The Economics of Cryptopia: Commerce, Government, and Energy

Just as in the real world, acquiring property matters in the virtual world.

This system, however, has an added layer, in the form of Blueprint NFTs. As the name makes clear, these NFTs provide you with the blueprint for the type of building that the Tycoon has to construct for a certain business.

"Let's say that I want to construct a building. I can't do it myself; I need other players who have construction skills. And I'm willing to spend resources on it; this is my business model. I will allow 10 or 20 other players to earn from constructing my building. That's the beauty of Cryptopia. Players create opportunities for other players," Bonnet said.

As such, the economics behind the world of Cryptopia has been painstakingly mapped out.

“Cryptopia will feature a decentralized government largely controlled by its citizens. Policies are proposed by the citizen’s elected officials and are put to a vote on whether they should be made into law. To encourage good behavior, a public reputation system may be put into place in the blockchain. Crimes and misdemeanors lower one’s reputation score by an amount determined by the government. Those with high scores may take part in government profit-sharing, while those with low scores will be prohibited from certain activities, such as running for office. First priority would be a code of ethics that all individuals must adhere to in order to be a citizen.

“Elected government officials will propose policies based on their constituents, or alternatively, any citizen that has gathered enough support through the blockchain for a policy may propose it. Once a proposal passes into law, the government will also implement and enforce it. In the case where the policy can't be enforced automatically on the blockchain, violators may be fined instead, paying their fine directly through the blockchain. Likewise, a court system will be established to settle disputes among citizens. A police force will also be established to curtail abusive and criminal behavior, and their names, offenses, and corresponding fines recorded in the public blockchain.

“As blockchain already creates a digital ledger of secure, anonymized and auditable transactions, it may be used to record and audit votes. When the citizens are called upon to vote on a proposal, their registration is verified on the blockchain. Once verified, they may view the proposal on the blockchain. If the citizen chooses to vote, they vote using their credentials within the given time period and their vote is recorded in that particular proposal’s blockchain. The government will track and audit the process and ratify the results.”

Cryptopia is so committed to decentralization that once the game is completed, it will be turned over to the players, who will decide its fate and future direction.

Which faction a player belongs to will determine the dynamics with other players. This is because each faction has different priorities when it comes to climate, profits, production, science, and cooperation.

For instance, Eco and Industrial have strongly opposing views, with Eco seeing Industrial as greedy capitalists with no regard for the environment and Industrial dismissing Eco as tree huggers. So you can imagine what Industrial thinks of Eco’s insistence on using renewable energy, and Eco’s reaction to Industrial’s championing of coal and other fossil fuels.

“A strong in-game economy is much more than monetization. It’s the silent force behind player engagement, and it can define how players progress through your game.”

So, is your economy encouraging gamers to play?

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