Gritti: a running community led by running enthusiasts

Gritti is a decentralized social fitness app created by runners and led by runners, which is dedicated to all runners. gritti wants to gamify running in order to convert Web2 and Web3 users into "Grittizens" in the Gritti world , then engaging them through community building and retaining them through social elements and credibility. Finally, to give users a sense of ownership over their own health habits.

The Gritti team hopes to provide a fun, rich and engaging gaming experience for all users by strategically planning every part of the project process and design, including UX/UI design, incentive structure and game modes.

The Gritti team also states that it will leverage its expertise and network to provide positive externalities to fuel user growth and diversify its user composition. the Gritti team strongly believes that externalities and diversity are key to building a long-term sustainable Gritti ecosystem.

On October 14, 2022, Gritti announced the closing of a $1.7 million seed round led by Lingfeng Innovation Fund, with participation from Youbi Capital, Bixin Ventures, Orderly Network, Stratified Capital and CDI.

Gritti's advisory board includes Horst Bente, founder of Adi Dassler Legacy Platform, Jared Johnson, former General Manager of EA Sports China, Bryant Chou, CEO of Vice China, Umar Ali, former Head of TMT Investment Banking at HSBC London, Sami Mough, Managing Partner of Atmos Ventures Managing Partner Sami Moughrabie and others.

Introduction of Sneakers NFT

Sneakers NFT is the core prop of Gritti, next we will introduce its properties, rarity, level and type respectively:

1. properties

Gritti's sneaker NFT includes three different types of attributes, namely dominant attribute, hidden attribute and adaptive attribute (under development), all of which affect the profit potential of sneaker NFT.

1) Dominant properties

A. Efficiency

The higher the efficiency attribute, the more GRI tokens can be generated per energy used.

B. Luck (Mystery Box)

The luck attribute affects the quality and drop rate of mystery boxes.

C. Ventilation (Distance Bonus)

When the user reaches a certain distance threshold, the user will be given an additional bonus based on two factors, namely the distance over the threshold and the ventilation attribute; the higher the value of these two factors, the higher the additional bonus will be.

D. Resilience (durability/maintenance)

The resilience attribute affects the decay rate of endurance, which means that the higher the value of resilience, the slower the decay rate of endurance, and vice versa. The following are two cases in which endurance affects the earning efficiency of GRI

a) With an endurance of 50, the earning efficiency of GRI drops to 80%.

b) When endurance is 20, GRI earning efficiency drops to 20%.

2) Implicit properties

A. Weight

Weight is a non-expressive attribute, which determines the optimal speed of different sneaker NFTs. The weight attribute can only be adjusted by switching the components of the sneaker NFT.

B. Bouncing performance

Bounce is a non-expressive attribute that determines the optimal speed of different sneaker NFTs. This attribute can also only be adjusted by switching the components of the sneaker NFT.

3) Adaptive properties (coming soon)

Adaptive properties are environmental factors that can affect the earning efficiency of sneaker NFT.

2. Types

The Gritti ecosystem includes five Sneaker NFT types, each designed to accommodate different exercise intensities and fitness levels. They are: Trainer, Walker, Jogger, Racer, and Trekker.

3. Rarity

Included in Gritti's ecosystem are five Sneaker NFT rarities ranging from N to UR. When a Sneaker NFT is cast, the value of each attribute will be chosen randomly within the minimum and maximum values corresponding to its quality. As a result, even sneakers of the same quality will have very different attribute distributions.

4. Level

Users can level up their sneakers NFT by spending GRI, (GRT will also be required at some stages). Each level upgrade will take a fixed amount of time to complete. Both the time required and the GRI will increase depending on the level of the sneaker. This process can be made faster by spending more GRI.

However, it should be noted that at some specific levels, the user needs to be subjected to a certain distance of movement with their sneaker NFT to continue leveling up.

After upgrading, users will receive 4-12 additional attribute points, which can be allocated according to their needs.

Game Mode

1、Single player mode

Users simply equip a Sneaker NFT on the inventory page or by clicking the "+" button, then press the run button to start running outdoors and earn GRI.

To avoid over-exercising, Gritti has designed an energy mechanism where the amount of energy is related to the number of Sneaker NFTs held in the Gritti account.

Each energy point is equivalent to 1 km of running distance for which the user can earn tokens. The maximum energy will be capped at 4 days and will be replenished at intervals every 6 hours (UTC+0 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, 18:00). Once the energy is depleted, users will not receive tokens. Users can manually exit by briefly pressing and holding the "Stop" button, or choose to continue tracking their movement.

Specifically, the user's movement type will be categorized as follows:

1) Normal: When the user is walking or running normally, the GPS signal can accurately record the user's movement.

2) Ghost Running: This mode will occur if the application detects that the user is not moving in a human-like manner. It is based on various different data collected through GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer and the result of the resulting calculations.

No GRI is gained while Ghost Running and the user does not lose energy or endurance during this time.

3) Horse Trotting. This mode occurs if Gritti detects only weak GPS or network signals or if this movement data has gone beyond the human realm. in Horse Trotting mode the user will not gain GRI, but also will not lose energy or endurance.

2、Multiplayer mode - Stake Run as an example

Stake Run is a fun game mode with an innovative twist.

Participants need to make a Stake in advance, which we can interpret as a bet that they will be able to complete it, resulting in a Runner Cohort Pool (RCP), which will contain a variety of asset types such as fiat, tokens, and NFT.

Those who complete the game within the RCP rules will not only get back their original Stake, but will also share the Stake of those who did not complete the game in proportion.

