‘Play-to-Earn’ Gaming and How Work Is Evolving in Web3 | Hacker News Reader

‘Play-to-Earn’ Gaming and How Work Is Evolving in Web3

future.a16z.com

An an avid gamer that spends a lot of time and money on video games: fuck that.

I'd rather grind and kill goblins in Lumbridge for hours for nothing than engage in any Play-to-Earn scheme. Fuck that dystopia.

First it was microtransactions.

Then it was gacha gambling games.

Now it's ponzi schemes.

You call it gaming, I call it milking the players dry.

TFA is about "Axie Infinity". With its kawaii-style graphics, it certainly looks like a game marketed toward children. Apparently you have to own three Axies to begin playing. At time of comment, the cheapest three are $116, $123, and $139.

> companies built around the game that help players onboard and loan them money to get started playing.

Bloody hell. Lure the kids in and sign them up for a $400 loan to start gambling on fake Pokemon.

So many things are Bad and Wrong here.

Brought by Andreessen Horowitz Crypto Team:

https://a16z.com/crypto/

https://a16z.com/2021/10/05/investing-in-axie-infinity/

They are invested in multiple similar projects. Another one is Mythical Games [1] that develops Roblox analog called “Blankos” [2], also targeted at kids, it seems.

[1] https://a16z.com/2021/11/04/investing-in-mythical-games/

[2] https://blankos.com/

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Ok I'll say this is a gambling/monetary reward system and thus needs to be restricted to adults. This "exciting" research is all about dopamine and addiction and from what I can see it's only going to disgusting places. Keep children away from these addiction schemes.

As if getting kids addicted in gambling CS:GO knives or Genshin Impact gachas wasn't bad enough, they had to come up with something even worse.

Subsequently numbered "webs" are starting to feel like subsequently numbered versions of Windows. Better looking but worse.

Play-to-earn is a really exciting area of development with a lot of cool ideas coming out of it.

Many games are being developed now that are fully funded by fans and generating a lot of income for players.

I know HN will shit on this, but for the more open minded among you I really encourage you to take a look at this space if you are planning to develop a game in the near future.

Typically people spend money to play games. How can any game generate net income for players? It's not Wimbledon where fans pay to watch.

I think any income must come from a stream of new players, meaning it's a Ponzi scheme.

There are about 200-300 people who play fantasy sports full-time as a career on FanDuel and DraftKings. Probably another 20,000-30,000 use it as a legitimate stream of secondary income.

Legitimate games of skill, when regulated, will always be able to support this.

Based on the twitch leaks, the secondary income is probably, on average, insulting to call an income at all. You could make more money wearing dirty clothes and begging on the street.

Fantasy sports is explicitly betting, where any winnings are acknowledged to come from the losses of other players. On average, players will lose because of the house rake, but skillful players may beat the odds.

Axie Infinity seems to be something else, where everyone can "win" just by playing the game. For example, daily quests provide SLP coin which is minted from thin air; there's no skill or risk involved here. The only way this can be sustained is with a flux of new players.

This Axie game is clearly marketed toward children, and requires hundreds of dollars up front or a loan to get started.

This isn't exciting, this is deplorable. These are terrible people doing terrible things.

> I know HN will shit on this

Right idea, wrong reflex. I'd sooner vomit.

> open minded

Don't be so open minded that your brain falls out.

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