Last week, I went to an arcade bar with some old friends and new ones. There were 4 of us, so we decided to play Mario Kart together until another friend of a new friend joined us. When asked if she wanted to play a round, she persisted no. She was convinced that she doesn't like games, would need to know where to start, and couldn't possibly compete.
We decided that if we wanted to get a beginner to play with us then we needed to play a beginner-friendly game. So we decided to play one of the most popular games of all time, Pac-Man. This version of Pacman was a 4-person multiplayer version and we learned quickly that it is a ton of fun to play with your friends.
Rather than Mario Kart's advanced controls, Pac-mac only has 4. Left, right, up, and down. The low barrier game was the key because once she started to play, she had a blast!
When our friend started playing the 4-player Pac-Man with us, she very quickly became competitive, engaged, and even won a couple of rounds!
So to break down what happened in this scenario, the person who claimed they were not into gaming was actually able to enjoy one of the earliest popular games ever made in 1980. She was unable to jump right into Mario Kart given the high barrier mechanics and lack of experience.
It's not that she couldn't play the game, it was that in order to confidently play, she would need to absorb roughly 15 years of gaming evolution almost instantly; a daunting task. In her mind, she was convinced it was too difficult even to try.
When I saw this scenario unfold, a spark went off in my mind. This is what it's like to teach a new person the fundamentals of blockchain. When someone asks, 'what is an NFT?' you are trying to cram 13 years of crypto history and evolution into one bite-sized conversation. It's not easy for both sides.
Furthermore, unlike a game, there is no experiential knowledge built into crypto conversations, unlike a game where you can hand someone a controller and assure they'll figure it out quickly as they go, and sometimes they do!
I have tried to teach countless people about blockchain and NFTs since I jumped into the space a year and a half ago. It's never easy, often painful, and to stick the landing depends on the person, their awareness of technology, and personal experiences.
Everyone is trying to make the masterclass to introduce blockchain and NFT basics when really all everyone needs is a Pac-Man-like game intro, and let the skills build up from ground zero, then introduce the Mario-Kart level uses.
If you didn't hear about how Reddit onboarded 3 million community members to their first NFT, then you're in for a treat. They did the obvious, they made a Pac-Man-like intro to NFTs and crypto for their users to jump in with ease.
Reddit had every excuse to never try in the first place, but they did, and they succeeded. The Reddit community has been notoriously anti-NFT and anti-blockchain. This is a normal stance for many curious and misunderstood people. But Reddit managed to integrate NFTs into people's lives without bias and negative connotations.
How did they do this? An integrated NFT marketplace on Reddit, an airdrop on the inexpensive Polygon, and literally nothing but a jpeg. Every aspect was beginner friendly from the beginning until the end. All of a sudden all these people had their wallets, their NFT, and a cool way to represent themselves on the Reddit forum. It was a massive success in onboarding.
When the Reddit digital collectibles made waves across crypto and NFT Twitter, the buying began. The typical NFT buyers sensed the opportunity. They bought based on scarcity, rarity, and price speculation. The prices began exploding, some of the NFTs reaching up to $30k. It was safe to say, Reddit changed the minds of many about NFTs. They are fun, the mechanics are neat, and they are yours to do as you please.
If we break down the Reddit story, we can see one important distinction between the rest of the blockchain and NFTs. It was simple. All it is a jpeg NFT. No extra utility, no de-fi mechanics, no confusion, just a straight line of understanding. The barrier of entry was lowered for the average internet user to hop in.
Just like Pac-Man was the key to onboarding our friend into gaming, a simple jpeg with a smooth user experience was all it took to get into NFTs. The key is simple delivery, and the joy of being a part of something special. NFTs are the greatest gateway into crypto, not everyone may understand a fungible token right away, but many people can understand jpegs.
Next, we will see Starbucks launch its NFT rewards platform named Odyssey. Given the success of the Reddit launch, will likely follow in their path of keeping the web3 jargon out of it.
We will continually see more brands enter the web3 space using similar tactics as they onboard their existing communities with an emphasis on simplicity. Imagine Apple, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Meta, et al bring in their communities in similar ways.
It’s too large an opportunity to ignore.