Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the friend group simulator we’ve been waiting for

We want the things we release–we think everybody should have a unique avatar. We want to make sure that all the pieces can be put together in unique ways. We’ve invested a lot into just making not only the faces work but in terms of the characters, really enabling anyone to embody who they are as an individual.

Lessons from MMORPGS: You define your role. You are responsible for creating your own adventure and customizing your role. In these games, players assume an identity, which in DAOs means carving out and defining your role and its responsibilities.

In 2021, a DAO could be described as a voluntary association with the operating principles of digital cooperativism. As voluntary associations, they are a cross-jurisdictional way for strangers, friends, or unlikely allies to pseudonymously come together toward common goals, supported by a token model, incentives, and governance.

The next iteration of DAOs is therefore emerging around creative communities, to enable crowdsourced creativity and coordination (aka “creator DAOs” and similar).

We are just beginning. Though projects like Decentraland have achieved lofty valuations, it feels as if we are in the very opening stages of a long-term shift toward more expressive digital experiences. Creating a world with deep, enduring appeal will take time.

More recently, similar games of language and form were generated by the “Vibe Shift,” by which I mean the strange ways of writing that appeared in 2021 in places such as Remilia Corporation’s “I long for Network Spirituality” chatroom; Instagram “cellectuals” accounts, which adopt other people’s personae; schizo-affect Substack poetry blogs; Honor ... See more