Research Summary
The report delves into the complex world of onchain games, exploring the intersection of games and crypto. It examines the challenges and opportunities of decentralized applications, the dynamics of designing for emergence, and the limitations of existing gaming platforms. The document also outlines the technical constraints, open problems, and research directions in onchain game development. Furthermore, it discusses the financialization of composability, metagame stagnation, and the viability of fully onchain games, suggesting a potential shift towards a hybrid approach.
Key Takeaways
Onchain Games: The Intersection of Games and Crypto
- Challenges and Opportunities: The report explores the potential of onchain games, highlighting the challenges in identifying what onchain games uniquely enable and the possibilities of decentralized applications.
- Designing for Emergence: The focus on mods and open economies as attack vectors for onchain games, with examples like Minecraft and EVE, illustrates the dynamics and long-term effects of this approach.
- Limitations and Fragmentation: The report discusses the limitations of existing games in terms of modding and fragmentation, emphasizing the need for a more cohesive and expandable gaming universe.
Technical Constraints and Open Problems
- Infrastructure Challenges: The document outlines the technical constraints that limit game design, including the slow and clunky EVM, high costs, and low scale, and suggests potential solutions like rollup scalability.
- Research Directions: It identifies research areas such as Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), MACI, and Custom Rollups, which could address the unique aspects and comparisons of onchain games.
- Game Design Limitations: The report highlights the inherent challenges in onchain game design, such as incomplete information, automation & collusion, and ticking, and the need for innovative solutions.
Financialization, Metagame Stagnation, and Onchain Viability
- Composability and Financialization: The document delves into the financializing nature of composability in onchain games, discussing the challenges of incentive compatibility and proposing research directions like Antifragile Design and Orderflow Auctions.
- Metagame Stagnation: It explores the tendency of onchain games towards stagnation, discussing the need for autonomy, seasonality, automated feedback, and novel governance mechanisms.
- Should Games be Fully Onchain?: The report questions the viability of fully onchain games, considering the unique enablement and challenges, and suggesting that a hybrid approach with offchain infrastructure might be more practical.
Actionable Insights
- Invest in Research: Focus on research areas such as TEEs, MACI, and Custom Rollups to overcome technical constraints and open problems in onchain game development.
- Embrace Hybrid Approaches: Consider the viability of fully onchain games and explore hybrid solutions that combine offchain game infrastructure with onchain assets and DeFi interoperability.
- Develop Anti-Stagnation Strategies: Implement strategies like seasonality, automated feedback, and novel governance mechanisms to prevent metagame stagnation and encourage continuous innovation.
- Consider Financialization: Understand the financializing nature of composability in onchain games and develop solutions that leverage financialization without being consumed by it.
