Trivia On Our Discord, All Day, Everyday!
John shares our ecosystem’s newest feature, a robust community led trivia mechanic that rewards in DKRN.
Chipmunks have invaded our Discord server 🐿️ 🐿️ 🐿️!! And they’re on a mission to challenge your fandom knowledge. Earlier this month, amid all of the Taylor Swift festivities, Discord members were introduced to two new types of trivia that will be maturing over the next several months. We call it Chipmunk Trivia, named after the Rodentia that run it.
Why Chipmunks?
You may already be familiar with our in-app KRNL token 🌽 🌽 🌽 , pronounced kernel, and based on themes of gardening and growth. But what you may not know is that back in 2022, while our official app was offline for a bit, we introduced a Discord exclusive token, first called “Discord KRNL,” then shortened to DKRN. Of course, the letters DKRN look more like Discorn than Diskern, and that sounds more like falling tree nuts 🌰 🌰 🌰 than the kind of organized agriculture happening in our official app. So it seemed appropriate to introduce a unique way for Discord members to earn DKRN.
Enter the Chipmunk
The concept is simple—the Remarkist Discord Chipmunks are the stewards of our DKRN token, and we only receive DKRN from them. New members receive a one-time DKRN grant from the Chipmunks when they first join our server, Server Boosters ⬆️ have a lazy Chipmunk hanging out in the Booster Trove (an exclusive access area for our Server Boosters) that doles out small monthly DKRN grants… and the rest of us? We offer up our fandom knowledge ❓❓ and in exchange we get a few DKRN here and there.
We’ve introduced two new automated bot apps this month 🤖 that bring trivia right into our server. The first is a multiple-choice flash trivia challenge that appears in our entertainment forums whenever discussion starts to really crackle. The higher the chatter in a forum 🗣️, the more likely a Chipmunk appears with a question (although it’s possible even low to moderate chatter will coax a Chipmunk).
Anyone can attempt to answer. If you get it wrong ❌, you’re prevented from answering again. The first person to answer correctly ✅ (or persons if two or more attempt within a fraction of a second of each other) will win a small amount of DKRN from that Chipmunk.
Right now, this type of flash trivia challenge is only happening in our Taylor Swift forums (with exclusively Swiftie-related factoids), but starting tomorrow with the launch of our Buffyverse Month at Remarkist 🧛, the Chipmunks will be making their way into various Angel and Buffy discussions too. Eventually, we’ll have a full infestation of Chipmunks asking questions to all sorts of fandoms on Remarkist… and doling out DKRN to those who know their fandom best.
To achieve the latter, we’ll need to implement a trivia submission system where any member can add trivia questions to the Chipmunks’ catalog and a committee of members can fact-check and approve those submissions. Both submitters and validators will receive DKRN as well for their contributions, and over time, we’ll build a powerful Chipmunk army across every fandom imaginable.
The Great Almond Squirrebeck
In addition to our flash-style trivia, we have one very special Chipmunk on our server. Their name is Almond Squirrebek 🎤 🎉, a trivia legend among the Chipmunks, with their own special brand of trivia. Right now, Almond appears in our #trivia-hall randomly throughout the day. He doesn’t announce his appearance, but he’s so famous among the Chipmunks that when he does appear, you can guarantee a random Chipmunk will make an announcement in either our #general-chat or our #memento-chat channels. In fact, it’s increased chatter in those two channels that will draw Squirrebek out.
Whenever Almond appears, you’ll have 5 minutes to head to the #trivia-hall to participate in the challenge. If you can’t find that channel, you’ll need to either give yourself our All In access role or grab a Fun Pass 🎟️ role. You can get both in our new #grand-terminal channel 🚇 (an interactive map 🗺️ of our entire Discord Server).
Squirrebek’s is a bit more complex than our flash Chipmunk trivia… and more challenging. As soon as the trivia event begins in the #trivia-hall, Squirrebek will present four category buttons, each with a different prize amount related to its difficulty. The first person to tap a category will draw a random question for everyone (from that category and difficulty level), and a bell will appear below that question to answer it. When someone taps the bell, it will disable it for everyone else while they attempt to answer. Unlike our flash trivia, these answers are typed in, and part of the difficulty is guessing how the answer appears in Squirrebek’s catalog—exact phrasing, punctuation, and capitalization. These challenges are tough because even the smallest quirk to a correct answer is considered incorrect to Almond, and pointing out any technicalities won’t change their results. Squirrebek’s catalog is their catalog. These are high-risk but high-reward events.
Currently, Squirrebek only does one question per random appearance, but soon he’ll stick around for 5 to 10 questions per session. We’ll also lean on community submissions to grow Squirrbek’s catalog and get it in tip-top shape.
Where does the DKRN come from?
DKRN is only generated as grants currently—new member grants and Server Booster grants. Those grant amounts are 5000 DKRN for joining the server and up to 420 DKRN per month for being a Server Booster ⬆️. But with every new member who joins our Discord, those grants will soon decrease... exponentially—that’s to say, it’s a good time to join our Discord server if you haven’t already!
DKRN can only be spent on items in our Discord #emporium 🛍️. There’s not much there currently, but we’ll have lots coming this year from members of our creator community—digital items manufactured inside our official app and, in some cases, physical goods linked to them. A portion of all DKRN sales in the emporium return to the Chipmunks and live in a Community Treasury 💰 that fuels all trivia winnings. Right now, when that treasury dips below a certain amount, the Chipmunks will simply stop appearing. That won’t happen anytime soon—our current 👒 Hats campaign in the #emporium has seeded our treasury with over 100K DKRN—but eventually, trivia prizes will change daily based on the current size of the Community Treasury.
So what are you waiting for?! Come join the fun, and help us build out trivia across your favorite fandoms! Grab your “new member grant” if you haven’t already, and join others in the Remarkist ecosystem discussing your favorite shows, films, books, and music!
