The only thing separating Greenroom from Clubhouse is gems!!!

I’m being facetious, but “gem farming” did become a hot topic as Spotify’s buzzy platform debuted. Everyone wanted to know what they do, and it’s ultimately nothing at the moment.

However, just like the mask vs unmasked, red v blue, and every other classic rivalry, it soon became clear everyone has an opinion on gems. Having been mostly immersing myself in American rooms, I fell into the habit of referring to gem farming rooms in a derogatory manner in my last post.

That’s when a subscriber came into my Discord server to point out the error of my point of view. She pointed out that these gem farm rooms are a source of community, and it opened my eyes to a different way of looking at it that only broadened over the next few days.

We’re not the only people with opinions on gem farms – Clubhouse’s Creator First Frontier Psychiatrists did a CH room, podcast episode, and blog post on the topic that explored a variety of perspectives on gamification of social media.

Gamifying Social Audio 

Sketchnotes by @alejoporrasart – Click to read the full article…

Dr. Carlene MacMillan and Dr. Owen Muir’s unique perspective on mental health is one I grew to enjoy over the past 60 days. I got to know them through the Creator First selection process and have been following their work ever since. 

Next to Kat Cole, they’re among the most talented of the bunch based on my personal interests. You should definitely check out the full recap to dive deeper into the topic. However, even during their discussion, the idea of someone having too many gems was viewed with a level of derision.

Pricing Nerd Bethania Bacigalupe drew a graph that perfectly sums up the Americanized view of gems. It’s an accurate depiction of what social media “expert” Michael AASanchez was explaining in GR week one while hypocritically changing his name to sit at the top and mine more gems.

And this is where the fallacy of this line of logic comes into play. 

Graph by The Pricing Nerd, Bethania Bacigalupe

Everyone in the room is focused on how gem farms are “cheating the system,” and the conversation is largely viewing it from an outside perspective. In doing so, they ignored some key things that I did too until it was pointed out to me.

The actions of people on Clubhouse never matches their words.

Michaeal Sanchez, for example, was explaining in GR’s first week how he’s too cool for gems while changing his name to AASanchez to get more of them. Clearly he LOVES gems and wants more of them – otherwise why do such a stupid thing to make it impossible for anyone to find you just to get to the top of the stage?

It’s insincere and honestly just fake and weak AF. We call it a bitch move here in America.

And this graph from Bacigalupe says more about her own insecurities and personal biases than the people in the gem farms. She’s only on Clubhouse because she’s clinging to the only 5-digit following she has anywhere online, so it’s to her advantage to mock the gem farmers.

I made the same mistakes these people did…until I actually talked to the gem farmers and got my head straight.

Only Americans Hate Gems and Other Metrics 

Persian Greenroom dropping true gems on me this week…

Like the metric system, Americans seem not to understand the point of the gem farms.

The ultimate answer that both the Frontier Psychiatrists show and the American Clubhosue users come up with is a simple one. Human connection means more than gems, and believe it or not, that’s the same message two different communities explained to me.

Much like how I pointed out in May that psychedelics users demonizing crack are revealing systemic racism, the gem farms do too.

I woke up this morning in a room filled with Iranians. It seemed the logical conclusion to my journey from passively listening to Persian New Year to actively sleeping in Facial Recognition Comedy.

They quickly welcomed me into the fold, and I had a great conversation that jumped between English and Farsi with some music included.

We talked for several hours through the day, and actively enjoyed the gem farming. For their community, the socialization isn’t ruined by the gamification – it’s enhanced. It gives them something to do, and they love the idea of aiming for high scores.

When I scan the “gem farms” and compare them to the fluffy marketing and sales content on CH, I suddenly couldn’t unsee what the problem was. It’s not that gem farms are bad – it’s that Americans are so privileged and entitled that we’re not seeing the communities being built in those rooms.

Americans may drink haterade, but other cultures are happy and proud to participate in the gamification. And let’s all be clear that everyone is participating in it – everyone who says gems are stupid is also receiving gems. Sure, the gems don’t matter, but does any of this really?

Now having spoken with two different communities about their perspectives on gems, I realize that we as Americans were only forming our own culture’s opinion. Other cultures don’t agree with us, and they’re having to fight harder to represent their communities on these American platforms.

It’s a thought that softened my outlook on the gems and made me seriously rethink how I’ve been approaching the GR community.

The twenty-something Florida man who woke up later in the room wasn’t as quick to let his guard down though. Hearing a language he didn’t understand, he made a comment about how he hopes this didn’t turn into a “gem farming room.” 

Immediately realizing he wasn’t appreciating what’s happening, I jumped in to defend them and put him at ease. Everyone was welcoming and respectful, but he was still in the headspace of the Clubhouse users above. Thankfully, they were able to talk him down, but the entire experience resonated with me.

I made a mistake when I said the gem rooms were soft content. The comment came from a place where I judge these rooms as a podcast and think about the listener.

But I ignored the community aspect. The connections do mean more than the gems, and we need to all be more mindful of forging more of those connections with cultures we don’t understand.

Gem farmers are people too – try talking to them before acting like you’re better than they are.

Greenroom Statistics and More

If you’re looking to track your Greenroom stats, you can do so at Greenroomtools.xyz. I am in no way affiliated with this company and know nothing about it on the backend. I just know it’s free and has accurate reporting and stats similar to Clubhub.site.