Digital Token Scavenger Hunts for Scarcity
Digital scavenger hunts once existed…
From 2012–2017, there was a week-long scavenger hunt called The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES). It started as a way for actor Misha Collins to engage the audience in the People’s Choice Awards for the show Supernatural.
On the first day of the contest, the GISHWHES website posts a list of 150 different tasks to complete during the event. Teams then submit videos or photos completing the prompts and they are awarded points based on completion and creativity for the tasks. Prizes included a trip to Scotland and Vancouver with Collins.
Collins did something that nobody has ever done before. He allowed anyone to participate in a global, digital race, stepping outside their comfort zone and contributing to the world.
With its second event, GISHWHES broke the Guinness World Record for the largest scavenger hunt in the world with 14,580 participants from 69 countries. In 2017, Collins announced it would be the last GISHWHES.
Digital Races for Scarcity
GISHWHES required users to submit proof-of-completion or ownership with videos or photos. All proof must be processed by a centralized group of judges to determine if the task was carried out, and a decision would be made. This drastically reduces the scale and efficiency of this format.
….But with blockchain and proven digital ownership, we can verify ownership of digital assets, trustlessly.
We can now run a version of GISHWHES that is global, trustless, and scalable, allowing not only anyone in the world to participate, but anyone to host their own global digital scavenger hunt.
Blockchain wallets hold tokens. Tokens represent some form of ownership of a digital asset. We can acquire tokens in a variety of ways (marketplaces, games, smart contracts, proof-of-work). We can verify we’ve done some task, or have earned it by some other means, using blockchain.
Digital scavenger hunts can now be truly digital, as we roam the Internet to collect tokens which might be valuable to not only the native platform, but a quest. We can now have a digital scavenger hunt to collect tokens and receive some scarce reward, by acquiring tokens through different platforms on the Internet, AND in real-life, using proof-of-location protocols like FOAM.
We can use those acquired items to craft rewards on Crafty. Crafty now becomes a digital scavenger hunt platform rather than just a way to craft tokens.
Permissionless Cross-Collaboration
Any non-fungible token can now have additional utility. First they were just a cryptocollectible. Cryptocollectibles are unique, scarce, digital assets that are programmable. In addition to non-fungible tokens being a cryptocollectible, they’re now also a way to show off a completion of a task.
All smart contracts can now reward a unique token to that task, instead of a store of value. The token, while itself is invaluable, is valuable when it is put into a larger context. Any developer, or creator, can partner up to create interoperable quests without each other’s permission.
The first quest already exists in CryptoStrikers. You can turn a CryptoKitty into a pack of cards. Imagine acquiring tokens in dApps and real-life in order to get access to a concert ticket (ERC721). Brands will be able to sell the experiences of obtaining the ticket rather than the ticket themselves.
As always, non-fungibles are a digital, scarce, sound good. The rewards from the quests, as they are non-fungible, can now be scarce as well. Creators will be able to set the limit on how many rewards exist, creating an on-demand race between users globally.
Creators and Developers now create extensible stories, without any developer’s permission. This enables any individual to create a digital scavenger hunt, at any time, using multiple tokens from more than one platform, to create a story for a player, just like Collins did.
We can even re-create the quest from Ready Player One by having users craft keys after receiving a token for completing a task from different decentralized applications!
I like to write about the weirdness of the interoperability of tokens in my weekly non-fungible token newsletter, Not-So-Fungible Weekly. You can check it out here.
