It’s not what drove web2
traditional gaming by 2027, as a matter of fact one company has even created its own web3 gaming machine. All of this shows a belief in gaming on web3 that is strong and hopeful.
You don’t have to take my word for it either , multiple companies believe that some sort of gamification is key to gaining mass adoption of the new technologies. Starbucks has created its Journeys system with Starbucks Odyssey rewarding users with “stars: for completing tasks or playing games. Verizon teamed up with Fortnite to produce a crowd for the Super Bowl that made history for the lowest attendance due to Covid.
Starbucks Odyssey
Venture firm Framework agrees that gaming is the future and now is the time to build. The co-founder of Framework Michael Anderson stated that now in the bear market it is probably the best time to build on web3 and invest in new startups and projects.
In an interview with Decrypt at the Mainnet Conference months ago he made the following statement: During the past Brandweek convention Solanews had the pleasure of participating in the final day which focused on web3 and the metaverse. As stated in an earlier article gaming will be what drives the metaverse and web3 , well gaming, art, and digital fashion to be exact. This is in stark contrast to what drove the growth and adoption of web2- which was porn, porn was the reason web2 made so much movement.
Ok perhaps I am a bit ahead of myself here, There have been multiple articles and texts written on why porn was the driving factor in the growth of the internet as we know it. One such text would be “The Erotic Engine” which discussed the influence of adult video on advances in mass communications. In a statement during an interview with The Web Observer the author of the text Patchen Barss stated how deep the connection goes:
“The people who put in the work to make the Internet go in those early days often did so because the reward was pornography – first text, then images, then video. Pornography created the demand for Internet access, and also created demand for higher speeds, more reliable connections, and better interfaces. Many estimates suggest that sexual content represented as much as 80 percent of traffic on the pre-World-Wide-Web Internet.”
Onlyfans made it easier for adult actresses and actors to build their fanbase and make bigger profits.
This is a lot to take in for some I know but looking back and doing research you will see that adult entertainment has been the reason for a lot of notable technology on web2 today, three top examples would be bandwidth, e-commerce, and video streaming. Pornographers were willing to bet on new technology that aided in the distribution, sale, sharing, and trading of content with other less adult constructs following after the technology was proven useful.
It may be very hard for some to accept that a platform that is generally deemed as sexist, exploitative and predatory could be the reason they can comfortably buy their next huggable Squishmallow bunny on Amazon, or watch the latest Korean drama on Netflix, but the fact remains that without the advances and chances taken on by adult industry execs the internet may not be what it is today.
Enter Web3
From multiple events, conventions, online chats, Twitter Spaces, Discord groups , and more the main focus of web3 has been all about interactivity, community, ownership, development, and gaming. Web3 gaming is on track to become the next big thing with some predicting it to eclipse
“The best entrepreneurs in the space are coming right now, We were lucky to have launched our last fund, we are investing very actively right now, and we are very excited about everything we see.”
Currently his thought process has not changed in the slightest as he made the following statement in a different Decrypt article.
Web3 Gaming brings opportunity for growth and profit
“Gaming, in our minds, is the category that is going to bring a hundred million people into Web3. They are going to have wallets, they are going to have Web3 addresses, and that’s the consumer adoption that we have been waiting for,”
This is basically the sentiment of anyone who builds on web3 right now, there are of course those that don’t like web3, hate NFTs, and want it all to go away but I tend to think that is a case of being blind to change and opportunity, web3 isn’t coming- it’s already here and people are building. This is the new silicon valley, the opportunity to make millions and dreams come true.
The internet does not need pornography to grow anymore sure the community will probably bring more innovation in the future but the growth and adoption of web3 and the metaverse may not be dependent on it, there is so much more push for art, gaming, and fashion, so much more room for adoption into many business strategies, so many new ways to improve education, this all takes the power away form adult entertainment and puts its back in the hands of the creators and dreamers.
