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purkinje-effect · 6 years ago

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The Anatomy of Melancholy, 28

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A knock at the front door frame roused ‘Choly from where he slept on his couch. He sat up to find Sturges backlit by the moonlight. Rubbing at his eyes with a yawn, he motioned for him to come in.

“You’re the only one of us I don’t think’s eaten yet today. You want a can of pork n’ beans?” Sturges sat in the armchair and offered him a can and a fork. “I’ve got a can opener.”

“Food does not agree with me. Not now, and not for a long time.”

“Sorry to hear that. That’s only one of the things I came over here to talk to you about, at any rate.” Sturges held the can and utensil in his lap. Once ‘Choly put on his glasses, the handyman continued. “Preston says you lived here before. That right?”

“It… it wasn’t just my house. I had a roommate. And of course Angel. I’m so grateful Angel’s still here.”

“I didn’t mean to get you on a sorry topic,” Sturges apologized. “Came by to check on you, and to scout out what kinds of repairs I might be able to offer. I tinker and repair and improve constantly, even in my sleep. Helps me knock out faster, to deconstruct and reconstruct stuff in my head. I’m pretty handy when I put myself to it. And seeing as this was… is… literally your house, I figured you might like to see a few of the walls back up.” He winked at the chemist.

‘Choly did his best to ignore that the Med-X had worn off, and give his attention to his guest. His leg was definitely wrecked from the fighting earlier.

“For how much of an outburst I had over keeping possession of the house, I’m struggling to make peace with actually living here,” he admitted. “Nothing against you, but… everything is so different. Sometimes, things don’t get any better, and that’s okay. It’s not like they can ever go back to the way they used to be.”

“Things can and will get better,” Sturges objected with a stern, pleasant wagging of his finger. “I had my suspicions you were prewar, from how you talk about things, but Preston did everything in his power to skirt that description when he was apologizing about how you got mad at the Longs before. Everything’s gonna even out, once we establish ourselves here. Promise. I’m optimistic about this place. Surely we can do something about all the ghosts and cobwebs for you. Make it someplace the lot of us can call home. Including you.”

As Sturges got lost in thought, ‘Choly couldn’t tell if the warm distant smile fell on his face or just past him. Sturges realized he was staring and stopped.

“It’s certainly better here than Concord,” ‘Choly admitted. “You really want me around after the way I acted earlier? After knowing that I helped those raiders be as formidable as they were?”

“They had you fooled into thinking you were getting something good from the arrangement. None of us wholly faults you. Besides, you helped us get rid of them. And what kind of neighbors would we be, if we didn’t help you get your house back in order at the same time we settle in ourselves?” Sturges leaned in, steadying himself with a hand on his own knee. “Can I ask you a stupid question?”

“I’ve been asking most of the questions today,” ‘Choly allowed, stunned to have verbal confirmation that yet another of the group accepted him in some way. “It’s only fair.”

“Alan… It’s really Elaine, isn’t it? Rather, it used to be.”

The chemist bit his lip and sank back on the couch, stiffening.

“Close enough. I’ve been Alan since I stepped foot on the continent. I’m from Russia. What of it?”

Sturges mirrored him and sat back to defuse the stress a bit.

“Psh, it’s nothing. If you’re Alan, you’re Alan. Really, it’s a lot like how I’m Sturges.”

‘Choly squinted at him, and sat back up slowly.

“I really hadn’t met anybody else like me. Like this. Not in the motherland, not before the war, and certainly not here now. Really?”

“It’s more normal than you were led to think. People… change names in the Commonwealth all the time. And no matter the reason, that’s your business. Am I right?”

“Quite right.” ‘Choly didn’t remember the last time he really genuinely smiled. “To be honest, I don’t even feel like an ‘Alan’ anymore. I’ve been going by ‘Melancholy’ since I really started establishing myself again. I’m starting to think I might have gotten as lucky meeting you all, as you did meeting me.”

“Maybe so. I just wanted to make sure you heard it from my mouth, that we’ve got a gob of respect for ya, and not to sweat the little stuff. Listen, I know you said you weren’t hungry, but I’m gonna leave this in case you get peckish.” The can went to the floor beside the couch. “Keep your strength up. Get some rest. I’ll look the house over better in the daylight tomorrow. And we’ll discuss getting this place in order once everybody’s had a chance to recover from the Museum. Sound good?”

“Sounds amazing. Goodnight, Sturges.”

“Goodnight, ah. Melancholy.”

‘Choly resumed getting comfortable on the couch as Sturges left, only for Angel to come in a few minutes later.

