“Play-to-Earn” and Bullshit Jobs

P2E F2P and P2W are more loose buckets than categories with hard and fast distinctions.

I don't think that P2E is inherently bad. Indeed, the history of RMT in games that try to prohibit it (WoW, Eve, etc) shows that P2E is a mechanic that is hard to avoid in certain types of grindy mmo games.

What makes Axies a pyramid scheme is not the incorporation of P2E mechanics directly into the game, but that the game requires players to "buy-in" to the economy to start playing and tries to incentivize that initial purchase by promising later earning capacity.

Our fiat based economy is play to earn with the government that backs your favorite currency as overseer that can “ban” or penalize you. You’re required to participate to gain access to exchangeable currency. And the platform you’re using (your government and their economy) takes a cut in the form of taxes - and inflation when they’re printing money.

You get to choose to team with others in companies or other organizations, or go it alone which is much tougher.

Like Axie, if you choose to work for someone you’re using their subplatform, like Axie is a subplatform within crypto. And the organization you’re part of has rules and quite a lot of power over your future as long as you’re participating.

In a real world org you can choose to exit and liquidate any equity that you’re allowed to turn into cash. Same with Axie assets that you sell in exchange for something else - maybe a cryptocurrency.

As with Axie, there are many bullshit jobs in the real world that exist for silly reasons and can easily be automated away.

I think these bullshit jobs are bugs in real world economies and virtual economies. Sometimes they’re intentional bugs that benefit the owners or controllers of a platform or economy.

I’d caution one about conflating these anomalies with NFTs or crypto as a whole. Blockchain primitives have the potential to free the proletariat from exploitation by large corporate platforms. Creatives, for example, can own and profit from their art for centuries without an intermediary like Spotify, record companies, film studios or publishers keeping the lions share of the return. It has the potential to disintermediate banks, which is a huge deal, which you’ll know if you’ve ever worked for an investment bank or even walked through any major financial district.

Bullshit jobs abound. But these primitives Axie is playing with are not the cause. They have the potential to free us all.

I agree with you ideologically but challenge this statement:

> [that] gameplay should never have been in the game

How many millions of hours of 'pointless' content are uploaded weekly that people watch? No one is forced to play this game, or to pay for it. Why should it not exist? If game developers create something that people play, is that not a success from their perspective?

This quickly becomes a philosophical conversation. As others mentioned, how much of life is the boring, grind-y parts? How many of us on HN find clever ways to circumvent, augment, automate the grind? Is it immoral to create profitable, addictive systems of human engagement? Does 'good' game design have a quantifiable definition?

Who else immediately ordered the book on Amazon? Lol

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory https://www.amazon.com/dp/0141983477

The first review is lit. Quoting:

""" Manifesto for the Professional Class Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2018 This review was written at the desk of a salaried office job, where I am paid $65,000/yr to do virtually nothing important, so I mostly sit in my chair and listen to podcasts and audiobooks all day. I do this until enough executives and managers above me are gone that I can feel comfortable sneaking out. With my income from this sit, I then outsource all my chores to a slew of below living wage 21st Century gig economy employees--Uber drivers, food delivery, meal kits, laundry.

Having been one of these low paid wage laborers several years ago, it seems like a cruel joke. The higher paying job I find, the less I actually have to work. The higher ranking the position, the less the job is about doing things and contributing to society.

Is this a blessing or immoral sin? Yes. But it turns out, I'm not alone.

This is an entertaining book of anecdotes and statistics on what turns out to be a common phenomena. It is one of the most refreshing reads that a college-educated conscious working professional can have in their library. Put down every other garbage business book that supposedly empowers you. You don't need to practice mindfulness, or rules for life, or launch a lean startup. Breathe in and breathe out, your job is unnecessary and so are most of the other jobs!

Admitting this is the first step of us all solving the collective problem. """