(On Legitimacy of Blockchains - 16)
No matter which consensus mechanism we choose to use, it seems that a tendency of it to give birth to some kind of monopoly is just as self-evident as a law of nature. PoW (Proof of Work), PoS (Proof of Stake), PoI (Proof of Identity), PoSt (Proof of Spacetime), and other myriads of distributed protocols, regardless of how decentralizd their methods of operation are, all evince their own tendencies to continually accumulate small imbalances in the distribution of authoritative power, which can reasonably be expected to undergo a snowball effect of plunging themselves into a state of eventual centralization. For those who are aware of subtle flaws in the so-called "decentralized future", the promise that Web3 will lead the tomorrow of our financial system summons nothing more or less than an endless stream of doubts.
There is one remaining consensus algorithm, however, which possesses a unique power so witful enough to overcome the force of nature which would otherwise lead us to the peril of anarcho-capitalism. And that is, P2E (Play to Earn) game applications.
Now, I do not necessarily mean any class of P2E games when I mention this particular terminology. There are, without a doubt, countless examples of web games which brand themselves as "P2E" yet fail to showcase anything more than age-old Ponzi schemes, quasi-gambling, and tax evasion. Most of them are examples of nasty attempts to rip off people's wallets by making them reflect upon their fear of missing out the latest trends.
The kind of Play-to-Earn games which I am mentioning here have nothing to do with any of their notorious forms of trickery, such as trying to convince the audience that an unreasonably high price of "owning" a digital asset (e.g. NFT) is fully justified, or trying to sell people a notion that they can instantly turn themselves into millionaires by purchasing a couple of cheesy-looking collectibles in a videogame and fiddling with them in a virtual auction. It is not my intention to promote engagement in any of these groundless activities.
The kind of P2E games which I consider to be legitimate are ones which leverage the very nature of gameplay itself as the core mechanic of consensus in their blockchain framework.