“Ah, Sir. You’re awake! I was just tending to the others so that they might bed down for the night. Do tell me if you need anything of me?”

“I… really should eat something,” he resigned, sitting back up with a pained grunt. “Could I… have a Melancholia, please?”

“Certainly, though mind we’ve only got the six left.” It almost tacked on a since you gave the one to Mister Jared, but it knew better, and simply handed over the cherry-sweet refreshment without another word.

As ‘Choly nursed at the drink, he got focused on his leg, and distant on everything else.

“My chem lab survived mostly in tact, and I’ve got plenty of Melancholy’s salt left over. We’ll talk about replenishing my stock in the morning. Right now, I think I underestimated how badly I was injured earlier. Could I have a Stimpak as well, Angel? To the back of my left leg?”

As it administered the requested medication to the gestured-to body part, Angel halted in awareness.

“The Melancholia contains cyclomorphine, Sir?”

“–Just morphine. I swear it.” ‘Choly took another swig off the meal replacement to hide his sweating. He did his best to keep the leg straight while the Stimpak worked its magic on the torn musculature. “I’ve always meant it when I’ve said it’s the only way I got through Deenwood. Meal substitute… and nepenthe.”

Angel was quiet for some time, wringing its tendril-appendages together.

“I haven’t offered it before now, because I haven’t thought it my place to, but Sir… You do have three ampuoles of Addictol in my stores. I am remiss, to have let your penchants get this far out of hand… Did you really mean it, that it’s the only sustenance your constitution’s allowed since you returned from the vault? Or was that the addiction talking?”

“Your cooking is exceptional,” he replied, falling drowsy already. “It’s no knock against your cuisine. You’re handier than any Handy in the kitchen. I’ve done well to keep any food down, fresh or otherwise. The only thing that hasn’t given me trouble is what I have in my hand right now.”

“I understand. And I can’t persuade you to make future batches of Melancholia without its… key ingredient?”

“For you, I would give it a shot… but I can’t promise I’ll continue leaving it out.” This was too heavy a conversation for him, but he couldn’t very well just tell his closest companion to simply shut up. Not when it was expressing a very real concern for his sustained health. “We can take it one day at a time.”

“…If I help you make more Melancholia, can you promise me that you’ll make it the only chem you touch from now on?”

‘Choly swallowed hard on the last bit of the lead-heavy sweet drink, and barely managed to hand the bottle back to the damaged Handy without dropping it.

“I… I owe you that much, after everything that’s happened. I can agree with you that the constant sampling has had… long term adverse effects.”

“You were struggling, but I did not know the extent. I know now to voice my concerns as I encounter them, and that you respect me enough not to dismiss me. I just… I want nothing more than to see you alive and thriving again, Mister Carey. It gives me meaning to have you back in my life again. And I want you here for as long as time allows it.”

“I wouldn’t have lasted a day out here without you. You’re… my guardian angel.”

He would have sworn he saw a sweet smile cross the Handy’s chrome front as he closed his eyes and laid back on the couch.

“Keeping watch over you as you get your beauty sleep, Sir. Rest well.”

He awoke the next morning to find Angel had set out an inhaler on the arm of the couch beside his glasses. Once he had his eyes on again, he looked it over, though he knew what it was without reading it. The Addictol. He realized that while he slept, Angel had covered him up with a hospital blanket and tucked a pillow under his head, and he smiled to himself. He pocketed the inhaler and folded up the blanket into a tidy pile with the pillow, and turned to find Angel come back into the living room.

“Good morning, Sir! I’ve got a fresh pot of coffee brewed for you, and you’ll find a bottle of your Melancholia at the kitchen table as well.”

“Good morning, Angel.” He smiled tiredly, rubbing at his bed head as he shuffled over to the now-rickety aluminum chair. He sat at the peeling linoleum table, and Angel rushed over to open the bottle for him. “Thank you.”

The Handy poured him a cup of coffee and brought it also.

“Do tell me you slept well.”

“Besides the nightmares, I can’t complain.” He alternated between caffeine and morphine, somehow comfortable despite it all. Jokingly, he looked to his Pip-Boy. “Did the Sunday paper come yet?”

“Late as always, Sir.”

“Two hundred years late,” he laughed, nearly crying out of nowhere.

“Oh, dear. Sprung a leak, and I’ve only got a… shop rag to offer you?” It handed him the wadded-up, rust-colored, low thread count square of cloth apologetically. “Was it something I said?”

