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Why Blockchain Game Account Counts Can Be Misleading

Blockchain-game account totals can include bots. A 2022 discussion connects automated accounts with earning incentives, gameplay depth, and token-economy design.

Aaron HuangSystems, product and AI practice

This analysis examines why blockchain Game Account Counts Can Be Misleading, what evidence supports the argument, and where the conclusion still has limits.

Read the evidence below as a decision trail: what changed, why it matters, which trade-offs shaped the result, and where the conclusion still depends on context.

Bots are everywhere! just everywhere!

Bot accounts are everywhere!

Anti-bot protection application Jigger leverages blockchain transparency to create probability matrices, identifying which accounts might be bots and visualizing the distribution of these accounts.

A gaming industry professional discusses why blockchain games are all robots.

In blockchain games in 2022, most of the appealing aspects are the concept of "Play to Earn." The concept itself is fine, but the current problem lies in the game mechanics running this concept.


The game mechanics can generally be divided into core gameplay and economic models
  • Core gameplay: Every game develops a complete gameplay experience, which is the core gameplay. When the game was first initiated, besides the theme,The most important thing is the core gameplay. Core gameplay includes simulation management, strategy tower defense, shooting, casual gameplay... and so on. Each of these modes is further divided into different levels (light, moderate, heavy, mixed).

Currently, most existing blockchain game development focuses mainly on relatively light gameplay. Although there are already large-scale MMORPGs as of September 2022, the number is still relatively small... By now, you have a basic understanding of the game genre. Next, let's look at the actual reason behind many fake accounts: the "economic model."

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  • Economic model: Whether a game can make money depends entirely on its economic model design. A game with simple core gameplay but well-designed economic models can still bring substantial profits. Currently, blockchain games are based on the "Play to Earn" concept, which attracts players aiming to "earn money while playing," which sounds a bit tongue-twisting...

Starting from the concept, the purpose of playing games is to make money. Therefore, when designing games, we need to consider how to make the money-making process enjoyable and enable people to pay during this process. However, most current blockchain games only design the "money-making process" without considering "fun." But what exactly is "fun"? Why is "fun" necessary?

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Why is an 'interesting' money-making process necessary?

First, think about what makes you enjoy playing games—maybe it's playing with friends, solving a problem or level is fun, or maybe it's showing off your skills and making it fun

After reading these "interesting" processes, did you notice any common points? The answer is that all "interesting" processes require human participation to be interesting, or what is gained through your brain's manifestation

But as mentioned above, most blockchain games at this stage don't incorporate "fun" into their economic models, which directly leads to the entire money-making process being mechanical or tedious. Therefore, technological progress is due to human laziness. Returning to the original concept of game design was "Play to Earn," which means that those who come to play are there to make money—the more the better

The more of the mechanized process, the better. Together, it's easy to understand why so many bot accounts exist. So, when you play blockchain games, are you really playing with real people?

On a side note, besides players using a large number of bots (which can be called studios), the official team also has many bots inside. First, it looks like a large number of bots attracts more people; second, if blockchain games don't have "people," where will the money come from? For more details, check out this article if interested

GAMEFI Economic System Analysis | MIR4 Legend 4 | If the official wants to make money, so do the players—where does the money come from? (Part 1)

What to take away

The useful decision is not to accept the headline at face value, but to test whether the evidence supports blockchain Game Account Counts Can Be Misleading in the reader's own context.