Only when a person is playing a game is he truly complete. — Egon Schiele

Let's first discuss why we need video games.

In today's world, with its strict divisions of labor and profit-driven madness, individuals are swallowed up by the monstrous pursuit of wealth. Civilization's so-called progress has dragged us into a modern society where we tread the cold, mechanized paths of automation and utility. Humans have been stripped of their essence, reduced to mere tools.

The world shackles us with utilitarian definitions, forcing functional meanings onto our lives. We're commanded to study, work, build perfect families, chase after glittering careers and wealth, maintain an ideal physique, work like machines, and play prescribed roles in social scenes. But are these imposed "meanings" truly ours?

We are not TOOLS!

Then come video games, this seemingly "meaningless" virtual world, open a gateway to freedom. When we play games, we're not just killing time—we're finding little sanctuaries in the grind of life. The meaning of play is something we create ourselves, helping us make peace with reality and letting our true selves shine.

A seemingly "meaningless" world is actually full of all the meaning. Games might not have the "useful" value society dictates, but no gamer can deny the intense sense of purpose felt while playing. This sense of purpose is deeply personal, sparked by the interactions between the player and the game world. It comes from within us, free from societal definitions.

Think about "Minecraft" players who build amazing things without any financial reward. The joy, immersion, and pride in creating something great are incredibly real. "The Legend of Zelda" players enjoy the freedom to explore and interact with a vast open world. Some explorations might seem pointless, but our love for Hyrule is very real. We call it "Individual Self-Derived Meaning." On a collective level, the concept becomes even more powerful. "World of Warcraft" guilds are a perfect example—players naturally come together (without any consensus technology) to tackle big raids or powerful foes, creating diverse but organized structures. Free from real-world burdens, players' needs are based on their true selves. These genuine individual desires create group dynamics that offer an unmatched sense of belonging. Socializing in games like "Animal Crossing" removes real-world identities and statuses, letting players connect purely through shared interests and hobbies, experiencing friendships that feel more genuine than those in reality. This is "Collective Self-Derived Meaning."

Video games, with their limitless interactivity, go beyond previous art forms, maximizing the self-derived meaning for individuals and groups alike. Games set us free, making us more human.

But video games are in crisis; their "booming" appearance is just an illusion.

As the gaming industry skyrockets, commercialization has taken over as the main goal. Video games have turned into full-fledged market activities, with game companies focused on manipulating human nature to maximize profits. They cleverly create cheap, addictive pleasures that draw us in without us realizing it. This experience fundamentally conflicts with the autonomous meaning that players once found in games.

Forced Purchase: Many games now force players to spend money constantly to make progress or enjoy the full experience. This model shifts players' focus from the joy of the game itself to how they can financially sustain their progress, weakening players' freedom of choice. For example, in many mobile games, players need to frequently buy items or unlock premium content, making the core experience limited and one-sided. Players can no longer freely explore or create; instead, they're forced to follow the profit-driven design of the game creators.

Addictive Design: Game developers use psychological principles to create highly addictive game mechanics, like daily tasks, login rewards, and loot boxes. These designs trap players into spending huge amounts of time and energy on the game daily for trivial virtual rewards. The space for individual free exploration and creativity is reduced to a minimum, turning players into "time slaves" for the game companies.

Social Pressure and Competition: Over-commercialized games often introduce mandatory social and competitive mechanics, like leaderboards and arenas. These mechanics exploit players' competitive instincts, pushing them to constantly level up. To stay ahead, players feel compelled to spend more money and time on the game, losing the original freedom and joy. Social interactions in games become more transactional, diluting genuine friendship and team spirit.

We need to ask ourselves, when we're endlessly grinding levels, completing quests, pulling gacha, spending money, and crazily inviting friends for meager blockchain game airdrops, are we truly ourselves?

Slowly, we've gone from playing games to being played by games. We've become tools for game companies' profits, with our emotions and time manipulated, making it hard to truly immerse in good games. Quality games are becoming rare, while life's poison reaps incredible financial rewards.

Games have been completely alienated, and we've lost the freedom we should have in gaming.

AO gives us a chance to change everything.

Games built on AO are entirely decentralized. This isn’t just another Web3 game. It goes beyond simply putting game logic and points on the blockchain to solve verification and contribution recording issues. Instead, it ensures that game art, music, worlds, characters, settings, and stories all exist in a decentralized form.

What’s the big deal?

AAA or large-scale games have always been the domain of big companies; independent developers simply can't afford the costs and manpower to build such games. But with AO, everything changes. Developers and creators can make their game assets available for others to use. Creative developers can build expansions, and new storylines within existing game worlds or use existing assets to create their own games. The cost of developing new games will plummet. Even cooler, since resources are created, displayed, and used within the same digital world, creators don’t need to worry about compensation—they can set up custom reward systems. Some resources can process user gameplay data, games built using these resources can have a player base from day one. New "great ideas" no longer have to start from scratch; they can immediately tap into an existing audience and receive ample feedback.

Players will enjoy unprecedented gaming experiences. In AO’s game world, games are no longer isolated little worlds but interconnected super-worlds. Players can seamlessly switch between different game worlds, enjoying continuous, cross-game quests. Imagine finding a quest clue in an adventure game, solving a puzzle in a mystery game, and completing the final mission in an action game. Or having a role-playing game for dialogues, a strategy game for planning, and a shooter game for execution. Player data and preferences can be shared across games, offering highly personalized experiences. Thanks to AO’s parallel computing power, players can play online with friends worldwide without worrying about network congestion. Players can also use game resources in the AO network to create experiences for themselves and friends, or even build their own “happy utopia.” And there’s no need to worry about games shutting down; even if developers stop maintaining them, games running on 100% decentralized servers will never go offline.

AI models and agents can be stored and run decentralized on AO. What does this mean? Imagine a forever-existing decentralized server with an AI companion whose memory never fades. In AO’s world, AI characters running on decentralized servers can have an unlimited memory of interactions with players that never disappears. Your companion will always be with you. This is something no traditional AI or blockchain architecture can achieve. Players can create AI teammates or opponents or build custom AI characters to accompany them throughout their gaming journey. AI can also be an element for player creations. Players can build rich world elements with AI’s help, create AI characters for others to challenge, or have AI character battles.

More importantly, in AO’s decentralized game world, creators and players are no longer adversaries. When players can fully define their gaming experience and easily create new ones, they’re more than just players. And creators, who were once behind-the-scenes strategists aiming to make more money off players, become pure providers of gaming experiences. Or, think of creators as another type of player—those who spend countless hours building in Minecraft or making games in Roblox for expression. They can earn rewards, but who says they’re not enjoying life too?

This is the experience we aim to create.

In this world, we want to return the sovereignty of play—not just ownership, but the right to decide how to play—to humans.

Oh, and there’s the economic system. Of course, we need a complete economic system. Creators who provide great experiences for others should definitely be rewarded. This world should have a decentralized economy that doesn’t rely on us (the AO Games development team) to decide its direction.

This is a whole new way of thinking about games, a paradigm that can only truly be realized on AO. We want to propose this philosophy of game building and provide a series of AO-based game engines and development components to assist. We welcome game developers, creators, and players to join us in creating unprecedented gaming experiences in this world.

We know there are still many independent developers and players out there who refuse to bow to the commercial game companies and financial slavery, silently pushing the boundaries of what could be humanity’s ultimate form of entertainment. We welcome you in this world. Join us and awaken the gamer spirit within you.

Let’s save video games and return the right to play and the freedom to enjoy games back to humanity!