Axie Infinity and the new paradigm of "Pay-to-Play"

Lolwut?

[ronin]

My fingers instinctively typed "Pay-to-Play" which, of course, is a long-established paradigm and there's nothing new about it.

What I told my fingers to type was: "Play-to-Earn" which (outside the worlds of professional sports and poker tournaments etc.) is a genuinely new paradigm... though I suspect in this case it may be fleeting...

I'm going to conclude that in ten years time quite a lot of this Ethereum-based NFT stuff is going to be referenced in articles which also reference Tulipmania and the South Sea Bubble.

But, for the time being, there are some... truly extraordinary initiatives going on out there.

[wired.co.uk...]

[NickMNS]

I don't understand the economics of this, where are the earnings coming from? All the stories about these games always show how players earn, they never show players losing money.

“I thought, this is amazing. People in the Philippines are earning double what they could in a regular job just from playing this game,” she says. “I wanted to do that too. I wanted to help people too.” (In fact, an analysis by insights company Naavik found that as of August 2021, only the most proficient players were making more than the Philippines’ average wage of $41.49 per day, while most simply earned a bit over the $7.03 daily minimum wage, or less. And that’s before taking into account the fees paid to scholarship managers.)

The only explanation that I can get to is that this is a pyramid scheme disguised as a game. Early players, pay to play, then convince others to join, those new arrivals also pay to play, thus providing money to all those that came before, who are then "playing" to earn, or but not even playing, simply earning. This works fine so long as new player keep arriving, and with articles like this Wired piece I'm certain that people are still flocking like sheep for the promise of free money.

[ronin]

this is a pyramid scheme disguised as a game.

I think that's it, in a nutshell.

I agree with you that when writing up these sorts of initiatives, Wired might benefit by being a little more sceptical.

[edited by: ronin at 11:10 am (utc) on Dec 3, 2021]

[ronin]

where are the earnings coming from

I suspect, as with all bubbles, the earnings are greater fool earnings.

i.e. It doesn't matter that you've just paid $25 for an asset for which no-one would normally pay more than $0.02.

Because there's a greater fool around the corner who sees the rising prices and is happy to give you $50 for it.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

You can buy a platinum of game gold in Ultima Online, a game that was among the first multiplayer online games circa 1998 and still played today, for roughly $140 US. You can use it in game to set up a shop that produces gold by creating items other people want and need to play as they want.

Not everyone plays just to make gold, some prefer other aspects of the game such as mining, blacksmithing, treasure hunting, tailoring, magery, swordsmanship and literally 70 other rather fun activities. 5-10% of them buy gold so they don't have to grind for it or spend time doing things they don't enjoy.

I doubt that Paypal and eBay would have survived their early years if it wasn't for sales of virtual goods which began before these companies were launched. I'm showing my age but I lived in game through my off time in college, as did over a million people at one time before those games proliferated. Good ol Pentium III, and ICQ was the chat rage... few had mobile devices then.

Wired has it wrong, and it's no pyramid scheme, they've just substituted cash for crypto for virtual goods on an extremely old but proven setup. eBay and Paypal eventually banned the sale of virtual goods driving them underground but these new EFT games embracing crypto(and virtual sales) have crawled out from that underground..

Sorry, but whwen I read a title like "The Escapist Fantasy of NFT Games Is Capitalism" I know instantly that this article author doesn't know the history, It was people playing a game, some preferring to put in many game hours to create something with real world value, but most just using real world funds to skip the grind and just buy what they want so they can play at more competitive level immediately.

A MUST READ if you wish to start applying judgment to such games that you can play and earn from is a book from Julian Dibbel called "PlayMoney"- [juliandibbell.com...] If you don't wish to read the book he has archives on his site in which he recorded his early years and kept ledgers and described how he did it in Ultima Online.

Yes, you can earn money while playing video games if you generate something in game that has value to another player. It's neither capitalism nor socialism because, many times, guilds are formed and these items are given to other member players for free... it's fun, and fun has value for everyone.

Does it matter if you don't pay, or pay to play, or play to earn? Ultima Online is free to play and you can earn money from it, not earn money from it, or pay money for items... the balance is real with 20+ years of proven fun... an eternity for a video game. If you decide to try it out, do so on the Atlantic shard where eveyone else plays.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Note: What I do find interesting about the article is how this is allowing people in the Phillipines to generate revenue, such things were allowed in America, once.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Reminder - Morgan Stanley thinks Metaverse will be worth one trillion in annual revenues. Using Wired's reasoning it's also a pyramid scheme.

How everyone will voluntarily tap out of real life to live in "The Verse" is a trick I'll have to see to believe. The trillion in revenue, however, is likely since the internet itself will get a Meta version controlled by Zuxckerberg, and the content from your sites will all be in there with not your ads. Neat trick really.