The purpose of gamification in cryptocurrencies is to improve user engagement through game-thinking (Kabita, 2020; Rodrigues et al., 2019). Yet, it is unclear whether participants are motivated by the desire to have fun or to generate money. This study intends to explore the elements that encourage people to participate in cryptocurrency gamification by analysing perceived enjoyment, perceived profitability, and demographic variables. Data was obtained from Thai nationals residing in Thailand who have invested in digital assets or plan to in the future. Using multivariate logistic regression, statistically significant factors were identified. The data indicate that Thai investors’ interest in cryptocurrency gamification increases with age and student status. Also, people are attracted to the gamification of cryptocurrencies since they may be both interesting and lucrative. The study argues that it is essential to assess the risks associated with the gamification of cryptocurrencies. This will ensure that individuals who wish to earn money do not lose it. In addition, the likelihood of financial exploitation through cryptocurrency gaming must be evaluated. This is required because the risk of individuals being victimised through scams increases as the number of persons who play these games grows.
Web2 giants and Web3 projects entertain a complex relationship. They cooperate to maximize their chances of survival, yet they also compete through a combination of dynamic factors and anti-competitive strategies. The present contribution untangles Web2 and Web3’s relationship, explores their distinct value propositions, and outlines what may be one of tomorrow’s enforcement priorities for antitrust agencies.
The goal was to develop a concept for the useful application of tokens in the learning platform of the Blockchain Academy Mittweida (BCAM). Thereby, imparted knowledge about the blockchain should become tangible for users. Based on the research of existing concepts, different ideas were developed and their use was tested. In the process, the specifics of the e-learning sector as well as those of blockchain technology are considered. Combining tokenization, e-learning, and gamification, a token model was finally developed, which is technically based on a smart contract of the Ethereum Blockchain. The model includes tokens that users can collect and exchange for badges. The badges are in turn represented as NFTs.
This paper inquires into the dynamic imaginaries of the Ethereum project. We present Ethereum as animated by three such imaginaries: the world computer (technical), productive money (economic) and public goods (political). We examine how these imaginaries are materialized, carried forward and evolve through the Ethereum ecosystem, focusing on how Ethereum’s prefigurative logic underpins this dynamism. In our analysis, we pay particular attention to how the imaginaries overlap and often generate contradictions that nonetheless do not seem to undermine the cohesion of the project. We introduce the concept of ‘prefigurative imaginaries’ to describe how prefiguration works to create multiple, mutually entangled but distinct imaginaries.
Atte Oksanen, Heli Hagfors, Ilkka Vuorinen, Iina Savolainen
OBJECTIVES: Cryptocurrency trading has gained popularity over the last few years. Trading is facilitated by online platforms that enable 24/7 trading. Cryptocurrency trading is potentially attractive to gamblers, and it may increase their gambling problems. Furthermore, cryptocurrency trading might be a particularly harmful activity for those gambling offshore. We investigated whether cryptocurrency trading predicts excessive gambling over time. We also analyzed how cryptocurrency trading combined with offshore gambling is associated with excessive gambling. STUDY DESIGN: This was a population-based longitudinal survey study. METHODS: We surveyed a sample of Finnish people aged 18-75 years (N = 1022, 51.27% male) at three time points in 6-month intervals: April 2021 (T1), October to November 2021 (T2), and April to May 2022 (T3). Of the original T1 respondents, 66.80% took part in T2 and T3. Outcome measure was excessive gambling using the Problem Gambling Severity Index, and the predictor was cryptocurrency trading. We adjusted models for onshore and offshore gambling online, excessive gaming (Internet Gaming Disorder Test), excessive internet use (Compulsive Internet Use Scale), excessive alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), and sociodemographic background factors. We used multilevel regression models to investigate within-person and between-person effects. RESULTS: Cryptocurrency trading has increased in popularity over time. Within-person changes in cryptocurrency trading predicted increased excessive gambling. Excessive gambling was also generally more common among cryptocurrency traders. The full model that was adjusted for the number of confounding factors showed that cryptocurrency trading had a within-person effect on excessive gambling. Of the confounding factors, offshore online gambling, excessive gaming, and excessive internet use had within-person effects on excessive gambling. Offshore and onshore online gamblers and excessive gamers showed more excessive gambling than others. Those participants who were both cryptocurrency traders and offshore gamblers showed significantly higher rate of excessive gambling than others. CONCLUSIONS: Cryptocurrency trading is a risky activity and associated with a higher rate of excessive gambling over time. Such activity is especially risky among offshore online gamblers, who could view cryptocurrency trading as another form of gambling or as a way to make money for gambling. Policymakers and counselors should be aware of the risks of cryptocurrency trading.
