The challenge of the entire chain game: the bottleneck is not in the Block time but in creativity

Block time

Currently, the block time of most ETH layer 2 is 2 seconds, which means that it takes 2 seconds to complete an interaction with them. This may make users feel slow because the time for one interaction with Web2 applications is generally around 0.2 seconds.

Because response time is one of the key factors affecting user experience, let's make a hypothesis: 01928374656574839201

Assuming the Block time is increased by 10 times to 0.2 seconds. Without considering the entry barriers specific to the Block chain field, such as Wallet and Gas, the Block chain as an infrastructure has reached the level where it can replace Web2 infrastructure (mainly centralized database and server solutions, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Alibaba Cloud, etc.).

So, would you use the blockchain to rebuild everything on Web2 now?

My answer is: No!

Even if the blockchain infrastructure responds 100 times faster than Web2 (which is definitely not possible in the short term), the issue of user migration incentives and costs still needs to be considered. As well as the fact that blockchain is a naturally more "expensive" and less easily modifiable infrastructure than the Internet, and factors such as permissionlessness and autonomous ownership are not concerns for all scenarios or users.

From this perspective, Web2 has already solved the problem, and the Blockchain probably does not need to intervene, nor is it necessary to intervene. The Blockchain is not meant to replace Web2, but should complement Web2, or open up new areas outside of Web2, such as meeting the needs that Web2 does not meet very well, or creating entirely new demands.

The whole chain game is just a technical proposition

Following this train of thought, blockchain-based games are most likely not, and should not be, simply replicating existing game genres using blockchain technology. The essence of blockchain-based games is to propose a new technological concept: to put the server-side logic of games on the blockchain, or to use the blockchain as the game server. Clearly, this is just a technological proposition and does not answer the further and more important question: which game genres are worth adopting this technological concept?

The proponents of the autonomous world did not directly answer the questions raised in the previous text, but instead stepped out of the scope of the game and attempted to provide an answer from a broader perspective. Their logic is that the trend of the digital evolution of human society is highly deterministic and constantly accelerating, and the ultimate outcome of this trend is summarized as the Metaverse. They believe that the best operating medium for the Metaverse is the blockchain. Because of its characteristics of immutability, perpetual operation, and resistance to collusion, the blockchain is more suitable as the foundation of the Metaverse, and a fully on-chain Metaverse is an autonomous world.

But the reality is that the metaverse will not arrive in the short term, let alone the metaverse running on the on-chain Block, and the autonomous world is only treated as an ideal type in practice for large multiplayer online games (MMOs) and sandbox games.

Facing the problem

The problems faced by the whole-chain game and autonomous world are also a microcosm of the problems faced by the entire blockchain industry: the highway (infrastructure) has been repaired, but the travel destination (application scenario) is lacking, and practitioners have fallen into a nihilistic vortex. Memecoin has become the object of pursuit, as if entering a garbage time in history.

Actually, the garbage time in history is just the complaint of followers. For leaders, it doesn't exist at all, but the vacuum period of innovation lasts too long. The current dilemma is not fundamentally a limitation of technology, but a lack of creativity!