People have made money by selling virtual goods acquired in-game at least as far back as Second Life in 2005. It’s worth understanding who is ultimately paying for this labour, and why. The very existence of these tasks, and people willing to pay for them, might be the purest example of a Graeber-esque Bullshit Job I’ve encountered. I might be wealthier and I might pay someone to do something I don’t want to do and somebody might, in exchange, pay me to do something they don’t want to do.īut it is dissimilar in an important way: the “thing I don’t want to do” is completing tasks contrived by a game designer. actually not at all dissimilar to the real-world economy. Arianna Simpson (of a16z, one of Axie Infinity’s most prominent backers) says: In fact, in spite of the game being heralded as an example of how play-to-earn is the future of gaming (a message received by giants EA and Ubisoft), it’s hard to find any reviews on Axie Infinity as a game rather than as an income stream or speculative investment, for which there are plenty. 1-2hrs of my days to get some money is fine by me The only thing I Iook forward to is cashing out and that’s it. I don’t look forward to doing it, I don’t enjoy it, but work is work. It still is work if you think about, at least that’s how I treat it. This seems to sum up players’ experience with Axie Infinity, which is often described as work or a chore. Gamers have a word, grinding, to describe repetitive tasks undertaken to gain some desired in-game goal, but are not fun in themselves. That’s obviously a good thing for them, but it also appears to be a near-Platonic example of Graeber’s definition of a bullshit job. Some spend hours each day playing the game, and then sell the in-game currency they earn to pay their real-world bills. Not only has it amassed a large base of users, the in-game economy has actually provided a real-world income stream to working-class Filipinos impacted by the pandemic. In a crypto economy crowded with vapourware and alpha-stage software, Axie Infinity stands out. The most successful of these is Axie Infinity, a trade-and-battle game reminiscent of Pokemon. One of the most apparently successful examples of web3 that people point to, aside from art NFTs, is so-called play-to-earn games. I’ve recently been exploring the themes around web3 to see if there’s a “there” there, and Graeber’s book has been on my mind again. It’s a thoughtfully presented case, but when I read the book a few years back, I was skeptical that any mechanism to create bullshit jobs could arise from a system as inherently Darwinian as capitalism. The book cites ample anecdotal evidence that people perceive their own jobs as completely disconnected from any sort of value creation, and makes the case that the ruling class stands to lose from the proletariat having extra free time on their hands. Also remember to clap and share if you like this content.In Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, David Graeber makes the case that a sizable chunk of the labour economy is essentially people performing useless work, as a sort of subconscious self-preservation instinct of the economic status quo. We will be running a bug bounty with rewards paid out in exclusive tokenized terrarium decorations!įor more information please join the conversation on our Discord or follow us on Twitter. If you don’t have an Origin Axie yet and want to participate in beta, you can pick one up here:. All wallet addresses that own an Axie will be whitelisted and will have their Mainnet Axies duplicated for them on the Rinkeby Test Network. We’ve put our hearts and souls into making the battle system something that will push the blockchain gaming space forward and we’re so excited to share it with you.Īs a reminder, entry into the closed Beta will require an Origin Axie. We are thrilled to announce that the Closed Beta for Axie Infinity will commence on August 3rd at 8 AM ET.Īxie Infinity is a blockchain based game that allows you to battle, breed, and collect digital pets called Axie.Ĭheck these clips for more context on what we are building:
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