Eonevolve Learning

Intent guide

Soft vs Hard Currency: Design the Trust Boundary

Soft and hard currency are a trust boundary, not two coin skins. Ask whether a misspend can be earned back, keep conversion one-way, and price ordinary decisions in soft so play stays choosable.

Start with recoverability, not coin names

Name the resource after you know whether ordinary play repairs a misspend. Soft means yes. Hard means mostly no.

If both wallets fund the same ordinary retries, players will not learn which layer they are trusting.

Ask recoverability before you name the coin

Soft and hard are not two paint colors. Soft means a misspend can be earned back through ordinary play. Hard means it mostly cannot. Design the trust boundary around that question, then choose conversion and prices.

Recoverability test

If the player spends this resource badly, can ordinary play earn it back?

  • Yes → treat it as soft. Price ordinary, repeatable decisions here.
  • No → treat it as hard. Price deliberate, scarce decisions here.

Conversion stays one-way across the boundary

Hard may convert into soft. Soft must never climb into hard. The moment earn can buy scarcity, the scarce layer stops teaching a deliberate cost.

Read the map top to bottom: scarce layer, earnable layer, then the ordinary decision the sitting must still reach.

One-way trust boundary

Read top to bottom. Hard may fund soft. Soft funds ordinary decisions. Nothing climbs back into the scarce layer.

Scarce / paid layer

  1. Hard currency

    Acquired mainly by paying. A misspend is not repaired by ordinary play alone.

Earnable layer

  1. Soft currency

    Earned through sittings. A misspend is recoverable if play continues.

Play decision layer

  1. Ordinary decision

    A repeatable choice the game wants free and paying players to reach through play.

  2. Same outcome

    The result should read the same whether soft or converted hard funded it.

  • Hard currencySoft currencymay convert into
  • Soft currencyOrdinary decisionfunds
  • Ordinary decisionSame outcomeproduces
Read top to bottom. Hard may fund soft. Soft funds ordinary decisions. Nothing climbs back into the scarce layer.

Reading order

  1. Hard currency

    Acquired mainly by paying. A misspend is not repaired by ordinary play alone.

  2. Soft currency

    Earned through sittings. A misspend is recoverable if play continues.

  3. Ordinary decision

    A repeatable choice the game wants free and paying players to reach through play.

  4. Same outcome

    The result should read the same whether soft or converted hard funded it.

Connections

  1. Hard currency → Soft currency (may convert into)

    Safe direction: a paying player can fund their soft balance without removing a free player's path.

  2. Soft currency → Ordinary decision (funds)

    Ordinary decisions stay reachable through earn, with or without ever converting hard currency.

  3. Ordinary decision → Same outcome (produces)

    Outcome readability must not depend on which wallet paid, or fairness perception breaks.

Price the decision class, not the icon

Ordinary, repeatable decisions belong on soft. Deliberate scarce decisions may sit on hard when the player can name the trade.

The fastest fairness break is a soft-shaped decision with a hard price after the drip runs out.

Pricing rules

  • Soft prices ordinary decisionsIf the choice should stay reachable through play every sitting, soft is the default funder.
  • Hard prices deliberate scarcityIf the choice is meant to be rare and intentional, hard can fund it - and the player should understand the cost.
  • Conversion runs one wayHard may buy soft. Soft must never buy hard, or the scarce layer stops being scarce.
  • Never hard-price a soft decisionAn ordinary retry, daily attempt, or practice choice priced in hard turns earn into a wall.

Boundary failures that look like balance bugs

These illustrative misreads show trust-boundary failures wearing economy-balance costumes. Fix the layer before you retune rates.

Boundary misreads

Two wallets, one behavior

Mistake: Soft and hard both buy the same ordinary retries, so players cannot tell which trust layer they are spending.

Better: Assign one funder per decision class. Soft for repeatable; hard for scarce.

Soft buys hard through a side door

Mistake: A craft, trade, or event path lets earn climb into the paid layer.

Better: Close the climb. Keep conversion hard → soft only.

Hard prices the daily loop

Mistake: The main sitting verb needs hard currency after a short soft drip runs out.

Better: Reprice the ordinary verb in soft, or redesign earn so the sitting stays choosable.

Review gate before you ship the wallets

Close this gate when someone asks whether the dual-currency setup is ready for strangers. If any line fails, redesign the funder before adding another sink.

Ship the wallets only after this gate

  • Recoverability is namedFor each currency, you can answer whether ordinary play repairs a misspend.
  • Conversion direction is one-wayHard may fund soft. Soft cannot climb into hard.
  • Ordinary decisions stay soft-fundedRetries and practice choices are not gated behind hard after a short drip.
  • Outcome reads the samePlayers can explain the result without asking which wallet paid.

Boundary symptom → lesson

One symptom should open one deep lesson. Use the map when a currency debate is really a trust-boundary debate.

Boundary symptom → lesson

Continue into the graph

These lessons deepen the decisions on this page. Each link includes why it matters next.

Lesson link map

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