People within the cryptocurrency world come together on imageboards and forums to tell stories about the highly volatile and uncertain world they inhabit. Although they engage with a highly technical digital money form, the stories they share online could be more productively analysed as digital folklore. Through ethnography primarily conducted via 4chan and Reddit, I highlight three types of stories, loosely grouped together within the categories of ‘despair’, ‘comedy’ and ‘courage’. Drawing parallels to folk and fairy tales, I explore how ‘netizens’ use these stories to engage with the uncertainty that characterizes cryptocurrencies. Consequently, I highlight how stories come to make the online cryptocurrency world more inhabitable, as well as allowing people to subvert and resist ‘economic reason’. By foregrounding storytelling, I highlight the fluid, intersubjective and collective actions that help to sustain a volatile and uncertain market that is favourable for those who take to online message boards.
Staples of early United States Internet meme culture were sold via digital auctions for cryptocurrency (except one, which was sold for cash) throughout 2021. Through these transactions, Internet memes, or “the linguistic, image, audio, and video texts created, circulated, and transformed by countless cultural participants across vast networks and collectives” (Milner 1), were “minted” as non-fungible tokens—a marker within cryptocurrency economy that denotes the level of originality or irreplaceability of an (often digital) artifact (Wired). Early 2021 saw Internet memes (memes, hereafter) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs, hereafter) articulated to one another when a series of trades ignited a “buying frenzy”. In February 2021, the original animation file of the Nyan Cat meme (a rendering of a flying cat with a Pop-Tart body) was sold for 300 Ethereum, or US$600,000 (Griffith; Kay); in April 2021, the original photo file of the Disaster Girl meme (an image of a smiling child in front of a burning home) sold for 180 ETH, or nearly US$500,000 (BBC News); in May 2021, the original video file of the viral YouTube video “Charlie Bit My Finger” (wherein an infant bites the finger of their older sibling with glee) was sold for US$760,999, but no cryptocurrency was exchanged for this auction (Evans); in June 2021, the original image of the Shiba Inu who became Doge (image of a dog looking contemplative, often with text around the dog’s face) was sold for a record-breaking (for memes) 1,696.9 ETH, or US$4 million (Rosenblatt). Other notable memes were sold around this time, such as Bad Luck Brian (an unflattering school picture of a teenager who became synonymous with embarrassing social situations), Overly Attached Girlfriend (wide-eyed teenager who was portrayed as obsessive over their significant other), and Success Kid (an infant clenching their fist with a sense of achievement), but for lower prices (Wired; Dash; Gallagher). All the memes sold during this frenzy feature either animals or white individuals, and none of the creators or subjects of the original files are Black. That said, mainstream Internet culture, specifically within the United States, is predicated upon the Othering and exploitation of Black cultural production (Brock 97, 124; Benjamin). The fungible constitution of US Black culture is replete within digital cultures, from contemporary discussions of digital blackface in white use of memes featuring Black folks to express emotion (J.L. Green; Jackson, “Digital Blackface”, White Negroes) and/or using imagery featuring Black folks without permission (J.L. Green; Nakamura; Matamoros-Fernández). The advent of meme-based NFTs, however, offers new areas of inquiry into the triangulation of race, fungibility, and US digital cultures. I approach this cultural phenomenon with two general queries: What cultural and racial legacies of non/fungibility are present in the dynamics of memes becoming NFTs? What are the implications in digital media and US culture? Fungibility and Black Cultural Production As this issue explores, fungibility is a quality of interchangeable, performing persons or objects, but a turn to US Afro-pessimism illustrates how fungibility is a central quality to racialisation. (Continental African scholars coined Afro-pessimism, and its original formulation was markedly different from the US counterpart, which emerged with little to no engagement with the existing African canon. Afropessimism 1.0, as Greg Thomas names it, focusses on the postcolonial economic conditions across the