Do you remember last year when developer Core Loop raised $12 million in order to develop a blockchain-integrated MMO? Probably not, there has been a lot going on since then. But the game has finally been revealed as World Eternal Online, and it’s worth paying attention to that name because unlike the vast majority of Web3 crypto games, the game and its PR do not blast you in the face with direct talk about pay-to-earn or crypto integration. You can look at the main page and see absolutely nothing about it whatsoever, aside from a vague sense that something may be subtly… off.
Of course, a bit more digging makes it clear what’s going on here; when you move to the game’s developer blog, you see that the studio describes it with blockchain integration, and one of the most recent posts talks about minting game passes and selling them on OpenSea. In other words, it’s nothing that you haven’t seen before if you’ve looked into the whole Web3/crypto ecosystem and its usual maneuvers, but it’s a bit more insidious and a casual onlooker might not realize what the game is until it has been downloaded and installed.
But don’t be fooled; this is still exactly the crypto game that was threatened last year. It’s just not playing its hand up-front. Fortunately for you, we’ve written about this stuff a lot.
Perfect Ten: MMOs that have fallen to the dark side of cryptocurrency
Lawful Neutral: How is an NFT MMO even supposed to work?
Vague Patch Notes: NFTs in gaming are a bad, dumb idea
Vague Patch Notes: Why play-to-earn is a garbage idea
Vague Patch Notes: The metaverse doesn’t exist and isn’t a good idea either
GDC 2022: Control, revenue, scarcity, ethics, and the human challenges of the gaming ‘metaverse’
Vague Patch Notes: No, Little Orbit has not solved the MMO blockchain problem
