Web3 and Deep Play: Blockchain Gaming in the Global South

Chair: Dr. Penn Tsz Ting Ip, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Speaker: Saskia Witteborn, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 

Discussant: Jianhua YAO, Fudan University

About the Lecture:

Blockchain-based games and other Web3 applications have been explored in the media and communication literature through various theoretical lenses. The talk engages with this literature and expands existing arguments through the study of play-to-earn gaming and the concept of sociotechnical affordances. Specifically, the study addresses the situated sociotechnical affordances of Web3 technologies in the context of the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity in the Philippines. The data corpus encompasses interviews with play-to-earn communities in the Philippines, social media, and document analysis. The arguments illustrate first how a history of labor out-migration, business process outsourcing, and uncertainty during the Covid-19 pandemic have created the setting for blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption in the country. Against this background, the analysis shows how the engagement with the technical…