Autonomous World: The New Paradigm for Next-Generation Blockchain Games.

If you ask "Why do we need blockchain games?", "Autonomous World" is obviously a perfect answer. As a new category of games, the most exciting thing about "Autonomous World" is the unexpected events that naturally emerge from the game, which even developers and initial publishers cannot predict, and the potential to unleash players' unlimited creativity. Blockchain technology is a prerequisite for its existence, in other words, "Autonomous World" can only be realized on blockchain technology, and will challenge traditional game categories with a completely new game design and gameplay.

OPcraft, a full-chain game with only two weeks of online time, has proven to us the potential of a new type of game called "autonomous world". It provides only the minimum rules of "physical reality" and an unlicensed "component system" that can be used to expand the game experience and new rules. This minimalist game design can fully mobilize players' creativity and enthusiasm, and grow into highly tense dramatic conflicts, leading from one event to another, constantly advancing the plot through elements such as conflict, cooperation, and governance.

It can be said that compared to "making money", "dramatic effect" is the key element in maintaining the long-term development of the game, because it can continue to attract the attention of human players and drive them to invest and participate in the game spontaneously. Although the game does not aim to make money, the drama it produces is enough to generate sufficient revenue streams, thus unlocking new business models.

Autonomous World

History tells us that every new computing paradigm unlocks a whole new set of use cases for games:

With the rise of transistors, microprocessors, and televisions, computer games emerged.

The popularity of PCs expanded new game categories - "strategy and simulation" games.

The emergence of the Internet led to the rise of multiplayer games.

The emergence of social networks led to the rise of social network games.

The emergence of mobile internet led to the rise of casual games.

Blockchain is no exception, it has brought us a new category of games - "Autonomous Worlds".

According to reliable online records, the term "Autonomous World" first appeared in Lattice, a team known for their involvement in building the blockchain game "Dark Forest" and the first blockchain game engine MUD framework, and for their dedication to incubating Ethereum technology and infrastructure projects under the name of 0xPARC Foundation.

In August 2022, Lattice member Ludens introduced the concept of "Autonomous World" to the world through an article titled "Autonomous World (Part 1)" and a keynote speech at DEFCON 2022.

Ludens mentioned in this article that in order to surpass the concepts of tokens, NFTs, and liquidity and create a digital world beyond Ethereum, three conditions must be met: "autonomy, permissionless creation, and adherence to the basic physical laws of the digital world." He also coined the term "autonomous world," which represents a fully self-sustaining open-source digital kingdom (realm).

Autonomous World - More Than Just On-Chain Games

On-chain gaming refers to the use of blockchain to store all data and smart contracts in the game. Assets and game status in the game are stored on the chain, and game logic and rules are formulated in a way that is independent of the client.

In "The Strongest Crypto Gaming Thesis" article, Gubsheep (Brian - 0xPARC/Dark Forest) proposed a widely recognized definition for blockchain games, which states that blockchain games must meet the following 5 conditions:

"The real source of game data is blockchain."

"Game logic and rules are implemented through smart contracts."

"The game is developed based on the principles of an open ecosystem."

"This game is independent of the client."

"The game contains valuable digital assets in the real world."

"Autonomous World" belongs to a type of blockchain game, but the meaning of "Autonomous World" goes far beyond this.

"Autonomous World" does not have specific tasks and goals set (such as players needing to "conquer more land" or "kill more enemies"), nor are there preset game opponents (such as the need to fight and compete with other players). It only sets a simple underlying rule - "digital physical reality" as a constraint, and by providing publicly accessible programmable interfaces, allows players to freely create, enhance and expand the game experience within the boundaries of this digital physical reality, and expand the game plot.

Note: "Digital Physics" refers to the fundamental law system that exists in the computational world. Each world has its own set of inherent basic laws, which govern everything that happens in that world. These laws are the physics of that world. Please note that here, physics does not refer to the physical laws in the atomic world where humans exist, but rather refers to the fundamental law system that exists in any "world".

The basic rule in the "autonomous world" is immutable.

"Autonomous World" always operates independently according to predefined rules without an endpoint. The Autonomous World is a world that exists and evolves continuously without external dependencies, even without external support, control by anyone, or even citizens accessing or residing in the world. It still objectively exists, and anyone can join at any time. The extensions based on the game will also exist as long as the game exists.

Blockchain is the premise for the existence of the autonomous world

The unique features of blockchain technology, including "programmability", "permissionless composability", "persistent storage", and "immutability", have opened up new possibilities for creating a virtual, fully decentralized world.

The "basic rules" of this autonomous world will be defined in code form in the Ethereum smart contract. The autonomous world operates entirely according to this rule, without external intervention or maintenance, and cannot be shut down even in the event of a malicious attack. As long as Ethereum continues to exist, this virtual world will not disappear. Even if the original developers leave, the world will continue to evolve and evolve through players publishing new rules and improvement suggestions, presenting multiple forms of coexistence in reality.

