My understanding of digital ownership changed quite abruptly in 2021.

I was never much of a gamer, but there were still points in my life where I sunk hundreds of hours into titles like Clash of Clans; never truly considering the existential risk of losing my “in-game” property that comes with the architecture of the internet pre-blockchain era.

Elsewhere in the emerging metaverse, I was writing occasionally on web2 platforms, engaging in social networks, making memes, etc….

The common denominator is I’m not in true ownership of my work. And yes, I believe gameplay can be considered ‘work’ retrospectively.

One principle has become obvious to me:

Just like in the physical world, the product of your time and effort on the internet can become an asset.

This is also affectionately known as the Internet of Value thesis.

Today, with the opening of the gates on Mirror where writers like myself can now freely publish onto the permaweb (Arweave) and verify authorship (Ethereum address), I feel myself taking one step forward in choosing to live in a digital economy where I can own my production.

I’m looking forward to posting all long-form writing I do in the future on a truly decentralized publication platform like this one.

It’s weird to refer to a decentralized post as being “posted” anywhere. While the Mirror platform does have some assets tied to it, it’s such an open protocol that one does not even have to touch Mirror.xyz the website or its related resources (see Miguel’s musings on that here).

Hello Mirror, until next time!