Catizen players are unhappy with the suddenly changed conditions of token distribution
The journey of Catizen towards its much-anticipated token debut on September 20 has been filled with bumps, eliciting grievances from enthusiasts about previous postponements and various decisions. This discontent has flared up once more following the unveiling of airdrop distributions, with Pluto Studio acknowledging retroactive adjustments to the selection requirements that were not previously shared.
On Saturday, Pluto disclosed to enthusiasts the volume of tokens they're slated to receive upon the roll-out of the CATI token on The Open Network. With the token's value still undetermined and its launch imminent on September 20, eagerness and speculation are rife among players.
A wave of disappointment swept through Twitter when numerous players discovered their portion of the bounty to be lesser than anticipated. With a grand total of 1 billion CATI tokens and 305 million set to circulate from the start, several gamers, particularly those who dedicated considerable effort in the Telegram-based puzzle, anticipated a more significant share.
One gamer lamented that they located at rank 6,054 among 36 million participants, yet rewarded with a mere 39 CATI. They questioned if this distribution was fair.
Similar grievances about receiving minimal CATI allocations flooded Twitter, despite players' claims of substantial game engagement, which led to the emergence of the "#catizenscam" hashtag.
However, the dissatisfaction extends beyond just the size of token allocations. It follows revelations about unannounced modifications to the token distribution framework and qualification standards.
While Pluto initially pledged that 43% of the token supply would be allocated to the community, a subsequent declaration that merely about 30% would be available at launch spurred a flurry of inquiries.
Over the recent weekend, the developers elucidated that the 43% allocation for "airdrop and ecosystem" envelops the 90 million tokens (9% of the total supply) earmarked for Binance users participating in a Launchpool rewards campaign, a detail only disclosed on Friday.
A mere 15% of the total supply, or 150 million tokens, is designated for the initial airdrop to players, with additional allocations to be distributed as part of play-to-earn incentives during quarterly game seasons.
An additional pivot has drawn ire from certain quarters. Previously, the Catizen team indicated that the vKitty earning rate in-game, amplified through gameplay in the cat-matching puzzle, would primarily influence airdrop amounts.
However, by early Sunday, following the disclosure of airdrop figures, Pluto revealed a redesign in the airdrop framework after identifying attempts by some to unfairly inflate their earnings.
Therefore, the airdrop criteria were recalibrated to diminish the emphasis on vKitty profit speed, shifting focus towards "ndicators that more accurately represent authentic player engagement, such as on-chain activities, task achievements, and the acquisition and utilization of fish coins.
Given the new criteria's partial dependency on in-game spending—and with Pluto having recently boasted about accumulating some $27 million from paying users—those dismayed by their airdrop shares argued that the Catizens team had orchestrated a switcheroo, disadvantaging those who had devoted time rather than funds.
