
• Extractors show consistent sell-side behavior. Scholars may or may not. These are mechanically different flows.
Lumping “who pilots the account” with “who extracts value” is lazy analysis. Control ≠ extraction.
If anything, scholars are labor, not capital. Capital owners decide whether SPS is held, delegated, staked, or sold.
Limiting accounts per scholar, tagging accounts, or inventing social purity tests does nothing to address actual SPS pressure, because scholars are not the dominant source of sell pressure. Bots, arbitrage, and liquidity strategies are, and those are visible on-chain.
If the claim is “350k SPS per season is being extracted,” prove extraction.
The tools were provided. They just weren’t used.
Until then, this is narrative framing, not data analysis, and it actively distracts from real economic issues in Splinterlands.