“No, no.” He sniffed. “I thought I could make light of my situation, but it’s still too soon.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve spent the morning cooking breakfast for the others. Even in the short time we’ve known this group, I’ve grown quite attached. They’ll make fine neighbors, if I do say so.”

“Take care of them all you like. They deserve a little of your brand of affection, after all they’ve been through. And I know it’s a comfort for you to look after them as well. It’s always been your nature.” All the while, ‘Choly ignored that he clutched the Addictol in his pocket. He knew it was an elephant in the room, and he cleared his throat and took another sip of coffee. “No, I haven’t taken it yet. I’m… not ready yet.”

“Not ready?” Angel looked on in confusion. “Addictol isn’t painful, Mister Carey.”

“Not ready… to be addiction-free,” he sighed, setting down both the beverages and the inhaler on the table. “I’m sure you haven’t been able to process why I haven’t taken Addictol before now. I can’t handle just being me again. The withdrawals have been a part of how I see myself for so long, that I don’t know if I’m going to like what I see. It’s been long enough that I’ve forgotten how much of my condition is the withdrawals, and how much of it’s whatever happened to me from the cryogenics. I deserve to be as sick as possible, don’t I? There has to be a cost to me functioning normally. I can’t blame it on the chems, after I take the Addictol. I can’t blame it on something fixable, if I’m still sick. But… I’m done being scared of myself. Of how bad off I am.” He picked up the inhaler again and stared at it in his hands.

“You know I’m still here with you, every step. Even if dispatching your addictions doesn’t solve every health issue that ails you, I promise you that we will find something that will help you. We might even find something that cures you. There has to be something out there that can make it better, easier, for you, Sir. There must be.”

“Just having you here with me is a start,” he smiled. “The fact that despite everything I’ve done, you continue to have confidence that I can do better… You’ve been my everything, Angel. I mean that.”

“You can do it. I know you can.”

‘Choly exhaled his full breath, and, pinching his nose shut with one hand, he held the inhaler to his lips with the other. Depressing the ampuole into the actuator, he took its entire contents in one breath, and he set down the inhaler so he could clamp that hand over his mouth, to hold the aerosol medication in his lungs. He counted to ten, then another five for good measure, since it had so much damage to undo at once. When he finally exhaled, his head swam, and the humidity of the salty substance fogged up his glasses. After a minute, he looked at his hands, and then burst into laughter.

“Just what I was afraid of. I’m still me. Damn it!”

Angel unfroze once it realized he was kidding.

“–Oh, Sir. Thank you. This is the first step on you truly taking care of yourself. I’m so glad you have your humor about you. It’s a sign of good things. I could cry of happiness right now, had I the hardware for it.”

“Once I’ve finished my breakfast, and gotten myself presentable for the day, we should scout the immediate area for hubflower, now that I know what use it is. I’m certain with how many grew in the outskirts of Lexington, that there’s surely some around here. I’ll make a batch of fresh Melancholia this afternoon. I told you I’d make the first batch without it, and I will. But the flowers are just so beautiful. It wasn’t the chems talking, what made me gravitate toward them and start growing them. ”

“Just imagine. I know how you loved your gardening before the war, and I know how absolutely enthralled you were with the hubflowers. They are quite fetching a perennial, I must say. Imagine that we could get the garden thriving here again. Your flowerbeds! You could hedge the yard in hubflower, if you so desired it! And if you do see fit to continue including it in the ingredients of your meal replacement, you wouldn’t have to stray at all to collect it! And… you’d be surrounded by something you consider beautiful.”

“I gardened at the pharmacy because of how badly I missed it here,” ‘Choly admitted, starry-eyed. “Bozhemoy, Angel– I could have that here. We could. I know you loved the garden as much as I did. Between you and Sturges and the others, we just might have a real shot at making Sanctuary habitable again.”

“Most importantly, you haven’t mentioned yet.” It hovered nearer, its ocular lenses clustering near his face. “How are you feeling? Now that you’ve taken your medicine?”

He grinned, heavy-lidded, and caressed two of its three lenses as though to cradle its face in his hands.

“Like the lot of us can achieve just about anything.”

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#fallout 4 fanfic #fallout 4 #fo4 #sturges #sole survivor #the anatomy of melancholy #automatron mister handy #melancholy

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cryptswahili · 6 years ago

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Blockchain Gaming: Separating Signal from the Noise

Devin Finzer is the co-founder of OpenSea, a decentralized marketplace for crypto assets.

The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.

Games frequently serve as an experimental playground for new technology.