continent. Importantly, there is an undergirding optimism, “the urge to positive social change”, to the inquiries into the poverty, colonial extractivism, and more; Amrah qtd. in Thomas 283; Rieff; de B’béri and Louw.) Fungibility, in US-borne Afro-pessimist literature, is used to describe (1) a major tenet of slavery wherein Black bodies are treated as interchangeable objects rather than human actors, and (2) how the afterlife of slavery continues to structure everyday experiences for Black folks (Bilge; Hartman; Wilderson, III et al.). US Afro-pessimism argues that slavery instantiated an ontological structure that articulates humanity as irreconcilable with Blackness and further articulates whiteness as for what (or whom) the Black body performs and labours (Bilge; Douglass et al.; Wilderson, III and Soong). Within the US, the fungibility of the Black body means it is always already vulnerable to and violable by “the whims of the [non-Black] world” (Wilderson, III 56; see also: Hartman; Lindsey). Indeed, Wilderson, building off Hartman, asserts, “the violence-induced fungibility of Blackness allows for its appropriation by White psyches as ‘property of enjoyment’” (89). The fungibility of Blackness aides in white “transpos[ition of Black] cultural gestures, the stuff of symbolic intervention onto another worldly good, a commodity of style” (Wilderson, III 56). This expropriation of Black digital “imaginative labour” by US white mainstream culture is part and parcel to Internet practices (Iloh; Lockett; Jackson). bell hooks argues white US mainstream culture treats Black cultural production as the “spice, [the] seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture” (21). By the same token, US white mainstream culture “desire[s] … sustained ‘labor’ … of a dark Other” that seeks to contiunously exploit fungible Black production (31). The constitutive fungibility of Blackness enriches, even if just affectively, the non-fungibility of whiteness; this parasitic relationship has extended to digital culture, with white actors extracting Black meme culture. Internet memes, until the advent of NFTs, did not necessarily provide monetary gain for the creators or original owners. For example, the creator of the iconic phrase “on fleek”, Kayla Newman (aka Peaches Monroee) is regularly discussed when considering the exploitation of Black digital culture (Parham; Maguire; Hazlehurst). The term came from a Vine of Newman hyping herself up in the front-facing camera of her smartphone—“We in this bitch! Finna get crunk. Eyebrows on fleek. Da fuq”—and quickly went viral. Maguire’s insightful analysis of Newman’s viral fame underscores the exploitation and appropriation of Black girl cultural production within the US. Maguire turns toward the legal intricacies of copyright and property as Newman sought ownership of her iconic phrase; however, Vats’s work on the legal rhetorics of intellectual property note its racial exclusivity in the US. (Moreton-Robinson traces similar white supremacist ownership within Australian contexts.) Meaning, only white actors benefit from such legal rhetorics. These forbearances point to the larger cultural legacies of fungibility that alienate Black bodies from their cultural production. US Black digital culture is alienated from the individuals who perform the imaginative labour that benefits and enriches whiteness (Wilderson, III; hooks). The legacies of mass enslavement fundamentally structured the capital and libidinal economies of US culture (Wilderson, III et al.; Spillers; Brock), therefore it stands to reason, like other forms of hegemonic ideologies, that such structuring logics of anti-Blackness are foundational to digital US culture (Benjamin; Brock; Towns; Matamoros-Fernández). Iloh, Williams, and Michele Jackson separately argue that the foundation of mainstream US Internet culture is indebted to the labour of Black users. However, as Brock argues, US Internet culture is a medium by which whiteness marks itself as the default even though Black labour, individuals, and culture are regularly exploited to perpetuate white engagement. Jackson specifically notes that the white performance of US Black culture “financially, artistically, socially, and intellectually” rewards white and other non-Black actors for demonstrating their understanding of Black cultural productions (Jackson, White Negroes 5; see also: hooks; Nakamura). Black individuals are not (fairly) compensated for this labour, even as white individuals gain clout. Newman’s term “on fleek” became a staple of US Vine and broader Internet culture, spawning a hashtag (#EyebrowsOnFleek) and being featured in multiple brand commercials (Maguire). Newman notes that she did not consider trademarking the term because she did not realise how quickly it would spread, allowing corporations and other actors to capitalise on her term free of charge (Hazlehurst; Maguire). Usage of the term became a signpost of the in-crowd within US millennial popular culture (Maguire). However, when Newman later launched a hair extensions company utilising her phrase (On Fleek Hair Extensions), she was resoundingly criticised. During a GoFundMe campaign to jumpstart the business, white digital actors accused Newman of milking her fame (Parham; Hazlehurst; Maguire). Mainstream digital actors forbade Newman’s ownership of her own labour after exploiting her creation throughout its popularity, marking her imaginative labour as fungible. These cultural dynamics exemplify of how anti-Blackness proliferates US digital culture, marking Black cultural labour as fungible and as the (shared) property of white actors. Whiteness regularly dichotomises itself against Blackness, needing the denigration and de-humanisation of Blackness to constitute whiteness’s perceived racial superiority (Wilderson, III et al.; Hartman; Thomas). Since Blackness has been constituted as fungible, alienating the labouring bodies from their production, whiteness (implicitly) constitutes itself as non-fungible. Thus, under this paradigm, white actors, their bodies, and their (property’s) cultural production are constituted as non-fungible, as the foil to fungible Blackness. Of course, anti-Blackness uses fungibility as a means of enriching whiteness, first evidenced by the logics of the Atlantic Slave Trade and extending throughout contemporary US culture. Newman’s ico
Başta sinemacılar, yazarlar, reklamcılar, halkla ilişkiler uzmanları, oyun tasarlayanlar, dijital eser üretenler olmak üzere bütün hikâye anlatıcıları, hedef kitlelerine ulaşmak için transmedya anlatı öğelerini günümüzde artarak daha fazla kullanmaktadırlar. Bu çalışmada sanattan eğitime, yazın dünyasından pazarlamaya pek çok alanda kendine yer bulan transmedya hikâyeciliği anlatı türünün blok zinciri teknolojisine bağlanan sanat eserlerini ifade eden dijital varlıklar olan NFT’lere ne gibi katkılar sağlayacağı irdelenmiştir. Çalışmadaki temel amaç; NFT dünyasını transmedya hikâye anlatıcılığı çerçevesinde tartışmaktır. Literatür taramasına dayalı olarak yapılan bu çalışmada NFT’yi transmedya hikâye anlatıcılığı ile ele alarak, güncel NFT örnekleri üzerinden tartışmak hedeflenmiştir. Son birkaç yılda adından söz ettiren; literatürde hakkında henüz çok az sayıda çalışmanın olduğu NFT (Non-Fungible Token) dünyası yapısal özellikleri gereği transmedya hikâye anlatıcılığına uzak olmayan bir dünyadır. Sanatın üretiminden sanatla buluşan tüketici deneyimine kadar kalıcı değişimlere yol açan dijitalleşme; sonunda NFT ile -dijital para olarak tanımlanabilecek coin ve token’ların bir alt versiyonu olarak- hayatımıza girmiştir. Dijital pasaport olarak tanımlanabilecek olan NFT’ler tıpkı transmedya hikâye anlatıcılığında olduğu gibi farklı platformları harmanlayarak kullanıcıya dijital dünyaya seyahat etme imkânı sunmaktadır. Transmedya hikâyecilik anlatısının NFT dünyasına katkı sağlayabileceği gibi NFT’lerin de bir hikâye anlatım aracı olarak transmedya hikâye anlatımında kullanılan bir araç olabileceği görülmüştür. Her ikisi de çoklu medya kullanımı, hikâyeleştirme, oyunlaştırma stratejileri ve topluluklar tarafından beslenen kavramlardır. Bu noktada ortak paydada buluştuklarında dönüştürecekleri ve katkı sağlayacakları pek çok alan olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Yapılan literatür taramasında NFT ekosisteminin gelişmesi için NFT’lerin hikâye evrenine sahip olmasının öneminin vurgulandığı tespit edilmiştir. Bu bağlamda tıpkı transmedya hikâyecilikte olduğu gibi dijital oyunlar, uygulamalar, hayran kültürü, web siteleri gibi farklı araçlarla NFT’lerin hikâyelerini yaymak ve satın alan kişiyi de evrenin parçası yapmak önem taşımaktadır. NFT’lerin çoğalması ve üretiminin benimsenmesi ile birlikte alanda önemli bir piyasa oluşacağından gelecek yıllarda bu konuda daha fazla araştırma yapılacağı öngörülmektedir. Transmedya hikâyeciliği kapsamında konunun ele alınmasına literatürde hemen hemen hiç rastlanmadığından çalışmanın bu yönüyle öncü çalışmalardan biri olacağı düşünülmektedir. Bu çalışmada sanattan eğitime, yazın dünyasından pazarlamaya pek çok alanda kendine yer bulan transmedya hikâyecilik anlatı türünün blok zinciri teknolojisine bağlanan sanat eserlerini ifade eden dijital varlıklar