Comment by apatters
4 years ago
I don't get how this is a bullshit job.
Gamer #1 likes to play the game. There are some parts he likes more than others.
Gamer #2 comes along and says, OK I will do the parts you don't like, and I'll sell my output to you for $XXX.
Gamer #1 agrees, the transaction takes place, it is entirely voluntary, and both participants find the outcome to be valuable for them.
How is this bullshit?
This is pretty much the reason we have money.
What sounds like bullshit to me is there is some... quasi-socialist I guess? value framework being imposed by some would-be intellectual who's totally uninvolved in the transaction, but thinks he knows better than the ones who are. Fuck that guy, he has no skin in the game.
I'm not familiar with the game in the article, but I think the author is referring to the inclusion of in-game tasks that have no benefit or reason to exist other than to create an artificial "requirement" for work of some sort.
Honestly though, who cares? Even if it's a "bullshit job", you can perform it from the relative comfort of your home, mostly on your own schedule; so it's better than most BS jobs in the real world. In my opinion, the more opportunities afforded to people to earn money, the better.
I do not know which definition is used here. But I would call this bullshit, because this is artificial scarcity which is controlled by grindy, non-constructive and typically non-fun work. The makers of the game could just sell the NFT directly instead of requiring other people to waste their time.