Since the launch of CryptoKitties – a digital cat-breeding game built on ethereum – roughly a year ago, games have provided a digitally native playground for early adopters to experiment with the unique benefits of open protocols. Currently, most of the top dapps by transaction volume are games.

While there’s a lot of early excitement in the blockchain gaming space, there’s some rightful skepticism. Tony Sheng’s post on why Fortnite probably won’t embrace the blockchain any time soon sparked a great discussion about how the tech fundamentally changes in-game economies.

At its core, his post argues that incumbents in the gaming industry likely won’t embrace blockchain because true digital scarcity breaks their existing business models. His post dives deep into the economic incentives that cause games to close their economy.

I quibbled with some of these, but agree with the high-level conclusion that:

“If games bring crypto to the masses, they will have different business models.”

Blockchain represents a fundamental business model shift: from value extraction in closed ecosystems to value capture in open ecosystems. The problem is that, while incumbents have figured out how to extract value in closed ecosystems (restrictive monetary policies, locks on transfers, fees, etc.), new entrants have yet to figure out how to capture value in open ecosystems.

This post is intended to explore potential business models for an open gaming ecosystem. We’ll begin by exploring the existing business models for early blockchain games.

Weeding the signal from the noise

The bull run in crypto made it difficult to weed signal from noise in the tech’s gaming sub-sector. Rising prices created a deep-pocketed community of ether-rich early adopters to engage in early dapps.

Enter CryptoKitties: a digital cat breeding game and the first mainstream-oriented blockchain gaming experience. CryptoKitties was incredibly exciting to the tech community (myself included).

The fact that you “really owned your kitties” and could make ETH flipping them sparked a viral loop and culminated in the infamous kitty bubble of 2017. At the peak, cats sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece.

The noise: vertically integrated digital scarcity

It’s worth taking a closer look at CryptoKitties.

Because little gaming infrastructure existed on ethereum, CryptoKitties built everything themselves. They had their own website, their own artwork, their own on-chain breeding mechanic, and their own marketplace.

At launch, CryptoKitties was a fully vertically integrated game that used smart contracts as its database. The CryptoKitties business model was actually highly traditional: they sold generation 0 kitties and took a 3.75% cut every time a kitty was sold or sired.

As many critics later pointed out, CryptoKitties could have built the same game on centralized infrastructure. They could have provided the exact same user experience on their website (they could even still take ether if they wanted to preserve the painful UX), and simply stored the kitties in a SQL database.

A non-crypto-knowledgable user wouldn’t know the difference.

The CryptoKitties experience is what I’ll call “vertically integrated digital scarcity,” and it’s likely a reason that none of the CryptoKitties clones got any traction. To mainstream users, they were just hard-to-use games.

The signal: unbundling

I’d argue that the real signal with CryptoKitties lay beyond the initial user experience: it was the ever-so-slight unbundling of the game.

The logic layer for CryptoKitties now existed on a smart contract whose address and source code was viewable to the public, and could be called by anyone with an ethereum address. Now, any ethereum developer could build an ever-so-primitive “layer two experience” on top of the game.

Want to write a bot that snipes under-valued kitties? There’s an open API for that. Want to write a kitty explorer site to let users browse recent sales? Just watch the events on the smart contract.

These experiences didn’t have to be complex. In fact, the first layer two experience was simply the existence of Etherscan, the smart contract explorer nearly all ethereum users have grown to depend on. Techie power users could go to Etherscan and read directly from the CryptoKitty smart contract to inspect their kitties.

A novel layer two experience was KittyHats, a set of ERC20 tokens that allowed you to accessorize your kitties. In theory, KittyHats drove up the value of individual kitties because now there was another thing you could do with them — but it was difficult to measure this impact and the experience was relatively isolated (it required downloading a chrome extension and accessorizing on a separate website).

Perhaps – had the CryptoKitties team embraced KittyHats more fully by showing their accessories “natively” on the CryptoKitties website – KittyHats could have pioneered the first layer two business model.

Marketplaces were another layer-two experience. I co-founded OpenSea with the idea that a generic layer two experience around trading games might contribute.

But it’s worth noting that OpenSea also failed to capture or contribute significant value to the CryptoKitties ecosystem. At the time, it simply didn’t provide enough additional liquidity to be interesting.

The problem with layer two is it’s just super immature, and you need to squint to see it at work. It’s unclear how much value CryptoKitties has captured from layer two experiences and it’s unclear how layer two experiences can capture value.

Nevertheless, I think dismissing layer two and focusing simply on “true digital scarcity” or “true ownership” is missing the forest for the trees. Layer two is what drives digital scarcity and true ownership.