olan NFT’lere ne gibi katkılar sağlayacağı irdelenmiştir. Çalışmadaki temel amaç; NFT’lerin transmedya hikâye anlatıcılığı çerçevesinde ele alınıp alınamayacağını tartışmaktır. Literatür taramasına dayalı olarak yapılan bu çalışmada NFT’yi transmedya hikâye anlatıcılığı ile ele alarak, güncel örnekler üzerinden tartışmak hedeflenmiştir. Transmedya hikâyecilik anlatısının NFT dünyasına katkı sağlayabileceği gibi NFT’lerin de bir hikâye anlatım aracı olarak transmedya hikâye anlatımında kullanılan bir araç olabileceği görülmüştür. Her ikisi de çoklu medya kullanımı, hikâyeleştirme, oyunlaştırma stratejileri ve topluluklar tarafından beslenen kavramlardır. Bu noktada ortak paydada buluştuklarında dönüştürecekleri ve katkı sağlayacakları pek çok alan olduğu tespit edilmiştir. NFT’lerin çoğalması ve üretiminin benimsenmesi ile birlikte alanda önemli bir piyasa oluşacağından gelecek yıllarda bu konuda daha fazla araştırma yapılacağı öngörülmektedir. Transmedya hikâyecilik kapsamında konunun ele alınmasına literatürde hemen hemen hiç rastlanmadığından çalışmanın bu yönüyle öncü çalışmalardan biri olacağı düşünülmektedir.
Ryan Francisco, Nelson Rodelas, John Edison Ubaldo
Purpose – This study aims to shed light on the rise of play-to-earn games in the Philippines alongside cryptocurrency. The lack of research and public understanding of its benefits and drawbacks prompted the researchers to investigate its market. As such, the study tried to look into the risks and benefits of crypto gaming if it would be regulated by the government, and how market volatility influences the churn rate of crypto games. Method – The research used a descriptive study to determine the perception of people who are engaged in playing “Axie Infinity”. The research also used non-probability sampling using the snowball method. The only tool used to collect data was Google Forms. Furthermore, the study used Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to analyze the descriptive data. Result – The results showed that most players spend their time playing Axie Infinity for about 1 to 4 hours a day. Predominantly, the return of investments for playing the game will take about 1 to 3 months. It also showed that these players agreed that there is a possible financial instability in a volatile market. With this, they have a high trust issue in terms of price manipulation, privacy and security, and its design and usability. Conclusion – Understanding the cryptocurrency market requires comprehending the perspective of the people who are engaged in a play-to-earn game, and their concerns are critical for any government actions aimed at regulating self-employed income earners playing (Non-fungible Tokens) NFT games in the Philippines. Recommendations – It is suggested that further research must be conducted to understand how self-employed Filipino income earners comprehend NFT gaming and cryptocurrency, impacting their level of interest and participation. Research Implications – Taxing NFT games without sound regulatory frameworks may result in the disarray of this alternative income source. Therefore, the government must tread carefully to avoid a market collapse or other unfavorable outcomes.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have gained considerable media attention and sparked growing public interest. NFTs are unique units of data recorded on a permanent ledger or blockchain. NFTs are used to record ownership of both physical and digital goods. Prominent sport organizations have embraced NFTs for innovative growth opportunities such as generating revenue via novel digital products (e.g., digital collectibles). For example, the National Basketball Association (NBA) launched NBA Top Shot, an online marketplace to buy and sell digital sports highlights. Sport organizations are exploring future innovation opportunities where there is a need to reliably track and verify authenticity or ownership of digital or digitizable assets. This includes existing sport products (e.g., tickets) and novel fan engagement initiatives. To benefit from NFTs, sport managers need to reconceptualize how sport is marketed and managed in a digital domain. The purpose of this research primer is to acquaint readers with key concepts related to NFTs. Specifically, we provide an overview of NFTs, offer a review of the brief history of NFTs, conceptualize NFTs via parallels with collectibles, and address the speculative nature of the NFT market. We conclude by outlining innovative growth opportunities of NFTs for sport managers and future research directions for sport management scholars.
