Crypto amplifies the “game” aspects of modern money. In essence, crypto is an infinite 24/7 global game.
By using the lens of gaming and gamification, we can gain some insights into crypto culture and behavior outside of the standard technological or macroeconomic lens.
—
For example, here are some well-known properties of games:
- achievements and progress bars
- branching choices
- leaderboards
- characters
- multi-player and single-player modes
- storylines
I’ll briefly review each element and provide some directions and examples of how it applies in crypto.
Achievements + progress bars
Making more money is its own achievement. Becoming a millionaire, for example, where your “net worth” is the progress bar. Or achieving accredited investor status.
In crypto, this behavior is amplified:
-X’s blue checkmark
-Becoming a crypto “whale”
-Holding specific high value NFTs (eg, a Punk)
-How many bitcoin or ethereum or doge you own (“doge millionaire”)
-The year you “joined” crypto (OG-ness)
-Wallet as progress bar – since wallets are public and trackable, you can see someone’s holdings and performance over time (in a manner)
Branching choices
Money is a limited resource. So when you own $100 of Solana, for example, that is $100 less of Ethereum that you can own. This itself is a branching choice, which leads to follow-on opportunities. For example, if you own ETH, it’s easier to invest in Ethereum L2 tokens and projects (like Optimism, Arbitrum). If you own SOL, you can buy Solana NFTs and stake your SOL.
Leaderboards
You can argue that crypto itself – due to its onchain nature – is one giant leaderboard.
There are tools like Whalestats and Bitcoin Rich List to see top holders in a typical leaderboard.
There are designations like “whale”, “orca”, “shrimp”, indicating size of holdings.
Every project is ranked by price, market cap, and a number of crypto-specific metrics via tools like Coingecko and DefiLlama.
NFT projects are measured by floor price and unique holders.
Characters
There is a strong culture of privacy in crypto despite data being onchain. Pseudonyms / anonyms are common and accepted (Hasu, PlanB, PunkXXXX) on X, Discord, Telegram, and so forth.
There is also widespread usage of NFTs as PFPs on X and other social media. People often have multiple accounts (in addition to multiple wallets) where each one is a “character” of sorts in the giant crypto game.
Multi-player and single-player modes
In crypto single player, your goal is to maximize gains (WAGMI, HFSP) and maximize influence (eg, your X following, tokens held for governance).
In crypto multi player, it’s things like (3,3), NFT PFP communities (Ape follow Ape), maxi culture, collective memes (price rollercoaster, just buy bitcoin, Agustin Carstens).
Storylines
Good storytelling in games increase emotional engagement and stories provide a superstructure for gameplay. Narrative is itself a meme in crypto culture, and a commonly accepted driver of price and engagement. Not only narratives (“POS will grow”) but meta-narrative (psy-ops).
Each token community and NFT project has its own nicknames, lore, and history. Bitcoin has Satoshi and the fork wars and Craig Wright (scammer). Eth has Vitalik and the DAO hack and Bankless. And so on.
Heroes (Michael Saylor) and villains (SBF, Gensler), rise and fall dynamics (Bitmex / Arthur, Ripple & SEC), collective storytelling and meaning-making via Discord, TG, X, and podcasts… when Michael Lewis writes a book about it, you know there is a good story to tell.
—
Not sure I have a sharp point or singular conclusion. There is another framing of crypto as a new religion (or a young growing cult). Maybe I’ll explore that in a future post.