A look at Axie Infinity “managers”, who loan in-game NFTs to other players in exchange for a cut of any profits and depend on a constant influx of new players
Managers in play-to-earn game Axie Infinity employ large teams of “scholars” who can't afford their own NFTs even as the game's economy spirals. Tweets: @bigblackjacobin , @tolstoybb , @willoremus , @jonsarlin , @carnage4life , @benjysarlin , @molly0xfff , @taylorlorenz , @bitfinexed , and @ahcastor Tweets: Edward Ongweso Jr / @bigblackjacobin : Axie Infinity is hailed as the crown jewel of the play-to-earn world. But after spending months speaking to players, it's hard to escape the conclusion that it's little more than a digital sharecropping system. https://www.vice.com/... Rachel / @tolstoybb : The use of ‘sharecropping’ to describe Axie Infinity is a touch hyperbolic. If the paid player is not making money, they can close the screen and walk away. https://twitter.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : Starting to look like this “play-to-earn” crypto game that was hyped by a lot of rich tech folks is going to end up fleecing a ton of people who are barely scraping by in lower-income countries around the world https://twitter.com/... Jon Sarlin / @jonsarlin : Great deep dive from @bigblackjacobin that gets into the bizarre details of Axie's manager/scholar relationship. Interesting quote from a manager in Venezuela. You have to wonder how many scholars have invested in becoming managers...and now with the hack can't cash out. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... @carnage4life : The standard bearer of play-to-earn is an admitted pyramid scheme that costs $300 to buy-in and now has a digital sharecropper model where poor people in Asia & South America take high interest loans to buy-in. Calling this the future of gaming is sick. https://www.vice.com/... Benjy Sarlin / @benjysarlin : Starting to wonder if we should run the economy on giant crypto businesses where poor Filipinos play a Pokémon-style game to earn a meager living that can then be hacked for $625m losses overnight https://www.cnn.com/... Molly White / @molly0xfff : “Could the company guarantee that users would not be affected? Zirlin paused and looked away. 'There's no guarantees in crypto... But we'll do our best to figure it out.'” axie infinity cofounder is sounding a lot less sure than the confident official statements https://twitter.com/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : A crypto game that enlisted people from poor countries to play an online game for rentiers in rich countries who take half of their earnings was sold by Silicon Valley as the future of the internet. Turns out it's just another way for rich tech folks to exploit the poor https://twitter.com/... @bitfinexed : Interesting. “We're not in as good position as we were yesterday...”. Yeah, “yesterday” nobody knew that you were $650 million dollars in the hole. How are your bailout negotiations going? Going with tether fraud bros or new hotness terra scam bros? https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Amy Castor / @ahcastor : “Shortly after his first interview, which was on the record and recorded, Zirlin asked if CNN could run his answers by his PR team before publishing. CNN declined the request.” L O L 🤣🤣🤣 https://www.cnn.com/...
Axie Infinity is hailed as the crown jewel of the play-to-earn world. But after spending months speaking to players, it's hard to escape the conclusion that it's little more than a digital sharecropping system. https://www.vice.com/...
Starting to look like this “play-to-earn” crypto game that was hyped by a lot of rich tech folks is going to end up fleecing a ton of people who are barely scraping by in lower-income countries around the world https://twitter.com/...
Great deep dive from @bigblackjacobin that gets into the bizarre details of Axie's manager/scholar relationship. Interesting quote from a manager in Venezuela. You have to wonder how many scholars have invested in becoming managers...and now with the hack can't cash out. https://…
The standard bearer of play-to-earn is an admitted pyramid scheme that costs $300 to buy-in and now has a digital sharecropper model where poor people in Asia & South America take high interest loans to buy-in. Calling this the future of gaming is sick. https://www.vice.com/...
Starting to wonder if we should run the economy on giant crypto businesses where poor Filipinos play a Pokémon-style game to earn a meager living that can then be hacked for $625m losses overnight https://www.cnn.com/...
“Could the company guarantee that users would not be affected? Zirlin paused and looked away. 'There's no guarantees in crypto... But we'll do our best to figure it out.'” axie infinity cofounder is sounding a lot less sure than the confident official statements https://twitter.c…
Interesting. “We're not in as good position as we were yesterday...”. Yeah, “yesterday” nobody knew that you were $650 million dollars in the hole. How are your bailout negotiations going? Going with tether fraud bros or new hotness terra scam bros? https://twitter.com/... https:…
“Shortly after his first interview, which was on the record and recorded, Zirlin asked if CNN could run his answers by his PR team before publishing. CNN declined the request.” L O L 🤣🤣🤣 https://www.cnn.com/...
Black Mirror couldn't make up anything as dystopian as an obvious Ponzi scheme enlisting people from poor countries to play an online game for rentiers in rich countries who take half of their earnings. And Silicon Valley thinks this is the future of the internet! https://twitter…
The use of ‘sharecropping’ to describe Axie Infinity is a touch hyperbolic. If the paid player is not making money, they can close the screen and walk away. https://twitter.com/...
So @bigblackjacobin has written what I'd call the ultimate explainer on Axie Infinity here, along with a vast investigation into the horrible “scholars” that front the money for people to join Axie's vast ponzi scheme. Pure evil, well reported https://twitter.com/...
The cottage industry of becoming a boss in the metaverse is turning into big business. But every business has its ups and downs, and Axie is in a downswing. https://www.vice.com/...
A crypto game that enlisted people from poor countries to play an online game for rentiers in rich countries who take half of their earnings was sold by Silicon Valley as the future of the internet. Turns out it's just another way for rich tech folks to exploit the poor https://t…
Cool arc: Much-hyped crypto game Axie Infinity creates a bunch of wealth from thin air for early adopters Early adopters “loan” their Axies to people in the Global South, paying them a tiny pittance to grind for them and funnel the money up https://www.vice.com/...
Behold, the future of gaming: coming home from a real job to game, and having a boss yell at you for not grinding enough foozles. https://www.vice.com/...
To play Axie Infinity, you must buy NFTs & use them to generate tokens. Players too poor to afford NFTs borrow them from “managers” in exchange for as much as 75% of tokens. As the game's NFT trading & token prices have crashed, everyone's been screwed. https://www.vice.com/...