To maintain the operation of a self-governing world, there must be a well-designed incentive mechanism that allows builders to spontaneously create and expand new world realities through new components and systems. The underlying financial programmability of a self-governing world built on blockchain can provide sufficient incentives for the long-term operation of an open world. The game itself can become an economic system with its own currency, market, and economic rules, creating a new form of economic organization that coexists with traditional economies.

However, we need to note that motivation does not necessarily have to be tied to money. It can also be status within the community, a sense of achievement, pure love, faith, and passion. Human history has shown us that these can all inspire humans to create amazing wonders.

OPCraft: The Full-Chain Game That Best Embodies the Autonomous World

Currently, most games on the blockchain are not related to the autonomous world. If you want to better understand the "autonomous world" from a practical perspective, OPcraft is probably the best interpretation. This is a 3D Minecraft-themed game developed by the Dark Forest founding team Lattice in October 2022, and the original intention was only to test the performance of their self-developed first full-chain game engine Mud.

OPCraft has only set simple rules, in which players are only allowed to perform 4 in-game actions, including destroying voxel blocks, crafting voxel blocks, placing voxel blocks, and claiming a 16x16 piece of land (requires becoming the highest diamond pledger for that plot). In addition, players can customize the front-end and deploy custom components and systems through the publicly accessible plugin system provided by the official website.

However, in the short two weeks since its launch, this game with simple rules has exceeded the expectations of game developers. Not only has it been very successful in terms of data, attracting over 1500 participating players and 3.5 million+ on-chain records, but it has also generated various pixel creations made by users, self-made plugins for specific purposes, as well as a series of spontaneously formed competitive and gaming behaviors, collective governance behaviors, and both malicious and benevolent player behaviors.

Unlock the creativity of artists, architects, and developers

In the "autonomous world", all players can participate in creation, including artists, architects, and developers. OPCraft has shown us this.

OPCraft unlocked the creativity of artists and architects. From building simple wooden houses and towers at the beginning of the game, to constructing large castles and monuments with various shapes after mastering the skills, such as statues of Mario and Fire Flower, and a huge phoenix spanning hundreds of blocks, all of which are stunning works of art and architecture.

On the other hand, engineers and "scientists" can use another weapon - coding ability to explore another limit of the OPCraft world. Through a plugin system provided by the system that is simple, easy to use, and does not require a license to integrate World1, game players begin to use their intelligence to explore the possibilities of technology. For example, some players have released a plugin that automatically mines materials without geographical restrictions, while others have released a diamond mining tool and a chat plugin tool for text communication, and so on.

Evolution: Improvement of Tools and Productivity

Basically, everything that happens in the OPcraft game is a microcosm of the development of human society.

At the beginning of the primitive era, players only knew how to perform basic operations such as picking flowers, chopping trees, mining rocks, digging holes, building wooden houses, constructing single-block wide towers, and creating some rough digital objects that were difficult to discern.

As time goes by, players gradually understand this world and learn to create more complex items, such as glass, wool dyeing, and bricks. These more complex materials can then be combined to build larger artworks and buildings. For example, colored wool blocks can be used to create giant pixel art, such as the Union Jack and pandas, as well as an advertisement for an NFT project. Players have also built magnificent sky pyramids using synthetic materials such as sand, stone, wood, and bedrock. And a huge planet with a space theme, paying tribute to "The Dark Forest", was made by a game player using 6360 blocks of bedrock.

Complex Items

When players discover a plugin system that can be utilized, they begin to create more advanced tools, including the aforementioned drilling machine for automatic material mining, text chat tools, and teleportation plugins for traversing. The plugin system gives humans the ability to create production tools, which can maximize productivity and work efficiency. The plugin system is like a scaffold for players to create new tools. Just like in the real world, when there is the ability to create new tools, human civilization will accelerate forward.

This is exactly what guiltygyoza mentioned in the article "Composable Engineering" here. When the autonomous world supports composable engineering, it provides infinite availability for this world. It allows for recursive combination of engineering artifacts, and there is no limit to the recursion depth.

The composable engineering products in the autonomous world allow for the invention of composites, enabling a knowledge combination process similar to that which drives human history in the atomic world, thus promoting the evolution of the computing world.

Composable engineering also allows for knowledge encapsulation, which means "I don't need to know the specific details of the invention to incorporate it into the invention process." Knowledge encapsulation is somewhat equivalent to the separation of concerns principle in software development. By implementing separation of concerns, large engineering tasks can be broken down into smaller ones and then merged. As different tasks require different skills and resource types, labor specialization is naturally encouraged. With labor specialization, the world becomes more inclusive - residents with different backgrounds, skills, and interests can find their place as creators and contributors in the world.

Conflict and Drama

In the article "Composable Engineering" mentioned by guiltygyoza, the importance of "drama" in maintaining the long-term evolution of autonomous worlds is also mentioned:

The dramatic part of the world depends on the enumeration of objects in it... When the enumeration of objects is in a state of stagnation, the possibility of combination will eventually tend to saturation, regardless of the combinability of these objects. The dominant strategy that emerges in the world, the element, has taken shape and become rigid. The allocation of resources and power among human participants is also tending to stagnate. All of these influences will suppress the development of drama.

