◎ Write 丨 Science and Technology Daily reporter Liu Yuanyuan
◎ Editor 丨 Liu Li
"Lying down every day to make money!"
"If you want to make more money, please learn more and participate in the meta-universe chain tour."
"The current payback cycle is fast... Big money comes in though! ”
At present, many Internet giants at home and abroad are optimistic about the development prospects of the meta-universe, competing to grab the layout of related industries, and the heat of the meta-universe has not decreased. Taking advantage of this boom, on a social platform, under the label of "meta-universe", the post update promoting the so-called meta-universe blockchain game is quite active. "Chicken Blood" is full of copywriting, which is heartwarming.
Image source: Visual China
Although they promote different blockchain games, the posts have something in common: they often advertise the "metaverse" and claim to allow players to make money while playing and get rich.
Have those who put real money and silver into it really realized the "dream of getting rich"?
1
"Most people are trapped in high positions"
According to the information provided by the online post, the reporter of Science and Technology Daily joined an online community group known as the "strongest chain game in 2022". In this group of more than 1200 members, there are usually more than 800 people online, and the members communicate from morning to night.
When asked in the community group what is the relationship between this game and the metaverse, some players replied that the "ultimate goal of the game is to create an interstellar metacosm" and "the PC version is a prototype".
However, chats in community groups rarely deal with how the game is played, but are often related to money: falling or rising, losing or earning. Compared with the game's "plump" promotional copy, the atmosphere in the group is very "bone".
"Is there any money to play this?" I lost 95%. A player asked in the group, accompanied by 3 online emoticons that covered their faces and cried.
Such a large proportion of losses is not unique in this game community group. Some players said that after investing 10,000 yuan, the highest rose to 25,000 and did not sell, and now there are only 1,500 left. Another player also revealed his "position" in the game community group: he bought 100,000 yuan of game mother currency, and now there is only 10,000 yuan left. "I have confessed to my family that I have lost money by speculating in virtual currency." There are also players who say.
The reporter asked in a voice conference of the community group, "Do you have any money?" Someone replied, "Most of the community is trapped in a high position."
In addition to the community group, the game also has a dedicated trading group. The group is more lively than the vegetable market, there are buys, there are also selling, "shouting" sound after sound: "really out of N2", "announcement price out of R5", "low price to close 200N", "close N, 100 ships from the end"...
What do these code-like letters represent? From the game's promotional posts, the reporter learned that they correspond to different spaceships in the game.
As for the relationship between buying and selling these spaceships and making money and getting rich, the reporter found the clue in the group documents released by the game community group. One of the documents, known as the game's White Paper, details that the game's total token supply is 1 trillion, it is the game's circulating currency, and the spaceship is one of the most important assets in the game, players can use it to mine ore and obtain more virtual assets.
The gaming community also released a video tutorial to teach players to buy game tokens: it is necessary to exchange rmb into a foreign virtual currency such as BNB (Binance Coin) or USDT (TETC) through very complex network steps, and then convert it into the game's virtual currency.
2
Confusing developer
Despite the "pain in the flesh" at the moment, players are still betting on the bright future of the game.
Compared to the game's promotional posts, which are labeled as metaverses, the game's White Paper outlines its relationship to metaverses even more fascinatingly.
"The metacosm is a virtual 3D world shared by everyone... You can work, shop, play, chat, watch movies and play games... Yes, this can all be done in the ×× metaverse, and we can do even more. The game's White Paper claims.
Indeed, gaming entertainment is seen as one of the important application scenarios of the metaverse. However, the reporter opened the official website of the game known as the "strongest chain game in 2022" and found that it can almost be described as "simple": the page is based on the spaceship as the background, but some of the pictures are obviously rough; there are only a few navigation buttons on the home page, but most of the navigation buttons, including the "Metacosm Lab", cannot be opened after clicking.
In addition to the game's relationship to the metaverse, what is even more confusing is who the game development team really is. The game's official website does not provide a relevant introduction. The game's "White Paper" does mention this: there are about 10 people in the development team, and the team's main focus is currently on developing the game's metaverse.
But it is not known which country the game's development team is in and which company it belongs to. From the answers or descriptions of the members of the game community group, the reporter did not find a clear answer: "I really don't know whether it is the United States or where, it is most likely japanese" "Can the community contact the project party now"...
"It is relatively common to find a project party in the 'industry' of blockchain games." Wu Tong, a well-known scholar of digital economy, said in an interview with reporters that in addition to a few large-scale blockchain games on the market that have disclosed a clear development team or parent company, the development teams of many such blockchain game projects are hidden, which largely follows the practice of the founder of Bitcoin, "Satoshi Nakamoto", hiding his identity.
