01/08/2021
Video games have always been primarily a source of dopamine. Whether it's Space Invaders, Sonic, or Red Dead Redemption, all you have to do is press start and make it through to the end of a round or battle. And then maybe wipe your sweaty palms and start over.
But right now there's a new class of games that are not entertainment, but an investment - perhaps even a livelihood. Recently, play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox have been gaining particular popularity.
What they have in common with the classic games is a complex economic system. For example, in the 1980s blockbuster Elite, players traveled from planet to planet to raise their capital by buying and selling goods and weapons. And in The Sims simulation, using a special currency, simoleons, you could buy anything from a pizza to a house.
But in older games, in-game currency has no value in the real world. There are games like World of Warcraft, around which a gray market has grown for in-game item and character exchanges. But play-to-earn is an entirely different level. So how do such games work and what is their purpose?