Open access
5 source records
Digital Games and Media
Sports Analytics and Performance
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Web3’s current applications mostly revolve around financial systems; yield farming, lending and borrowing, token swaps, bridges, and many more. Applications with social features in mind have started to take light, as well as more incentives for creators to join Web3. This paper aims to explain an idea involving listen-to-earn mechanics, the concept that users could be compensated for their time listening to music. I explain how artists could benefit significantly from this mechanic if implemented correctly. I also analyze how a platform like this can change the music industry and bring more mainstream attention to Web3, thus increasing users. I detail some paths to success and sustainability for a project such as this, as well as some potential issues I see. Benefits and incentives for artists and content creators using Web3’s technologies, such as DAOs and NFTs, are also explained in this paper. I explain the potential implications that Web3 could bring to the music industry and how artists and content creators can have better, more engaging communities while also being paid much more than they were using Web2’s platforms. These findings alleviate the misconceptions that Web3’s technologies will hurt content creators and show a path towards sustainability in the music industry.
La pandemia ha definito diverse declinazioni della liveness nella dimensione digitale. Tra i settori più colpiti e che hanno dovuto reinventare linguaggi e forme comunicative, accanto al teatro quello della musica live (il tema disciplinare sul quale vogliamo riflettere). L’industria musicale, da sempre fortemente legata alla prossimità fisica, al necessario rapporto con la strada, inteso come luogo d’ispirazione e nutrimento (immaginiamo le subculture giovanili: dai teddy boys, ai mods, dal movimento hippie, al punk, dall’hip hop alla trap) si è tenacemente reinventata negli ultimi anni negli innovativi spazi digitali: dai social network ai concerti sui videogames (sperimentando un nuovo modo di comunicare e dando vita ad un rinnovato immaginario). Attraverso questo saggio si intende procedere verso una ricognizione e analisi delle pratiche della liveness multimediali, transmediali, intermediali nell’ambito musicale esaminando, in particolare, come gli NFT musicali (Non Fungible Tokens) si siano rivelati come una delle strade più promettenti per continuare a mantenere il legame emotivo, culturale ed identitario tra i performer e i fans. E gettando le basi per un’economia alternativa futura.
Purpose Based on the concepts confined in Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study investigates users' attitudes towards adoption of a blockchain-based framework in the esports industry that proposes a scheme of rewarding stakeholders for their invested attention along with blockchain technology's inherent protocols. Design/methodology/approach The present study uses RStudio (Version 1.3.1093) package RedditExtractoR for scraping and analysis of the discussion referring to the keyword “Verasity” on the Reddit website. The final corpus of 1,913 user comments was considered for the study. Sentiment analysis was initially conducted to explore the semantic orientation of the users concerning Verasity. This was followed by generalized equation modeling to analyze the impact of social media attributed to the users' commenting behavior. Findings The study found that Redditors, in general, have a positive attitude towards the adoption of a blockchain-based esports platform. This was validated through the empirical findings. The regression model states that there is a significant positive impact of the positivity in the comments over the Redditors' attitude and in their commenting behavior. Originality/value This study offers a new understanding of key contributing attributes of sentiment formation over social media concerning a blockchain-based esports framework. The study also establishes an empirical relationship between the social media attributes and the commenting behavior of Redditors. Finally, the current study offers valuable insights into social media engagements and the selection of highly influential Redditors for practicing marketing managers.