It's hard to figure out who the game's development team really is, and it's hard to figure out whether the development team is really focused on the development metaverse, as the game's White Paper says.
"In the blockchain game 'industry', the concealment of the identity of the project party can easily lead to the existence of a large number of scammers, because there is no corresponding person or institution to be responsible for the project." Wu Tong pointed out that because many blockchain game project parties are hidden, it is difficult to judge whether they are really doing projects or cheating money. This is a very risky investment for investors.
3
It is an illegal financial activity
Even so, there are still many entrants who stick to the dream of "getting rich".
"Zeroing is not much worse than it is now, what if you get rich?" "Be patient with the coin, the one who should come will always come." "It's reached the point where there's no way to fall, and persistence is victory." Such arguments abound in the game's community.
Why the virtual currency issued by blockchain games has fallen so badly, experts expressed similar views in an interview with reporters. "The value of this kind of project is based on the game, but many times the game is not very fun, there are no real players in the game, no one consumes, the people who rush in are speculators, and everyone is rushing to make money." But whether you can make money mainly depends on who runs fast. Wang Jiaping, who was the executive director of the innovation workshop, is now a business in the blockchain and meta-universe fields, and is the founder of the Moqun blockchain, he said in an interview with reporters.
"The economic model of this kind of game essentially has a 'Ponzi' attribute in it, that is, it needs to have new players or new funds to go in, bringing a lot of value-added, if there is no new funds to go in, it will definitely be depreciating." Wu Tong said.
Image source: Visual China
Whether those virtual currencies that cannot fall can still rise is unknown. However, it is certain that on the mainland, virtual currency issuance, exchange and other activities are illegal financial activities.
In September 2017, Chinese Minzu Bank and seven other departments jointly issued the Announcement on Preventing the Financing Risks of Token Issuance. It clearly stipulates that token issuance and financing is essentially an act of illegal public financing without approval, which is suspected of illegally selling token tickets, illegally issuing securities, and illegal fundraising, financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities.
In September last year, Chinese Min min bank and 10 other departments jointly issued the Notice on Further Preventing and Disposing of the Risk of Speculation in Virtual Currency Transactions, which further clarified that "virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities".
However, the reporter's investigation found that there are still a number of so-called "meta-universe blockchain games" on domestic social platforms that do not shy away from claiming that the game has issued tokens.
"In the online community and other online trading platforms through the exchange of RMB and tokens to trade virtual currency and profit from this, the behavior violates the relevant provisions of the state and public order and good customs, harms the social public interest, the contractual behavior between the two parties is invalid, so the relevant property rights and interests arising therefrom should not be protected by law, and the losses caused by the transaction should be borne by both parties to the transaction." Lawyer Cai Xueen, chairman of the partner conference of Hubei Dewei Junshang Law Firm, said in an interview with reporters.
As far as the development teams of these games are concerned, can they be exempt from mainland law if they are located outside the country?
Cai Xueen analyzed that although most of the servers of the current virtual currency projects are overseas, according to the provisions of the mainland criminal law, there is a jurisdictional basis for applying the Chinese criminal law based on territorial jurisdiction, and if one of the criminal acts or results occurs in the mainland territory, it is considered to be a crime in the mainland territory.
"Therefore, even if the project is outside the country, the application of China's criminal law based on territorial jurisdiction will be regarded as illegal and criminal activities." Cai Xueen also told reporters that in the case of game developers hiding their identities, it is indeed more difficult to collect evidence and recover stolen goods.
4
A shadowed metacosmic industry
Taking advantage of the meta-universe concept fire, many old routines have been replaced with new coats.
In February this year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Tips on Preventing the Risk of Illegal Fund-raising in the Name of "Meta-Universe"", which disclosed illegal means such as fabricating false meta-universe investment projects, defrauding under the banner of meta-universe blockchain games, maliciously speculating on meta-universe real estate circles, and disguised as illegal profit-making of meta-universe virtual currency.
"Some lawbreakers take advantage of the general public's curiosity and speculation in the metaverse, hype and set up the concept of the metacosm, and disguise and disguise illegal and criminal activities. Cai Xueen said that the consequences of such violations and crimes usually cover an extremely wide range, and the social impact is extremely bad, and it is necessary to use legal weapons to resolutely crack down.
These illegal activities under the banner of "meta-universe" have also brought negative impacts to the rising meta-universe industry.
"The metaverse itself is a very good concept and technology trend, but also a very large industry, do not want some illegal or speculative phenomena to disrupt the market, when people's understanding of the metaverse is not so clear, let these three words overshadow." Gao Yu, executive director of Chongqing Modern Industry Research Institute and executive director of Chongqing Puyuwei Science and Technology Innovation Center Co., Ltd., said in an interview with reporters.
