NFT game consultant says poor people can be NPCs

Players in developing countries can work as NPCs in richer players’ worlds, according to a gaming consultant.

“With cheap labor in a developing country, you can use people in the Philippines who NPCs (non-playable characters), real NPCs in your game,” said Mikhai Kossar, who is a chartered accountant and member of WolvesDAO.

Kossar told The rest of the world that players in developing countries “can just populate the world – maybe do a random job or just go back and forth, fishing, telling stories, a shopkeeper, anything is really possible.”

According to WolvesDAO’s membership application form, the mission is to “equip the blockchain gaming sector with key insights, education and tools to build tomorrow’s games and communities.”

The future community may apparently be dystopian.

Some find the idea of ​​turning real people across the globe into RPGs as automaton-like NPCs dehumanizing.

“People are coming up with new ideas for how Third World citizens can be put to productive use by wealthy Westerners,“ wrote longtime video game journalist Andy Chalk. “It’s an abhorrent idea, perfect in character for the NFT field, and literally the dictionary definition of exploitation.“

It also raises questions about the ethics of Web3 games more generally, where “scholars” in developing countries already play along NFTs they cannot afford to own play to earn blockchain games while NFT owners reap a percentage of the profits.

The potential for sentience, and the ethics of exploiting NPCs as disposable beings, has been a staple of science fiction, recently explored in HBO’s “Westworld” or last year’s Ryan Reynolds-led Hollywood action comedy “Free Guy.”

But role-playing games such as NPC are not necessarily dystopian in all contexts. Players in role playing (RP) servers for “Grand Theft Auto V” as No Pixel, for example, already volunteered to act as characters working in various positions in the virtual world. Whether as a mechanic, stripper or bartender, they effectively play as NPCs for free. Some RP servers are highly curated, with waiting lists of hopefuls looking to get in.

As for paid metaverse employment, there is also a whole world of virtual jobs in games like “Roblox”, which does not use any cryptocurrency. But some claim that “Roblox’s” minor creators is exploited and not take home the wages they deserve.

As metaverse worlds are coming to market, so there could also be a whole new realm of employment – ​​but some jobs are sure to raise more eyebrows than others.

Kossar has not yet responded Decryptits request for comment.