Welcome (back) 👋
This quarter is about Virtual Economy. These nicheletters are written to give raw insights in a super simple form.
Part One - The basics of the virtual economy
The virtual economy exists in virtual worlds where we exchange goods, for recreation and entertainment. So, it’s a fun online world where we can spend and/or make money while having fun. I like that idea.
The basics are quite simple. Somebody creates a virtual world. Using marketing, community management, some source of financing those people than convince many other people to join that virtual world and spend time there. If it reaches certain numbers of users, founders create a marketplace where you can buy goods just as you would in the real world. Usually, you use real-world money to buy that virtual world’s currency and spend it in that virtual world. Simple capitalism.
I’m not a fan of zoomed-out numbers but the virtual economy is currently somewhere around $129B/year. Yep, those zoomed-out nothing have to say numbers. An impressive number, though.
But this is old stuff. Nobody cares anymore. What to expect in the future? The past was about hard work, formal education, adherence to social conventions. Virtual Economy offers a huge change in this. Hard work turns into passion and fun. Formal education turns into learning by actually doing stuff or watching a couple of youtube videos. Social norms are changing with every generation. It’s hard to even keep track of social conventions anymore. Then there’s covid which accelerated the virtual economy. Work from home, play from home, make (no job related) money from home. Virtual economy starts to be just economy.
Meritocratic-ish
Nobody cares anymore about where are you from, what’s your age, race or gender. That’s one of the most beautiful things about the virtual economy. Everybody cares only about the stuff you do and if you are a good human (based on the ideals of your micro-community). You really can be the person you want to be and achieve what you want.
Who wants a job anymore?
A job comes with a regular salary. Our brains love habits as they are saving a huge amount of energy. Everything that could be a habit, our brains will make it a habit. This is why habits cause addictions. Getting regularly a salary is a habit. Getting regularly a salary is an addiction.
Virtual economy helped us to get rid of the salary habit. People started to earn points, money, etc irregularly. That’s a big game-changer for new generations. If you start the money-making part of your life with irregular incomes, the chance you’ll want a regular job is super low.
Well, I’ll finish the first (basics) part here
I’m super excited to dig really deep into this. It’s simple. People (6 years old) start their lives in a virtual-real hybrid. Given the technology and the past human evolution, there won’t be a virtual and real-world anymore. It will be just the world. I will use NicheStudio to find interesting people and help them building cool stuff.
Send me a message if you would like to talk. If you think I’m wrong or what I wrote here is stupid, tell me. I’m here to learn. If you like what you’ve read and want to collaborate, tell me. I’m here to build, too.
I choose one topic every 3 months. The recent is Virtual Economy. I will read, listen, watch everything that has virtual economy in its title. I will talk to everybody who is willing to talk about virtual economy. And I will write these nicheletters about what I’ve learned. Will here be everything you’ll need to know? Absolutely not. You have different needs and angles, this here is mostly the basic stuff to build on.
My name is Voytech. This is my way to learn as much as possible about niches. I want to understand how those niches work as I’m looking for niche startups we can support with our startup studio. I have 3 goals with this newsletter. Find you if you have a niche biz idea, so I can help you to build a business that makes money/can be sold; quickly learn how your niche works and what makes you happy (in that niche). Build my brand (obviously).