# Introduction

By [Get Off My Metaverse Lawn! An Aspiring Curmudgeon Explores web3](https://paragraph.com/@gomml) · 2022-05-30

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I’m not cynical. I’m realistic.
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If you are like me and you grew up playing the Monopoly game at McDonald’s, you learned about scams early. There was no way you were going to get all the blue properties and win the big money. Then there were the Star Wars Hologram Pogs that came in bags of Doritos. Collect them all? Not a chance. Things like these can make a kid cynical, so when I started hearing about cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and how anyone could be an overnight millionaire, I smelled a scam. At the same time, I was interested. Some of the things being said did have a ring of truth to them.

The more I looked into it, I realized, scam or not, that a web3 tidal wave was growing and would crash down on the internet right about the time my kids would begin to start exploring the web. If there is any chance of me helping them navigate the promises and perils of the changing web, I need to know something about this new web3 stuff.

On a less serious note, if we do end up living in the metaverse, I want to be sure I’m ready to yell at people to get off my metaverse lawn. For an aspiring curmudgeon like myself, that is reason enough to learn about web3.

The Goal
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My aim is to provide a lighthearted but informative, basic introduction to web3 concepts. I hope to offer an understanding of the technology that supports web3 and take a look at some of the ideological motivations driving it forward.

If you are curious about what all this stuff is and what it could mean for the future, come along and learn with me. I plan to publish approximately 10 articles over the course of the summer.

### Disclaimer

If you are looking for someone to explain to you how to make a bunch of money investing in crypto, I’m not your guy. Get a job.

If you are looking for rainbows, unicorns, and all the ways that web3 is going to usher in the great digital utopia, again, I’m not your guy.

I own very little crypto. I keep just enough ETH to buy the gas to run this project.

Lastly, I’m just a guy. I’m no expert. I find these topics interesting and consider them important for understanding the world, so I’ve made it my business to learn about them. I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned. If you don’t like what I have to say - get off my lawn.

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*Originally published on [Get Off My Metaverse Lawn! An Aspiring Curmudgeon Explores web3](https://paragraph.com/@gomml/introduction)*