Drill Music NFTs
Can A Metaworld Help Stop Chicago Gun Violence?
FōNem | CryptoOpps is a gamified NFT collection and metaworld that seeks the answer to this question.
Metaworlds can serve as tools that can be used to chip away at the root causes of violence in cities like Chicago. This claim raises the obvious question. What are the root causes of violence in these cities? The answer is complicated. But it most certainly involves a city’s youth and includes the trifecta of poverty and hopelessness undergirded by a poor and irrelevant (perhaps, impractical) public education system. With seemingly no other opportunities available to them, it’s not hard to understand why so many of a city’s youth gravitate to the drug trade, which is itself a source of violence around the globe.
In order to attack these root cause issues, a metaworld must provide an alternate reality with
- meaningful economic opportunity (goals)
- meaningful example alternatives (realism)
- a meaningful education (roadmap)
Put another way, a metaworld must present a desirable economic goal for which the youth can strive, show that the goal is realistic and achievable, and then provide a roadmap, or clear set of instructions, for achieving the goal.
Metaworlds based on blockchain and other Web 3.0 technologies have the ability to deliver on all three dimensions. I believe in this so firmly that I have put my money where my mouth is. It is my reason for creating CryptoOpps (pronounced crypto-Opps).
CryptoOpps, as a metaworld, is a platform for change.
- Changing narratives through storytelling and engagement
- Changing outcomes by providing economic opportunity
- Changing participation levels (in the Web 3.0 ownership economy) through meaningful and deliberate education
Goals
In order for a metaworld to be effective in the effort to stop inner city violence, it must present a credible alternative to the status quo. Focusing on poverty as a root cause of the violence, it is easy to understand that a metaworld must provide meaningful economic opportunity.
To young people living in violence-plagued neighborhoods, the drug game, the stick-up game, and the finesse game (scamming) are well-known for the economic opportunities that they provide. So in order to capture market share from the status quo, a metaworld must demonstrate multiple avenues for people to generate personal income. Even if the income streams associated with the metaworld are less lucrative than the status quo, the metaworld can still compete by compensating with the value of occupational risk reduction. For instance, one is less likely to go to jail flipping NFTs than flipping coke. So after accounting for legal fees and years of life lost, the metaworld has one coming out on top.
The existing violence in these communities is often born out of disputes and rivalries associated with the drug trade. Therefore, it stands to reason that reducing drug trade participation levels must put downward pressure on the levels of associated violence.
Realism
Often times, community outreach efforts fall on deaf ears. This is because the target audience cannot really see themselves in the alternative scenarios on offer. To them, it’s just not real.
If my mind can conceive it
And my heart can believe it,
Then I can achieve it.— Muhammad Ali
They’ve seen people from their neighborhood make it as “big time” drug dealers. They’ve seen people from their neighborhood make it as drill rappers. Some have even seen people from their neighborhood make it in sports. So they know that those things are, at least, achievable; despite the abysmal odds.
For a metaworld to break through, it’s not enough to just provide a dream. The target audience needs to see concrete evidence that the alternatives that they are being promoted are real and, in fact, realistically possible for them.
Now all the little soldiers wanna roll with my team
Cause I ain’t sold’em a dream, I just showed ’em the cream—Shawn “ Jay Z” Carter, Paper Chase
In effect, the metaworld must show receipts. Armed with proof that the alternative opportunities are real, people will be more inclined to pursue those opportunities than to engage in risky or violent behaviors. Give a person something to live for, they are more likely to choose life over death.
Roadmap
Kids often reject community outreach efforts as unreal when they are not presented with a clear path from A to Z. It’s easy for some outsider to come in and say, “Hey. Don’t sell drugs. Be a lawyer, instead.” These kids know, without anyone stating the obvious, that their schools are not preparing them to enter undergraduate college, let alone law school. Unsurprisingly, that alternative is not real to them. It’s just words.
So how can a metaworld make alternatives to the status quo real to the kids in these neighborhoods who desperately need alternatives to the status quo? A metaworld can offer step by step instructions and education that, if followed, lead directly to the outcomes on offer.
I can show you better than I can tell you
— Ancient Street Proverb
Trade schools are a great example, here. Unlike other schools that teach skills that are not necessarily directly applicable to the practical objectives, trade schools cut out the fluff. Knowledge of eighteenth century English literature is not a requirement for most trades. If a student takes some very specific training courses that are directly related to being a mechanic, then that student can be sure that they will have a good shot at earning an income as a mechanic, upon completing the training.
It’s often not enough to merely make people aware of alternatives and opportunities. Left to their own devices, many people will give up or not even try because they often do not know where to begin. A metaworld that provides clear instructions on how to take advantage of the available opportunities is much more likely to increase engagement than ones that do not.
[As an aside, this is more in line with the Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee University school of thought than it is with the more cerebral W. E. B. DuBois perspective. It’s not that one is correct or the other is not. It is more that one is a platform or launching pad for the other. Think Maslow’s hierarchy.]
Historically, metaworlds have been looked upon as tools of escapism. But with advances in technology, we are finding that they can, in fact, impact and improve our realities. And a metaworld can absolutely be brought to bear to make a positive impact on some of our societal ills, like inner-city violence. As long as the metaworld creates real economic opportunities for the disaffected youth, with clear guidance on how to take advantage of those opportunities, it can help stem the tide of inner-city gun violence. This assertion is not yet proven, however. It is currently just a theory. But it is a theory that is being put to the test by CRYPT00PPS.
FōNem | CryptoOpps
CryptoOpps, as a metaworld, is a platform for change.
- Changing narratives through storytelling and engagement
- Changing outcomes by providing economic opportunity
- Changing participation levels (in the Web 3.0 ownership economy) through meaningful and deliberate education
CryptoOpps has been architected from the ground up to create a virtuous cycle between the platform and the community.
Stay tuned. You won’t want to miss this!
Inspired by Chicago Drill Music, FōNem (aka The Homies) is a collection of 10,000 randomly generated but intentionally curated CryptoOpps NFTs — unique digital collectibles that live on the Ethereum blockchain. Learn more at https://www.crypt00pps.io.