For example, if the Stake is 30 GRI, the RCP has 12 people who commit to running 1km per day for 7 days. This means that there will be 30*12 = 360 GRIs in the prize pool, which will be distributed to those who complete the challenge. If we assume that 50% of RCPs complete the game, the winner will have a personal gain of 60 GRIs.

Meanwhile, Stake Run allows users to create their own RCPs or join RCPs created by others. in addition, RCP creators have the right to set the rules of their RCPs, and can also set criteria to filter runners, including the number of check-ins, distance run, running pace, and pledge amount. Next, we will introduce the general rules of RCP.

1) An RCP is considered to be valid if

A. The minimum number of participants set by RCP Creator is met.

B. Everyone deposits the required amount of Stake within the required time.

2) Before the RCP starts, users can choose to withdraw and withdraw part of their Stake (a 20% penalty will be deducted and this penalty will go into the prize pool along with the Stake of those who did not complete the task).

3) 24 hours after the end of RCP, the platform will calculate the prize and penalty by analyzing all RCP participants' check-in and running records, and settle the appropriate amount accordingly.

4) Users can join multiple RCPs as long as they do not overlap in terms of duration.

5) After an RCP starts, it can still accept new participants when and only when the number of days remaining is greater than the required number of check-in days.

6) Users can complete the check-in task via the "Check-in" button on the "Participant Queue Details" page. If you forget to sign in through this button, you don't need to worry. The system will collect the running records uploaded by the user every day, and if the records meet the requirements of RCP, the platform will automatically clock in for the user.

(7) When the user has completed all the required check-in tasks set by the RCP creator, he/she can "graduate early".

After graduating early from an RCP, users can immediately join other RCPs or create their own RCPs without waiting for the end date of the previous queue. Early graduation does not change the RCP billing time. The user's reward or penalty will be settled after the RCP ends.

8) RCP Settlement

Those who complete the cohort requirements within the allotted time will receive a refund of their shares in addition to their share of the prize pool. 2% of the RCP will be collected by the Gritti team for the operation, maintenance and ongoing development of Gritti.

For those who fail to complete the RCP requirements within the specified time frame, forfeiture of the pledge amount into the prize pool will be calculated based on the RCP Creator's settings.

If all participants fail to complete the queue requirements, all participants will be penalized according to the RCP Creator's settings.

After the RCP ends, the queue enters the settlement phase. The platform will verify all run records and identify if there is cheating. Awards and penalties will be settled within 24 hours.

9) Graduation Certificate

As a sign of completion, graduation certificates will be awarded exclusively to users who complete all required check-in tasks. In the future, the number of graduation certificates may become a criterion for entering certain Stake Runs or other activities.

10) During the RCP settlement phase, if the system detects any cheating, customer service staff will be involved in verifying the flow records. To maintain transparency and fairness, the platform reserves the right to void the cheating records

Metaphysical Certification System (MCS)、

In addition to the usual reward and challenge models we see in various programs, the Gritti team wanted to add some innovation to the fitness app ecosystem, and the Metaphysical Certification System (MCS) is a concentrated expression of that innovation.

The MCS is a performance-based system that rewards users for their positive contributions to the Gritti ecosystem. It is essentially a system of time- and event-based on-chain datasets where users are able to accumulate personalized collections of NFTs and achievements to commemorate their journey within Gritti, which may include digital asset ownership/transaction statistics (NFT sneakers and tokens), physical activity, and community engagement that occurs within/outside the Gritti app.

Based on the above dataset, specific credentials would be given to users who could receive multiple forms of rewards and incentives from branded IPs, e-commerce platforms, and many others, creating positive feedback between users and external companies. The potential use cases here could go well beyond the economic benefits.

The MCS represents a degree of additional value and incentivizes users for their contributions to the ecosystem, which rewards users for not just staying in the Gritti ecosystem, but for contributing to it.

Economic Model

Gritti's ecosystem is driven by a dual token system where the utility token GRI has an unlimited supply and the governance token GRT has a fixed supply of 7 billion tokens.

1. GRI

GRI is the utility token of Gritti's ecosystem, which has an unlimited supply and can be obtained in different game modes within the app.

1) GRI burning mechanism

A. Sneaker NFT and sneaker component upgrades, sneaker casting, game mode participation, sneaker NFT repair, etc.

B、White list and purchase of special products.

C、Activity participation right

2. GRT

GRT is the governance token of Gritti's ecosystem, and its total supply is 7,000,000 pieces.

1) Token distribution

2) GRT burning mechanism

A、Sneaker NFT upgrade.

B、Runner Co-op governance; launch Runner Co-op, etc.

C、Launching ecosystem-wide events.

D、White list and purchase of special products.

E、Content and product creation.

F、Voting

G、Burning related to MCS.

Conclusion

After StepN, countless M2E projects have emerged. However, even though the absolute number is already considerable, in my opinion, most of them are just poor copies of StepN.

Innovation is a constant for Web3, and it's no surprise for M2E, so simple repetition won't change the problem.

Today's project, Gritti, is a pleasant surprise to me. Even though it adopts the usual large framework of M2E, the design of some of its mechanisms is still refreshing. Although Gritti has only fine-tuned some details, the tendency is easy to see - community-oriented and innovation-driven.

I couldn't help to have a hint of expectation for this project, but whether it will be successful or not is still unknown. However, I believe that as long as it sticks to the core concept and user's experience, it may be able to go through a path that has not been taken by anyone before.