Last time I promised a reading list of books which were particularly influential to my forthcoming book (available for preorder wherever books are sold!). That’s still coming, but it had to get kicked back in the queue for a moment. Right now, we need to talk about this Axie Infinity thing.
For the uninitiated, Axie Infinity (which I’ve cheekily described as a Pokémon-flavored analog for traditionalist capitalism) is the exemplar for the emerging play-to-earn category of games powered by blockchain. It’s also now the exemplar for crypto-related scams: We learned this week that the Ronin blockchain powering Axie Infinity was “hacked” for some $625M.
Ouch. But, that’s not even the most concerning part. In fact, it’s concerning parts. Plural. Specifically:
The hack took well over six days to be noticed (what's a couple hundred million between “frens?”)
What happened was all perfectly fine and allowable in terms of how the system was designed (hence why I call it a “hack” rather than a hack).
I won’t dig into the gory details for the sake of brevity, though one need not look far to find them. The net is this “hack” was carried out in the same way that other headline grabbing heists in the broader crypto work - by exploiting the mismanagement of systems that are overconfident in the quality of the code defining its rules and structures. The unfortunate truth is that as things stand, this is going to keep happening - hell, it’s built into some of the core ethos of the community.
“Code is law” is a favorite aphorism in the crypto world. I’ve always felt like those that believe it have either never written code or don’t have nearly enough respect for its practice. It reflects a belief in the infallibility of code without recognition that code is written by incredibly fallible humans (and as a general rule, most humans write very crappy, bloated, buggy code). In this way, it’s a perfect analogy for my single biggest criticism with the state of web3 and associated topics like the metaverse more generally: Overconfidence in technology and under thinking about the human element involved with the technology.
But hey, it’s a new technology sector - a little lawlessness is to be expected as the cost of doing business in the frontier. Apologists will tell you that folks shouldn’t put in more than they can afford to lose, early technology always has problems, and so on and so forth. All fair and good, yet ignoring the larger problem: The web3 community is wracked with a near-complete lack of self-reflection or willingness to onboard criticism.
I’ve heard the frustration from advocates of blockchain gaming, and even been occasionally subject to some bizarre threats from them (in the past I’ve been told that “Code is Law and the code will bite me in the ass?”). Much of this anger is directed towards gatekeepers, doubters, and haters in the traditional gaming world. And no doubt, those folks exist - but the proverbial call is coming from inside the house on this one. The unwillingness to grapple with very real and very problematic issues in this developing industry, for fear of calls of “FUD” or otherwise, merely insures that carnival will continue on. Problems are swept under the rug with a rationalization that folks “don’t get it” and yet what good work is being done will continue to be crowded out by the regular drumbeat of 9-figure “hacks.”
To my sense of urgency above, we needed to talk about this Axie Infinity thing because…I’m seeing very few web3 advocates doing so. I’m seeing far more discussion focusing on what was apparently a sparsely attended and visually-uneven virtual fashion week (an entirely different yet also problematic issue, but we need to prioritize here). Technology is only as good and useful as it is applicable to the needs of the end-user, and the end user in the case of blockchain gaming are game fans who are very much convinced that the utilization of this tech is laden with scams. It’s hard to blame them for this worldview when the solution for problems in the community is to merely layer on additional unflinching optimism and enthusiasm, because no one wants to be told they are “ngmi.”
So, to be clear, I’m not saying that we should be at a standstill until someone finds a pithy solution to these issues. What I am saying is that there needs to be a broader conversation about assumptions built into the culture of web3 and/or the metaverse, particularly as it extends to the world of gaming. There is much talk about the virtues of community in web3, but real people in the community are getting hurt - one can’t be too angry at those not willing to sign on, given the state of things now.