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I think even trying to regulate the crypto sector is a mistake, because it legitimises something that serves virtually no useful purpose and makes people think

I think even trying to regulate the crypto sector is a mistake, because it legitimises something that serves virtually no useful purpose and makes people think that crypto is a real asset class rather than just a huge casino. Therefore, my counter proposal is that crypto should simply be treated as a PVP-enabled MMO.

lukev 2y ago
What does this actually mean? Most MMOs don't let you convert your in-game currency back to real-world money. For those that do, is there actually a regulatory framework around that?
- robertlagrant 2y ago
  You can get paid to farm gold, I think. That's sort-of equivalent?
- cheeseomlit 2y ago
  Personally I don't know of any MMOs that allow in-game currency to be 'cashed out', thats pretty much always a bannable offense
  - 15155 2y ago
    Second Life has operated the Lindex service for more than a decade.
    - rtkwe 2y ago
      Not really a game though, it's the Ur Metaverse-y thing, but ultimately a vast complex chat room, if we forget there's the Game being left off MMO it becomes a way less useful term. Too much starts falling into that category, social media sites can tumble in.
- vharuck 2y ago
  PvP MMOs tend to all have a similar make-up of players. At the top are the elite griefers prey on noobs, and beside them are the elite duelists who challenge each other. The griefers and duelists don't interact too much. Below them are the middle-skill players. They have enough fun to keep playing, but lose more than they win; they put serious effort into becoming an elite. At the bottom are the noobs, who join with dreams of making it big (some may), but mostly serve as cattle for other players. A lot of the noobs will get discouraged after repeated ganking and leave the game. The game only thrives if there's a steady stream of new players to replace the numerous quitters. If there aren't enough, the middle-skilled will become the new bottom and start losing way more often. So they'll start quitting. When enough of them do, the griefers won't have as much fun and will leave. That just leaves the duelists in an otherwise empty world. It's not as fulfilling to say you're the best fighter in a dead game. Then a new PvP MMO appears. Everyone is new, so the griefers aren't yet overpowered. New players flock to it. Eventually, the duelists from the first game see another game with a much more vibrant community. So they'll go there. The parallels with crypto actually make sense.
  - DanHulton 2y ago
    You know, a little off-topic, but that sounds _exactly_ like the online poker boom.
desumeku 2y ago
If only you knew that the end-game of crypto billionaires is to secede from society and use cryptocurrencies and blockchains as the foundation for an alternative parallel financial system that sucks its competitor dry. If you really hate crypto, that would just be giving them what they want with roses and a nice letter. And, just to say, that is exactly what the new administration is planning on doing.
rco8786 2y ago
Whether it serves a "useful" purpose or not has no bearing on its legitimacy. It's used to transfer massive amounts of currency between anonymous accounts. It's exactly the sort of thing that needs to be regulated.
- MacsHeadroom 2y ago
  It's used to transfer currency between accounts on fundamentally transparent ledgers. Barely any crypto involves anonymous anything.
  - rco8786 2y ago
    The account owners are anonymous on those ledgers...
Yizahi 2y ago
It's reverse in my opinion. Tokens used for illegal stuff at first get into the finance sector if there is no oversight, e.g. banks start holding them, exchanges use them etc. Then when the government asleep at the wheel (or complicit) finally awakens it is too late to ban them as it was required by law in the first place and they are deemed "too big to fail". That's why even under Dems SEC was afraid to classify BTC and ETH as illegal securities and went only after smaller fish (an even that has failed). If oversight was real and SEC investigated tokens earlier, they would have outlaw them way back then (translation - would have made all tokenbros comply with laws, thus rendering whole scheme worthless) and tokens wouldn't entrench as deep as they are now.
anothereng 2y ago
"no useful purpose" then you havent done your research

lukev 2y ago

What does this actually mean? Most MMOs don't let you convert your in-game currency back to real-world money. For those that do, is there actually a regulatory framework around that?

robertlagrant 2y ago
You can get paid to farm gold, I think. That's sort-of equivalent?
cheeseomlit 2y ago
Personally I don't know of any MMOs that allow in-game currency to be 'cashed out', thats pretty much always a bannable offense
- 15155 2y ago
  Second Life has operated the Lindex service for more than a decade.
  - rtkwe 2y ago
    Not really a game though, it's the Ur Metaverse-y thing, but ultimately a vast complex chat room, if we forget there's the Game being left off MMO it becomes a way less useful term. Too much starts falling into that category, social media sites can tumble in.
vharuck 2y ago
PvP MMOs tend to all have a similar make-up of players. At the top are the elite griefers prey on noobs, and beside them are the elite duelists who challenge each other. The griefers and duelists don't interact too much. Below them are the middle-skill players. They have enough fun to keep playing, but lose more than they win; they put serious effort into becoming an elite. At the bottom are the noobs, who join with dreams of making it big (some may), but mostly serve as cattle for other players. A lot of the noobs will get discouraged after repeated ganking and leave the game. The game only thrives if there's a steady stream of new players to replace the numerous quitters. If there aren't enough, the middle-skilled will become the new bottom and start losing way more often. So they'll start quitting. When enough of them do, the griefers won't have as much fun and will leave. That just leaves the duelists in an otherwise empty world. It's not as fulfilling to say you're the best fighter in a dead game. Then a new PvP MMO appears. Everyone is new, so the griefers aren't yet overpowered. New players flock to it. Eventually, the duelists from the first game see another game with a much more vibrant community. So they'll go there. The parallels with crypto actually make sense.
- DanHulton 2y ago
  You know, a little off-topic, but that sounds _exactly_ like the online poker boom.

desumeku 2y ago

If only you knew that the end-game of crypto billionaires is to secede from society and use cryptocurrencies and blockchains as the foundation for an alternative parallel financial system that sucks its competitor dry. If you really hate crypto, that would just be giving them what they want with roses and a nice letter. And, just to say, that is exactly what the new administration is planning on doing.

rco8786 2y ago

Whether it serves a "useful" purpose or not has no bearing on its legitimacy. It's used to transfer massive amounts of currency between anonymous accounts. It's exactly the sort of thing that needs to be regulated.

MacsHeadroom 2y ago
It's used to transfer currency between accounts on fundamentally transparent ledgers. Barely any crypto involves anonymous anything.
- rco8786 2y ago
  The account owners are anonymous on those ledgers...

Yizahi 2y ago

It's reverse in my opinion. Tokens used for illegal stuff at first get into the finance sector if there is no oversight, e.g. banks start holding them, exchanges use them etc. Then when the government asleep at the wheel (or complicit) finally awakens it is too late to ban them as it was required by law in the first place and they are deemed "too big to fail". That's why even under Dems SEC was afraid to classify BTC and ETH as illegal securities and went only after smaller fish (an even that has failed). If oversight was real and SEC investigated tokens earlier, they would have outlaw them way back then (translation - would have made all tokenbros comply with laws, thus rendering whole scheme worthless) and tokens wouldn't entrench as deep as they are now.

anothereng 2y ago

"no useful purpose" then you havent done your research