At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Axie Infinity emerged as a popular blockchain-based video game, offering players the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency tokens in exchange for their gaming time. However, the game’s fortunes shifted dramatically in 2022, when a significant crash in the broader cryptocurrency market coincided with a major hack that wiped out players’ earnings, prompting many users to abandon the platform.
A new study conducted by researchers at Cornell University delves into why a subset of players chose to remain engaged with Axie Infinity despite these setbacks. Jordan Ali, a doctoral student in information science, and Gili Vidan, an assistant professor in the same field, analyzed social media discussions from the Axie Infinity subreddit as well as posts on the blogging platform Medium. Their research, titled “Playing, Earning, Crashing, and Grinding: Axie Infinity and Growth Crises in the Web3 Economy,” documents the game’s evolution and the resilience of its player base.
The findings reveal that many players did not view themselves solely as victims of the game’s failure, but rather as active participants who employed strategies to navigate challenges and protect their investments. “Axie Infinity was one of the most, if not the most popular NFT play-to-earn video games that came out around the time of the pandemic,” Ali noted, adding that despite its difficulties, the game continues to operate in a modified format.
Critics have labeled Axie Infinity as a Ponzi scheme, pointing out that its model relies on a continuous influx of new players to sustain its economy. Yet, the game’s developer, Sky Mavis, aimed to push forward the concept of Web3. This represents a vision for the next phase of the internet where blockchain technologies enable users to have greater control over their data and digital assets, creating a decentralized, community-driven ecosystem. Proponents of Web3 advocate for this shift as a necessary evolution away from the current internet landscape, dominated by large technology companies that primarily benefit from user-generated content.
The study’s release in the journal Big Data & Society on July 21 offers critical insights into player behavior and the implications of digital economies, contributing to ongoing discussions about the future of online gaming and the potential of blockchain technologies. For a deeper exploration of these findings, interested readers can visit the Cornell Bowers website.
