I have been in the blockchain for about 4 years now starting in then Steemit and then disappearing for some stretches of time either because busy working or getting lost in the world of video games when life turns to shit. Video games has always been my form of escapism.
Yet I always go back to Steem and then I transitioned over to Hive when I read the hostile takeover and how Steem - Hive - and Blurt forked and I made a choice to not cross-post as I felt that Hive closely resembles the ideals that I have then.
I have always seen this platform as being able to share ideas and encourage people to adopt and learn more about the technology and its use. From the decentralization of power and knowledge to its economic and social use ( I am still waiting for the blockchain use in electoral votes to if not to completely remove electoral fraud to at least mitigate it to some degree.)
The technology has continued to gain different use case and utilities. One aspect that really caught the attention of people were Play to Earn games like Splinterlands and Axie Infinity. I have a distinct advantage in Splinterlands as I was one of the first pioneers that were active in writing the lores, joining contests, playing the game.
Axie Infinity at the time of the pandemic opened economic doors to a lot of my countrymen as they went full throttle and invested time, money and resources as from simple players it morphed into these so called "academies" and "cooperatives" that created managers and players often called scholars who would split the ingame tokens of SLP. This further created entrepreneurial breeders who saw the demand for the monsters bred their way into thousands of dollars.
At one point it was said that the player base of the game constituted 40% from the Philippines. It was wild.
Then the game updates and nerfs happened and turned a lot of people away that only saw that it put a dent in their profits and investments but did not understand the game mechanics why there are a constant need for balances and changes or else the game will become stagnant. Anyway, that deserves a different kind of analysis.
At this point cryptocurrency and its technology has captured the attention and use of a lot of people that if asked 4 years ago would have said that it is a scam. I have come such a long way from getting duped into get-rich quick schemes and double your bitcoin scams to reading whitepapers and DYOR. It is here to stay.
It should make it near impossible to fraud. Just think how many votes have been cast here, or how many transactions on the bitcoin blockchain - 100% accuracy, even under attack.
I have heard that Axie is making some pretty bad decisions for its older users now - cutting them out and banning "assets" - if they are doing that, nothing on the chain is actually owned by the players - I don't play, but maybe you know.
I don't see BC and crypto going anywhere downhill fast - though the price will fluctuate on the FUD :)
When I was still active in the EOS blockchain that was one thing that we were encouraging to be built and when the idea was presented to some politicians well not surprising they didnt like it hahaha eliminating a possible way to cheat votes would mean death to political families
Yes there have been several seemingly bad decisions that are alienating older users as most people were able to coast through the content and have a guaranteed crypto coin regardless of skill. Specifically, one major change was they needed to maintain a certain level of competitiveness of reaching at least 800 MMR which is like their season rating.
Before that as long as they complete 10 adventures they get 50 Smooth Love Potions and then win 5 PVP matches they will get an additional 25 SLP aside from what they would win during the match. So they are guaranteed at least 75 SLP which at its peak had a value of about 40 cents I think which would give someone at least $30 USD a day for about less than 2 hour grind. Small for first world countries but for a third world country like mine is already x3 compared to the minimum daily wage of an employee who works at least 8 hours.
Then there were the nerfs and balances that happened that completely threw off the meta and dominance of certain types. People were crying that they were being robbed of their investments because of these changes. I understand those changes though but maybe because I still treat it as a game that I earn some crypto unlike some that it has become their main livelihood. It's like someone shitposting and expecting to earn big bucks. There is no free lunch.
Stay away from the FUD hahahha have diamond hands and not get spooked.
At this point I think those that are still in Hive are in it for the long haul.