It’s been almost exactly two years since I started this newsletter. Obviously, since then, a lot of things have changed, both in my life and the world. My goal during my time in crypto and my newsletter has always been the same. What will the world look like when all applications are interoperable? And before that, how will users start interacting and using crypto to get to where that world will be? And so the journey started.
Here’s how crypto narratives have progressed
In 2018, before DeFi was a thing, the big narrative for achieving mass adoption was blockchain games. Many people in crypto thought NFTs were what was going to bring mass adoption. It was easy to believe. CryptoKitties and other blockchain games were the first tangible decentralized applications. Everyone was posting Chris Dixon’s quote of “The next big thing starts out looking like a toy” on Twitter and blogs.
But NFTs & blockchain games never got to a point of escape velocity—at least not in the way including myself, thought they would. Some of us blamed scalability. Others blamed UX. But even with those being worked on today with more scalable blockchains and user-friendly wallets, it’s not clear that blockchain games have clear value propositions.
How blockchain games are designed today
It’s hard to create a game today. App downloads were at an all time low in 2019, with the average user downloading 0 new apps per month. The battle for attention is the highest it has ever been.
With the shift to free-to-play, many indie developers have been struggling to create something of value for consumers. In 2017, blockchain games were seen as a potential solution since free-to-play sucked money from players.
Blockchain games promised to give “digital ownership” to users. It offered the chance for users to play games and earn money, while simultaneously giving developers a unique way to fund development through pre-selling digital assets
This new model would give players skin in the game. Each “player” in a blockchain game has an incentive to recruit another player. For example, imagine Bob is playing a blockchain game and has $100 worth of game assets. Bob has an incentive to tell others how much money he is making so that others play the game too. And so Bob tries to hook others to play the game so he can sell his game assets to other plays for more than he bought them for.
The focus here is on money rather than an escape. And traditional games are supposed to be a form of an entertainment; an escape as opposed to a means to earn money.
This isn’t the type of blockchain game that I envision will move the needle in making applications more interoperable.
...But crypto is becoming a world of play, and there’s buzz
There’s another category of “blockchain games”. They’re games that don’t exactly look like games. There’s no single interface. The gameplay is between multiple interfaces. Anyone can contribute to the gameplay with new code. The community creates more code for the game than the creators of the game themselves. It’s the world of open ecosystems.
This growth of open ecosystems is happening right now. It’s social money like Roll. It’s the Metaverse like Cryptovoxels. It’s DAOs like MetaCartel. It’s hype-digital goods like ZORA. It’s the combination of primitives that exist on an open standard.
That’s what I’m excited for. Applications that focus on intrinsic rewards instead of financial extrinsic incentives. Games that make people fit. Games that make people save money. Games that make people stay home. It’s here, but they’re not all entirely realized on-chain... yet.
The next stage of my journey
Last week I had my last day at Dapper Labs. I had a blast working with the team. But while I’m excited about the future of open worlds, it’s important for me to step back and take stock of what’s happening right now. Because it’s happening fast. Consumer habits are quickly accelerating. And that opens up opportunities.
So for what’s next with me: I’m going to be writing more while working on a few side projects that have been in the backlog for so long. And I hope to work with others that are working on some cool things that benefit an entire open ecosystem.
So if you’re working on something cool in crypto, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter. Let’s jam on it.
Weekly Quest
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