In the same way that the vibrant ecosystem of exchanges and consumer experiences around bitcoin, ether, and ERC20 drove liquidity for the assets, the ecosystem created by layer two experiences will be what drives consumer excitement and confidence in digitally scarce assets.

What might work

In this new world of open protocols, what business models could work?

Incentives to build layer two experiences

One could be a compelling layer one gaming experience, designed from the beginning with shared incentives to build layer two experiences. Decentraland is arguably the most ambitious attempt at this model. The Decentraland team is building an ecosystem of games, and attempt to capture value from this ecosystem through the appreciation of the MANA token.

The reason this might be appealing is that layer two experiences could fundamentally shift the economics of a game. A game has typically been limited to the audiences that the creators build for.

Games like Roblox and Second Life expand these audiences through user-generated content and in-game programming languages, but they’re still limited to what can be built in a closed environment. Games occasionally partner to build layer two experiences, but they’re highly coordinated and permissioned efforts.

As an example of how this could play out, take EVE Online, a massively multiplayer online space role-playing game. EVE Online has many characteristics of a blockchain game. Famously, the game runs entirely on a single server, which is never tampered with (kind of like a blockchain), so free market economics reign and frequently cause drama.

But the number of people who want to play a hardcore space simulation isn’t that high, so the audience is always limited. Now, imagine EVE Online but built on an open protocol. Third-party developers with no connection to the game might build mining expeditions, weird magical planets, secondary markets that facilitate bartering— all of which tie back to the original economy.

The audience of the game could expand dramatically: purely financially-motivated traders might enter the ecosystem, as well as casual gamers who enjoy only specific layer two experiences that branch off the original game economy.

Why might third-party developers flock to build on the game? If there’s A) enough of a network effect around the original game, B) an easy way to plug in their experience, and C) a method for capturing value in layer two, this would be a no-brainer.

Why it might not work

A valid criticism is that all of this is far too difficult on existing technology. It’s hard to counter this argument; timing is always really hard. However, it may happen faster than we think.

For one, blockchain bootstraps off existing internet infrastructure. With great front=end libraries, mature back=nd web frameworks and B2D services galore, it’s easier than ever to deploy traditional web applications in order to power hybrid decentralized / centralized dapps.

Additionally, blockchain relies primarily on software innovation (which tends to move a lot faster than hardware).

It’s likely a perfect environment for small tinkerers to experiment. It will be exciting to see the developments over the next year that push the space forward.

Have an opinionated take on 2018? CoinDesk is seeking submissions for our 2018 in Review. Email news [at] coindesk.com to learn how to get involved.

Arcade image via Shutterstock

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[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

#cryptocurrency

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click2watch · 6 years ago

Text

Blockchain Gaming: Separating Signal from the Noise

Devin Finzer is the co-founder of OpenSea, a decentralized marketplace for crypto assets.

The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.

Games frequently serve as an experimental playground for new technology.

I quibbled with some of these, but agree with the high-level conclusion that:

“If games bring crypto to the masses, they will have different business models.”

This post is intended to explore potential business models for an open gaming ecosystem. We’ll begin by exploring the existing business models for early blockchain games.

Weeding the signal from the noise

Enter CryptoKitties: a digital cat breeding game and the first mainstream-oriented blockchain gaming experience. CryptoKitties was incredibly exciting to the tech community (myself included).

The noise: vertically integrated digital scarcity

It’s worth taking a closer look at CryptoKitties.

A non-crypto-knowledgable user wouldn’t know the difference.

The signal: unbundling

I’d argue that the real signal with CryptoKitties lay beyond the initial user experience: it was the ever-so-slight unbundling of the game.

Marketplaces were another layer-two experience. I co-founded OpenSea with the idea that a generic layer two experience around trading games might contribute.

What might work

In this new world of open protocols, what business models could work?

Incentives to build layer two experiences

The reason this might be appealing is that layer two experiences could fundamentally shift the economics of a game. A game has typically been limited to the audiences that the creators build for.

Why it might not work

A valid criticism is that all of this is far too difficult on existing technology. It’s hard to counter this argument; timing is always really hard. However, it may happen faster than we think.

Additionally, blockchain relies primarily on software innovation (which tends to move a lot faster than hardware).

It’s likely a perfect environment for small tinkerers to experiment. It will be exciting to see the developments over the next year that push the space forward.

Have an opinionated take on 2018? CoinDesk is seeking submissions for our 2018 in Review. Email news [at] coindesk.com to learn how to get involved.

Arcade image via Shutterstock

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