In 2021, people in the Philippines were quitting their jobs to play a video game. The game was Axie Infinity. You bought digital monsters (NFTs), fought them, and earned "Smooth Love Potion" (SLP) tokens.
You could trade SLP for real money. It sounded too good to be true.
(Narrator: Because it was.)
The Economics of Ponzinomics
The only way for old players to make money was for new players to buy in. New players needed to buy "Axies" (which cost hundreds of dollars) to start playing. The money flowed up.
As long as the line went up, everyone was happy. When the line stopped going up... disaster.
The Crash
The token price crashed by 99%. People who had taken out loans to buy Axies were ruined. "Scholarships" (where rich players rented Axies to poor players in exchange for a cut of the profits) collapsed.
It was a digital sweatshop disguised as a Pokémon game.
Contrast with "Real" Games
I play games to relax. I play games to escape capitalism.
Axie Infinity was capitalism. It took the grinding part of an RPG and made it an actual job. Except this job paid you in monopoly money that could vanish overnight.
Conclusion
"Play to Earn" is a cursed concept. If a game feels like a job, pay me a salary. If it's a game, let me have fun.
Don't mix the two. My colorful monsters should not determine my ability to pay rent.
