Play to Earn Model: Bots Aren’t Your Enemy
But they’re not your friend either.
I’m a big fan of play to earn models for games. While a play to earn model isn’t necessary, I think that any game where you could end up spending hundreds, or even thousands of dollars a year, just to remain competitive, should have a play to earn model.
For better or worse, online play to earn games draw in a lot of bots. These bots are automated programs that are coded to be able to play the game. Some do better than others, but the idea is that if they do well enough, they can earn enough to be profitable.
So bots are stealing from earnings that players could be making. Or are they? Economics says otherwise.
Connection: High Frequency Trading Algorithms
The closest analog to gaming bots is HFT algorithms. These algorithms too are often seen as negatives. A lot of people hate that HFT is a major component of modern stock markets. And yet, without HFT and day traders in general, we’d have a major problem in the market: insufficient liquidity.
