Yuga Labs is looking to pay you in crypto to play in the Otherside metaverse. Sounds revolutionary, right? Real ownership, community-driven development, bathroom graffiti deathmatches… Have we really just entered a new era of player empowerment? Or are we turk marching into a digital sweatshop, dressed up as an educational game?

Digital Gold Rush Or Exploitation Factory?

Let's be honest. The allure of crypto payroll in gaming is intoxicating. Finally, you can earn while you play! Who benefits the most? Picture this: a teenager in a developing country, grinding away for 12 hours a day in Otherside, meticulously tagging digital bathrooms in "Bathroom Blitz" for a few dollars in ApeCoin. That money can be life-changing for them, but at what cost?

  • The problem is not the money itself. It's the power imbalance. Someone in Silicon Valley might scoff at earning $5 an hour farming NFTs. But for someone in Venezuela, Nigeria, or the Philippines, that's a fortune. That desperation makes them vulnerable.

Think about it. Most of all, we’ve seen the meteoric rise and crash of “play-to-earn” games. Players had to throw away thousands of hours into the grind just to get very small rewards. Axie Infinity, anyone? Could that be called digital liberation? Or was it simply a different kind of exploitation? In hindsight, the true winners appear to be the game developers and the early investors.

Yuga Labs may have all the right intentions. The best intentions are often disastrous and deadly in the metaverse. We need to ask ourselves: are we creating a system where players are incentivized to sacrifice their time, health, and well-being for a chance at a meager crypto income?

Where Are The Metaverse Labor Laws?

Here's a fun fact: the metaverse has no labor laws. No minimum wage, no overtime pay, no health insurance, no HR department to complain to. In reality, who’s going to look out for these Otherside players from being milked? Yuga Labs? The ApeCoin DAO? Good luck with that.

This isn't just about Yuga Labs. This is true across the whole Web3 gaming narrative. We are building a new digital universe from scratch. At the same time, we’re forgetting to set up the real world’s safety nets that truly protect workers. Think back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Child labor, unsafe working conditions, robber barons... Are we really fated to make all of the same mistakes in the metaverse?

Imagine trying to unionize digital graffiti artists. Though this seems outrageous, we are indeed going to run into this issue for sure. So let’s begin to take it seriously—with the urgency, ambition and action that’s necessary.

  • Consider this: What happens when a player gets injured while playing for hours straight? Who pays for their medical bills? What happens when a player is unfairly banned from the game and loses their income stream? Where do they go for recourse?

From Bored Apes to Digital Wage Slaves?

Yuga Labs is known for Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of NFTs that cost more than most people's houses. They’re creating an exclusive luxury brand, serving the gilded age one percent. But now, they’re potentially creating a metaverse that would allow them to prey upon vulnerable players in developing countries. But the irony is too rich even for a Bored Ape to digest.

We should ask for more from Yuga Labs and every other metaverse developer. We need transparency, fair labor practices, and player protections. We must begin to consider the ethical implications of crypto payroll before it becomes a major ethical concern.

I suggest we start a Metaverse Labor Rights Group. Today, this guild continues to advocate for players’ rights in the emerging landscape of the metaverse. They protect transparent labor practices and keep developers honest.

The last thing we should do is to allow the metaverse to turn into a digital sweatshop. Let’s extend that focus on the future and ensure that players are empowered and enriched, rather than exploited. Otherwise, the only thing “apeing” into the Otherside will be our own naivety. The road to digital place-based hell is paved with good intentions and glittery NFTs.