The remediation of analog trading card games into digital platforms troubles notions of ownership and highlights the flows of capital through the ecologies of TCGs that previously relied on material artifacts. $2 is a digital trading card game that utilizes Non-Fungible Tokens to address concerns over ownership. However, in the wake of the sale of a $69 Million dollar NFT at Christie's art auction, crypto-art has been embroiled in discourse with respect to artist exploitation, environmental, and other concerns endemic to blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies. This paper examines the implications of NFTs in digital card games via the material histories of trading card games and the way digital TCGs accelerate the extraction of capital from player communities by bypassing traditional secondary markets. $2 proposes to solve these issues of ownership and assure players their cards will retain their value. However, the game relies on the continued existence of the publisher's platform, blockchain infrastructure, and player interest. The game also ignores how cards become valuable. Despite mimicking the artificial scarcity associated with TCGs, it does not take into account the impact metagame trends have on the value of cards. By looking at NFT implementations in games such as $2 we can identify several issues with the technology that might otherwise be overlooked in favor of more common critiques. This also highlights several implications remediation and adaptation herald for digital versions of analog games.
Atte Oksanen, Eerik Mantere, Ilkka Vuorinen, Iina Savolainen
OBJECTIVES: Online platforms enable real-time trading activities that are similar to those of gambling. This study aimed to investigate the associations of traditional investing, real-time stock trading, and cryptocurrency trading with excessive behavior and mental health problems. STUDY DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional population-based survey. METHODS: The participants were Finnish people aged 18-75 years (N = 1530, 50.33% male). Survey asked about monthly regular investing, real-time stock-trading platform use, and cryptocurrency trading. The study had measures for excessive behavior: gambling (Problem Gambling Severity Index), gaming (Internet Gaming Disorder Test), internet use (Compulsive Internet Use Scale), and alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). Psychological distress (Mental Health Inventory), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale), COVID-19 anxiety, and perceived loneliness were also measured. Background factors included sociodemographic variables, instant loan taking, and involvement in social media identity bubbles (Identity Bubble Reinforcement Scale). Multivariate analyses were conducted with regression analysis. RESULTS: Within the sample, 22.29% were categorized into monthly regular investors only, 3.01% were investors using real-time stock-trading platforms, and 3.59% were cryptomarket traders. Real-time stock-trading platform use and cryptocurrency trading were associated with younger age and male gender. Cryptomarket traders were more likely to have an immigrant background and have taken instant loans. Both real-time stock-trading platform use and cryptomarket trading were associated with higher excessive behavior. Cryptomarket traders especially reported higher excessive gambling, gaming, and internet use than others. Cryptomarket traders reported also higher psychological distress, perceived stress, and loneliness. CONCLUSIONS: Regular investing is not a risk factor for excessive behavior. However, rapid online trading platforms and applications were significantly more commonly used by participants reporting excessive behavior and mental health problems. The strong association between cryptomarket trading and excessive behavior in particular underlines the need to acknowledge the potential risks related to real-time trading platforms.
Alesha Serada, Tanja Sihvonen, J. Tuomas Harviainen
This article analyzes specific characteristics of value created through digital scarcity and blockchain-proven ownership in cryptogames. Our object of study is CryptoKitties, the first instance of a blockchain-based game that has garnered media recognition and financial interest. The objective of this article is to demonstrate the limits of scarcity in value construction for owners of CryptoKitties tokens, manifested as breedable virtual cats. Our work extends the trends set out by earlier cryptocurrency studies from the perspective of cultural studies. For the purpose of this article, we rely on open blockchain analytics such as DappRadar and Etherscan, as well as player-created analytics, backed by a one-year-long participant observation period in the said game for research material. Combining theoretical cryptocurrency and Bitcoin studies, open data analysis, and virtual ethnography enables a grounded discussion on blockchain-based game design and play.
With the support of the blockchain systems, the cryptocurrency has changed the world of virtual assets. Digital games, especially those with massive multi-player scenarios, will be significantly impacted by this novel technology. However, there are insufficient academic studies on this topic. In this work, we filled the blank by surveying the state-of-the-art blockchain games. We discuss the blockchain integration for games and then categorize existing blockchain games from the aspects of their genres and technical platforms. Moreover, by analyzing the industrial trend with a statistical approach, we envision the future of blockchain games from technological and commercial perspectives.
