A piece of wisdom that I always hear about eSports is that it’s an “emerging industry,” some 20+ years into its inception, and that means there will be crooks and thieves skulking in the shadows trying to bilk people. It’s also said that everything must be done to shoo these people away, as it reflects poorly on anyone trying to make money when investors look and see that there’s a chance to be ripped off. That makes sense to me, I wouldn’t really question that.

But here’s a question: what happens when the only moneymen left are crooks and thieves?

On Jan. 6th, Matcherino, an Esports platform that lets organizers host and crowdfund tournaments as well as pay them out, posted an announcement about a new sponsor available for their partners:

Tezotopia is a game from Gif.games, who specialize in blockchain-based gaming. What’s that, you ask? It’s when every aspect of a videogame, from its economy to its resources to its gameplay, is done on a blockchain, or digital ledger. Using cryptocurrency, a player would pay small fees for all these actions, and in return their gameplay resources and stats are forever marked with a hash on a blockchain, proof that they own these digital assets. Tezotopia goes one step beyond and adds a building/farming sim aspect to it: users can build blocks of digital “land” that produce in-game resources and then mint them as NFTs, which are then put into a marketplace where you can buy and sell land and earn real money from holding the NFTs.

So true.

So it’s a little goofy. The problem? NFTs in particular are a red cape to a rampaging FGC bull. I assume it has to do with a lot of artists being into fighting games and that the unregulated, bullshit NFT market is based a lot on minting other’s work on the blockchain. Either way, Ramesses II didn’t have it as bad during the Plagues as someone who tries to operate in fighting game circles and tries to sponsor or mint NFTs. They will be seen as a scam, as theft, and you’re going to be dragged mercilessly for it. No one likes a thief, after all, especially one that would steal from a creative underclass already plagued with its own maladies.

As expected, Matcherino was torn apart for this decision, to the point that the original tweet was deleted after a few hours and an apology made from the co-founder and again the Discord channel. 

Crypto or Despots: Matcherino and Picking Your Poison — Them’s Fighting Words!!

Categories: Economic History

Tags: Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Economics, Finance, Gaming, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Socialist Finance, Technology, Third Place, Work-Standard