Previous articles related to this post if you haven't read them:

• https://www.publish0x.com/buckizard/a-gaming-journey-mostly-background-xzgdgog - Background
• https://www.publish0x.com/buckizard/gaming-to-crypto-to-crypto-gaming-xjrvdqy - Gaming to Crypto

I'm going to use the term 'gaming' or 'games' loosely here, only because that is what they are considered on the WAX blockchain.  They are far from games, in my opinion, but it is what it is.

I started on WAX just checking out what was around and collected some gdz.topps and koggs.  Still have yet to figure out what use any of them are, though the koggs have a game and stacking into staking, but I never got into either one except staking on collect.social for some racoon.

The 1st game was, unsurprisingly, Alien worlds, which is still going strong.  I immediately enjoyed it, mostly because NFTs were dropping at the time, and reselling for a pretty penny. Oh, this is what the P2E is all about, well I like it, cus I was making some good money selling these NFTs and I had a NFT heavy build, sometimes getting 3-4 a day. Well, didn't take long for AW to figure out that it was unsustainable, considering the number of people playing.  It is still going strong and still a decent money maker for me with 3-7 TLM per day average.  Below is what you earn for NFT mining now, that's my highest, not sure if they will have any in-game use in the future or not.

I went from there head-on, full force into gaming.  My AtomicHub birthday is March 2021 and here's just AH stats since then.  Added my wam in case you wanna send me a separate tip :) 

Prices as of 1/16/2023

When I look at that now, I go WOW! WTF!? Where did all that go?! Where is it now? As of today I only have 2,700+ NFTs in my collection, not sure if that's a lot or not.  That's the weird thing about WAX games P2E, right when you think you are making progress, they introduce something you need to have, to continue making that money.  Oh, and if go in small, you ain't making shit.  If you want to make something worth showing, you gotta start as big as you can.  

How much actual money have I made from all these games P2E?  Well, nothing in fiat because anything I make in WAX just gets dumped right back into the WAX chain on the next latest and greatest game or project.  And of course, a whole lot of projects went under with the great bullish market, when it hit.  And don't even remind me of the occasional rug-pulls that happen or even hacking, which I had happen. Will get into the hack further down.  

I had a huge Daily list of games/projects/faucets that I had to make my rounds daily on, in order to collect or make sure I was collecting.  Well, I was now spending more time making these daily rounds then I ever did playing actual non-crypto games.  Plus trying to keep up on projects, read whitepapers, follow discords, and enter giveaways.  I could easily pass 8-10 hours on my laptop making those rounds.  And that didn't include trying to keep up on selling, re-listing the next day, selling more, etc!

Needless to say I had not learned a thing form my past, and it was starting to make an impact on my 2nd marriage.  She has no clue what crypto even is and could not understand what the hell I was doing for so long every day, sometimes late at night when I couldn't sleep.  It had all started from my bitcoin piggy bank so wasn't affecting us financially, but in every other way, it was taking its toll.  FOMO and "gotta play to earn" was great in my mind.

I think a follow-up to this post I will list games I played then, and what I'm still playing or into now.  The list is long, lol.

HACK SMACKED

I think the greatest thing to happen to me, was the HACK.  This was my own naïve self and came from using always-sign.

I had that box checked for every project.  Afterall, I just didn't have the time, especially the fomo for drops and giveaways in limited numbers, to manually approve every transaction.  After the hack I went into my WCW permissions and had WAY too many, probably 50+, that I had given these permissions to. There were maybe 10-30% that were projects no longer in existence, had died out, or had been a rugpull.  Give those permissions to a bad actor via their project, and I was asking for trouble.  And I got it.  The lucky part I had very little WAX at the time.  The big blow was they took some big value earners of mine from several projects.  It really stung.  No more 'Always sign', keep 2 factor, change all passwords, and re-evaluate.

REEVALUATION TIME

The hack, along with my growing friction at home. Really made my re-evaluate what the hell I was doing here on WAX and how it was affecting me in real life.  I was just spending way too much time basically clicking, waiting to approve, re-clicking, rinse and repeat.  When not on my laptop, I was on my phone going through the same motions.  Free time at work? Go collect/click.  It was ridiculous!   And I sure wasn't getting anywhere but deeper into projects and adding more projects to my clicking list with anything I earned.   I took a few weeks off and dove internally.  I wasn't even really having fun anymore, it was work and it wasn't doing much for me in any way.  In my own head it had.....I had great standings in a lot of games and projects, and valuable stuff.  But really WAS IT?  It was all in my head and didn't translate to the real world at all.  And that was the world I really wanted me to be happy in.  And I had found such an amazing and perfect wife, I really wasn't willing to sacrifice her to a gaming addiction that had once again resurfaced, this time in the crypto world.

SELL SELL SELL

Even in a bear market, I had to do it.  I started exiting projects left and right.  Selling everything I had from them, leaving discords, cutting all (almost) ties with games.  I took losses but, for the most part, made a lot more WAX then I initially invested, mostly because the projects were still going strong and were still in demand (see my follow up post for the list, coming soon).  It was tough, only because of FOMO, but had to be done.  The selling is still on-going, even today, a few months later....mostly because of the bear market, but also because it is a lot of work in the market with all the resellers always lowering their price soon after I do.  I don't blame them, its exactly what I was doing. 

FOCUS

I didn't want to leave crypto, or WAX.  WAX has one of the greatest communities I have ever seen, the fee-less transactions and more make it one of the easiest chains for creators and projects to build from, and one of the easiest for users to get into and stay in.  I found that the biggest joy, and best thing for my PTSD, was enjoying the cool things that people were creating on WAX.  Not necessarily the games or projects, but the art these people were creating for the projects.  I have always love art, and one of my heroes growing up, was an uncle making a living from art.  One could argue the difference from physical art and NFT digital art, but to me, it didn't matter.  It was the appreciation of the art, not whether I could stick it on a wall or not.  And it was supporting these artists however I could - buying their art or showing support for their art on social media. 

I found the art and artist, and communities that brought me joy, and re-invested my exit earnings into them.  I'll list some of the ones that bring me joy in my next post.  But let's just say that for me, it has been the greatest thing to happen in a long time.  I have helped others continue creating, which perhaps brings one of the greatest joys of all and I have found an inner peace that can not be bought.  My time spent has been reduced to 1-2 hours and some days, to nothing at all.  The joy I get from enjoying art created by these people belongs in a different plain.  One of spiritual bliss.  I prefer artists that create by hand, and then make it digital, as an NFT, but there are still some digital artists that I can appreciate and enjoy their creations.

Life has gotten better.  My wife and I have rekindled our relationship and are spending much more time together and outside doing things versus me clicking away for hours.  

Although, as of late, I have heard "What the hell are you doing typing like a madman over there??!!"

Sorry, babe, just telling my story.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more.