Gao Yu told reporters that the Chongqing Modern Industry Research Institute regards the meta-universe as one of the industrial directions to focus on in the future. Her company has also incubated a number of startups related to meta-universes, involving technologies or products such as virtual reality smart terminals, 3D real-time rendering engines, and VR helmet sensors.
"At present, when people mention the words 'metaverse', they will first be more vigilant: what kind of company is this?" When Gao Yu communicated with some companies, he found that people in the industry sometimes avoid mentioning the three words "metaverse", and more will directly introduce themselves to specific technologies or products such as real-time rendering and digital twins to look more credible as much as possible.
Ningbo Weizhen Display Technology Co., Ltd. is an enterprise that does virtual reality large-scale immersive experience system, and its products include 4D cinema, aerospace flight control simulation system, etc. He Xuanchen, vice president of marketing at the company, told reporters that he and his colleagues were also disgusted by illegal acts in the meta-universe field. Because it will bring a lot of negative news to the industry, it will mislead consumers, investors and upstream and downstream partners in the industry, and make people have a negative impression of the metaverse.
Concept map of related products of Ningbo Weizhen Display Technology Co., Ltd. Courtesy of He Xuanchen
"When we participated in some publicity activities and innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, the expert judges supported and questioned, about half of them." He Xuanchen said that those judges who held a skeptical attitude believed that the metaverse was relatively virtual, that they were all making money, and that there was no actual application prospect or real application. In fact, many products related to the metacosm are already being applied.
5
Establishing a "Negative List" for the Metaverse
Why did so many illegal acts under the banner of "meta-universe" emerge shortly after the metaverse was proposed? This may have something to do with the characteristics of the metaverse concept.
The reporter found in the interview that different people have different definitions of the metacosm, which can be described as "a thousand people have a thousand metaversms in their hearts". What Wang Jiaping and several industry insiders agree with is that the metacosm is not a technical term, but belongs to the concept of industrial ecology or product form, which can be achieved through multi-dimensional complex technical means and terminal products such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and communication technology.
"The metaverse itself is in a very early stage of development, so the definition is not so clear." Wu Tong believes that mature industries such as the Internet are often clearly defined, while the concept of metacosmology is vague, controversial, and the space for industrial development is also larger.
Wu Tong's experience is that in reality, the metaverse is "like a brick, where it needs to be moved", one of the reasons is that everyone does not have a clear definition of the connotation and extension of the metaverse. In his view, such a status quo also leaves a lot of space for speculation, speculation, financial fraud, illegal transactions and other activities.
However, the industry insiders interviewed by reporters generally believe that this is almost the necessary stage when each industry has just emerged, and many industries will go through the process of accumulation and bursting of multiple bubbles before they will develop and mature, so it is not a problem of the metaverse itself.
In He Xuanchen's view, the emergence of illegal activities under the banner of "meta-universe" precisely shows that the meta-universe is recognized by many people and has broad opportunities for development, so it will be used by lawbreakers.
During the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, many deputies and members suggested strengthening the supervision of the meta-universe, and Gao Yu was one of them. In the "Proposal on Strengthening the Forward-looking Supervision of the "Metacosmic" Industry" submitted, Gao Yu called for strengthening the monitoring and early warning of the speculation risk of the Metacosm, and tracking the whole chain of virtual currency and virtual commodity trading and exchange under the banner of "Metacosm".
"Binding hands and feet early in the early development of the meta-universe is indeed not conducive to industrial development." My personal proposal is to establish a dynamically updated 'negative list' for the development of the metacosmic industry. It is to specify what cannot be done, and everything other can be done. Wu Tong said.
For investors who are optimistic about the meta-universe, Wang Jiaping believes that in the early stage of development of all technology industries, the core technology and underlying infrastructure have more investment value. Therefore, he suggested that investors pay more attention to the relevant core technology or underlying technology behind the meta-universe project.
"In addition to the core technologies and applications related to the metaverse, I think we must invest carefully in some virtual asset projects that are under the banner of the metacosm and are difficult to distinguish between true and false." When an industry does not have very clear boundaries, nor does it have mature trading rules and legal support, it is necessary to have a good thinking and judgment before investing, and do not make investment decisions easily. Gao Yu suggested.
Unfortunately, in the face of a dizzying metaversic project, it is not so easy to be cautious and rational. The reporter asked the gamer who lost from 10,000 pieces to 1,500 pieces: "Is it true that the project side said that it will build a game meta-universe in the future?" ”
He replied, "I don't know." ”
Science and Technology Daily Produced by Deep Pupil Studio
WeChat editor 丨Liu Yiyang
Audit 丨Yue Liang
Final Judgment 丨 He Yi