In the atomic reality of human life, new things constantly emerge through natural evolution or human discovery/invention, which disrupts civilization and social norms, leading to dramatic events. The adaptive mutation of viruses has led to the collapse of the global supply chain. The invention of printing has made it possible for strangers to form imaginable communities and thus begin to produce nation-states. If all the items in the world were manufactured by one company, then the world could be subject to the company's lifecycle, delivery capability, and delivery willingness, encountering bottlenecks because the entire world has reduced its autonomy.

OPcraft perfectly demonstrates how drama naturally grows and progresses in a self-made game, constantly pushing the plot forward and advancing.

Digging Holes and Filling Holes

Out of mischief or a collective game behavior, some players in OPcraft have started digging deep holes, causing many unsuspecting players to fall into traps.

However, there was a turning point when such malicious incidents occurred. When someone fell into a trap, some players launched a rescue plan to rescue the trapped person by filling the hole or directly placing stairs in the hole. Some players even developed a teleportation plugin that can be used to avoid pitfalls.

A trapped person who fell into a cave sent out a distress signal to the community, and another player offered to make a ladder to rescue the trapped person.

SupremeLeaderOP Republic: Join or Rebel

On October 29th, two days before the end of the testing period for OPcraft, a dramatic scene unfolded. On this day, a player named SupremeLeaderOP announced the establishment of a World Government on Discord and Twitter. They also claimed to have mined 135,200 diamonds and used them to stake a large amount of land.

According to the game rules of OPcraft, players need to mine and accumulate diamonds. The function of diamonds is to pledge them and receive a piece of land (16x16x16 pixels in size). When multiple players participate in the pledge of a piece of land, the player with the highest number of pledged diamonds will have priority to claim it. Once claimed, the land belongs exclusively to the claimant, meaning that other players cannot use it for mining or building on it.

However, SupremeLeaderOP provides players with a choice. Players can use the apro-comrade plugin to swear an oath (ceremony) to join the Republic. Once joined, they have the right to use the government's "public property". Not only can they use the smart contract to mine materials for the government, but they can also build buildings on all the government-owned land. However, there is one condition, which is to confiscate their own private property.

However, players have varying opinions towards the Republic.

Some players, out of "faith" considerations, choose to join the organization and become a comrade under the leadership of the Supreme Leader, and after joining the system, they strive to upgrade their comrade level (which is a rule in this subsystem), and begin to build various large statues and paintings themed around the Supreme Leader around the world.

There are also some players who choose to join the organization for "economic benefits" in order to obtain more mining rights and building rights on the land.

However, there is another group of players who strongly oppose joining this republic and vehemently condemn its control and collectivist policies, mobilizing everyone to resist and fight for freedom.

Another player named PhiMarHal discovered that the Republic only claimed and controlled the land on the ground, while the space in the sky was still available. So, they mobilized players to fly into the sky and build a city in the sky.

没有预设剧情，意味着无限可能性

"No preset plot means infinite possibilities."

The most interesting thing about OPcraft is that this republic was not pre-designed, but was initiated spontaneously by players themselves.

OPcraft does not have pre-set scripts, nor does it have pre-defined tasks/goals, or even an ultimate villain to defeat. However, a series of player-driven behaviors have emerged spontaneously, leading from one event to another, resulting in highly dramatic and unpredictable developments.

Players can quickly deploy smart contracts in the game through the official released full-chain game engine MUD without a license, and add new rules to the game. This means that the social organizations and other "augmented reality" in the autonomous world are completely unlimited; unlike in World of Warcraft where players must operate within the scope of the preset guild system, players in OPCraft can spontaneously create various social organizations with components deployed through MUD, just like countries, economies, and religious groups in the real world. Players can choose to join voluntarily and must abide by the consensus rules of the organization after joining. (In OPCraft, joining is declared through the apro-comrade plugin, and all private property is confiscated after joining, and players gain the right to exploit and build on government land resources.)

OPcraft's success tells us that if we want to gain sustained attention and participation from human players in blockchain games, making money should not be the main purpose for players. Instead, the game needs to continuously generate drama and explore other possibilities for income through drama. Just like the football industry, football matches are not intended to make money as a game itself, but the drama it generates is enough to create sufficient revenue streams, such as gambling and advertising.

The minimalist underlying game rules and the right to create without permission are the prerequisites for the continuous evolution of the "autonomous world" and the emergence of a "non-artificial dramatic" premise. Developers do not know more than players about what will happen next in the autonomous world. The progress of the game is completely controlled by the players themselves, and their actions will affect the future progress of the game. Everything in the game depends on the creativity of the players.

Reference source:

https://lattice.xyz/blog/making-of-opcraft-part-3-what-happened-in-two-weeks-of-opcraft

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