Reflections of an old gamer

This post started as a streaming test using DLive and OBS - hence the first tag, "dlive". I ended up unwittingly posting a black stream ... embarassing. Especially since 14-year olds seem to have no trouble at all streaming their Fortnite sessions on DLive. I was suddenly feeling very, very old and clueless.

So I thought I would try to make the best out of a bad situation. Since the post is on the blockchain already, I'll use it to follow through on the general reflection from my previous article. The point I was making there: blockchain software and cryptocurrencies enable custom-tailored micro-economies that our current God-like monetary system would not have permitted.

And Dlive is a pretty good illustration of that point: Dlive is used in significant proportion by young people playing video games and streaming their gaming sessions. Being from an older generation, I admit I can't quite make sense of that. To be sure, I understand about playing games - I used to play a lot and still play computer and board games quite often. What I don't understand is ... WATCHING OTHERS play ...? I mean, I always thought the whole point of playing was to learn by doing ... But never mind. Thing is, youngsters these days congregate to both play and WATCH OTHERS play - they put value and are ready to spend time watching their peers playing.

Admittedly, their time is not otherwise much valued by society. Not only that, but in the world of grown-ups playing games is looked down upon and spending time watching other people play is downright impossible to comprehend. This is why, despite my secret hopes (I was pretty good at playing Civilization), I always knew one cannot choose a career of ... computer games player.

9gag.com feels like it's mining - you were warned

Down with the gerontocracy!

Enter the steem blockchain and the whole app ecosystem around: Dlive, Utopian, Busy, DTube, Steemit. All powered by the STEEM currency, the attraction of which springs ultimately from the ability it offers to interact and influence the community of people gravitating around this custom-built system. STEEM holds an implicit promise: as the number of steemians grows, holding influnce in this small world becomes more attractive - and buying STEEM and powering up is one of the most direct ways of gaining influence.

When all the hype and craze around cryptocurrencies would have died out, the value of STEEM will come from it being a direct way to wield influence in the Steemian community. At that point, the balance would have, ever so slightly, levelled up. It won't be only the youngsters who'll need to find boring occupations in order to earn "grown-up money". The boring grown-ups too will have to offer something up: putting some of their fiat money into acquiring the STEEM they need to engage with, interact and influence the young DLivers, DTubers and Utopians.

picture found on a romanian blog

If you feel like exploring this line of thinking further, I recommend something complementary, written 9 months ago by @teamsteem in this post. Once people start finding fulfillment in interacting around the steem blockchain (and possibly others, in the future), the resulting community will "pop-up" in its own right on "the radar" of the boring, "Fiat Money"-worshipping world.