The new media occupies a wide range of different areas of our daily lives, one of that is the question of national identity and culture. If we focus on the development of the new media and the Internet, we will find that there are many questions and concerns about the Kurdish identity and its culture have come into being, with this development, ringing like bells of dangers, want to alert the media, educational and cultural institutions to do more scientific efforts to study those fears.
Games have their own economic models. Today, players can not only collect digital currencies, but they can also use real currencies to buy virtual goods. Business models in games such as freemium and in-app purchases, for example, sustain this structure. Within this context, there is also the expansion of models outside the game realm like eSports, which happens in the form of tournaments. With this, there is constant exchange of value that emerges from games, which could also include the use of cryptocurrencies. In this chapter, we give an overview of the current state of the art of economic models within games and eSports. The current chapter aims to situate and analyse the application of these business models derived from games, e-sport and the future of ludic economies.
Kriptovalute su digitalni novac utemeljen na kriptografiji i decentraliziranom sustavu. Postoje samo u elektroničkom obliku kao jedinstveni digitalni novčići ("tokeni"). Iza njih ne stoji autoritet države niti ih je moguće svojevoljno proizvesti. Rad se fokusira na značajkama, postavkama, razvoju i svim međuodnosima važnih ekonomskih faktora koji utječu na kriptovalute. U prvom poglavlju navedena su obilježja kriptovaluta. Drugo poglavlje daje primjere i govori o primjeni kriptovaluta u svakodnevnom životu. U trećem poglavlju je raspravljano o trenutnim i budućim regulacijama najmoćnijih zemalja svijeta (G20) , kao i njihovoj zajedničkoj suradnji u želji za jedinstvenim i standardiziranim pravilima, a sve u svrhu što kvalitetnijeg nadzora nad kriptovalutama kako bi se spriječile malverzacije i zaštitili potrošači. Četvrto poglavlje govori o inicijalnoj ponudi kovanica, a peto poglavlje je namijenjeno sigurnosti kriptovaluta. Cilj istraživanja je utvrditi koliko je studentska populacija upoznata i usmjerena prema novim oblicima digitalnog novca, koje značajke kriptovaluta smatraju pozitivnima, a koje negativnima i u kojoj su mjeri investirali ili su spremni investirati dio svojih ulaganja u kriptovalute i sl. Metode istraživanja korištene u radu su kompilacija na temelju proučavanja postojeće literature o temi rada, prikupljanje i analiza podataka vezanih uz kriptovalute, ponajprije podataka vezanih uz cijene i tržišnu kapitalizaciju, anketiranje studenata Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci i metoda dedukcije putem koje su pokazane sve važne karakteristike i obilježja kriptovaluta. Na temelju provedene ankete u kojoj je sudjelovalo 90 studenata Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci zaključak toga dijela istraživanja je da je mlada populacija dobro upoznata s kriptovalutama i njenim glavnim značajkama, ali i određenim nedostatkom informiranosti o tehnologiji (trećina studenata nije čula za pojam "blockchain") i nedovoljnoj odlučnosti oko investiranja i trgovanja u kriptovalute. Povrh toga, dokazan je i negativan utjecaj hakerskih napada i određenih kriminalnih radnji, kao i nestabilnost tržišne cijene na povjerenje studenata, ali i ukupne populacije vezane uz globalni financijski sustav u kriptovalute. Ishod istraživanja omogućio je da zaključimo kako su kriptovalute trenutno u ranoj fazi razvoja i nisu se dovoljno implementirale za široku primjenu u trgovini roba i usluga ili općenito kao sredstvo razmjene. Faktor koji je uključen u istraživanje kako bi opisao veličinu, odnosno obujam neke kriptovalute je tržišna kapitalizacija u dolarima. Temeljna ideja ovog rada je informirati čitatelja o pozitivnim i negativnim značajkama koje se se vežu uz kriptovalute. Na taj način čitatelji će biti bolje informirani i educirani o potencijalnom riziku ulaganja u kriptovalute, kao i većoj razini zaštite prilikom posjedovanja neke digitalne valute.