Corey is one of my favourite people and has been as far back as I remember. He and his brother Kyle are my closest cousins, almost brothers from another mother. When he invited my family to join the Sunday Gratitude Ceremony, it was the first time in a long time that I found a community where I felt at home. While we built on the Old World, Corey’s uplifting vision grew. In January 2021, I was isolating in my basement for 2 weeks with presumptive COVID. Being in the same house but unable to hug my kids and my husband or even spend time together was AWFUL. Being sick wasn’t amazing, but that complete lack of contact WHILE THEY WERE UPSTAIRS IN MY OWN HOUSE was easily the worst two weeks of my life. I spent most of my time building in The Uplift, because it was the only thing I could do. Fast forward a couple of months. I was working in a primary health care setting, in the middle of the worst wave of the pandemic so far. There were symptomatic patients coming into the clinic, leaning over the reception desk, pulling their masks down to talk. I saw two choices: stay at the clinic and probably catch COVID again and be miserable, or convince Corey that he really badly needed a Jen on his team. My family’s safety is more important than job security. I am extremely grateful for the Uplift World team and community for creating a welcoming and engaging metaverse!
Aside from existing in such an engaged, uplifting community, The Uplift World has a couple other strong points going for it that scream sustainability. Play to earn is amazing for universal basic income. UBI is the difference between cotton and polyester sheets. It’s the difference between heat in the winter and freezing. It’s a new pair of boots when you need them. It fills the “Oh Shit!” fund for when something breaks and repair is almost as expensive as new. Knowing that The Uplift is contributing to that universal basic income in whatever way each individual user needs it most is something I’m very grateful for.
I view sustainability like an onion. You peel one layer at a time, and each time you peel away another layer, your tears intensify. A sustainable blockchain-powered game is one with many layers of complexity, allowing the user to be as involved or uninvolved as they wish, with as much as possible transparent on the blockchain – blockchain keeps everyone accountable and removes the normal layer of corporate secrecy. Blockchain is the secret spice on top. The second part to this metaphor is the sauté. When you sauté the peeled onion, you need oil or butter, salt and pepper, and the perfect amount of low heat to just barely get that sizzle, to carmelize but not burn. The dev team keeps the heat at that perfect level, while the community stirs the pot every so often, ensuring perfect, even cooking without burning. The onion metaphor is important – you can’t have an active and engaged community if you only focus on the game. You need to remember to focus on the people who play – who are they? What do they want? What are their passions?
The future of The Uplift is the desert of this metaphor. It’s being a kid again and playing with your food, but in a way that the adults encourage. Grab some toothpicks and marshmallows and stab the marshmallows until all your toothpicks are joined in some sort of shape. Then invite all your friends and a bunch of strangers over and tell them they each get one marshmallow, but it’s connected to these other marshmallows, and what if I decorate mine with chocolate chips and my friend uses rainbow sprinkles and someone else dips theirs in strawberry jam and another carves out the inside and fills it with ice cream? Like that, but with world DAOs and multi-chain functionality with Upliftium as the toothpicks.
Follow @20011981 on Twitter for more witty metaphors!