Games and the Future of Low-Skill Work

UPDATE September 4, 2018: NBC TV streaming service to pay viewers to watch.

In this whitepaper I use trends from automation and video game revenue models to make the following predictions about the future of low-skill work.

  1. Within five years, some game companies will be paying players in some way to play their games. This will be in the form of small points-based incentives that can be liquidated in the form of purchasing power.
  2. Within ten years, paying for players will become a standard revenue model in the game industry. Payments will either be in the form of liquid virtual money or real cash.
  3. Within twenty years, game playing will be a significant source of income of the low-skill workforce. Wage-playing will be the primary means by which the extreme gains of the wealthy will trickle down to the poor.

Read the paper at Gamasutra.

Edit 11/25/2017: The trend continues.