Phase 1: Play-to-Earn (2021-2022)
The poster child was Axie Infinity.
The promise was revolutionary:
Play games. Earn money.
At its peak:
- Millions of players
- Billions in NFT volume
- Entire economies formed
- Some players earned more than local wages
But most P2E systems had a fatal flaw.
They rewarded extraction instead of value creation.
Players joined primarily to earn tokens.
When growth slowed:
- Token inflation exploded
- Rewards collapsed
- New users stopped arriving
- Economies broke
Many P2E games became unsustainable.
Phase 2: Learn-to-Earn (2022-2025)
Projects realized people would engage for more than gaming.
Platforms emerged offering rewards for:
- Learning crypto
- Watching videos
- Completing lessons
- Passing quizzes
Examples include:
- Coinbase Earn
- Binance Learn & Earn
- RabbitHole
- Layer3
- Galxe
These worked better because they:
- Educated users
- Onboarded communities
- Created informed participants
But many still suffered from:
- Airdrop farming
- Low retention
- Mercenary users
People often left once rewards disappeared.
Phase 3: Quest-to-Earn (2023-2025)
This evolved into:
- Social quests
- Community tasks
- Referral programs
- Content creation campaigns
Users earned rewards for:
- Following accounts
- Joining Telegram
- Creating memes
- Posting content
- Referring friends
This became the growth engine of Web3.
But many campaigns still focused on short-term metrics.
Projects bought attention rather than building community.
Phase 4: Engage-to-Earn (2025+)
This is where things get interesting.
The newest trend isn’t:
Play-to-Earn.
It’s not:
Learn-to-Earn.
It’s:
Engage-to-Earn
The idea is simple:
People create value through participation.
Examples:
- Voting
- Posting
- Creating content
- Recruiting members
- Sharing ideas
- Hosting spaces
- Moderating communities
- Contributing knowledge
- Building culture
Instead of rewarding passive holding…
Projects reward engagement.
Why This Matters
AI is changing everything.
Content is becoming abundant.
Information is becoming abundant.
Code is becoming abundant.
Human engagement is becoming scarce.
This is why:
- Communities matter more
- Identity matters more
- Belonging matters more
The most valuable asset may no longer be software.
It may be community.
Pump.fun Is Moving In This Direction
Pump.fun’s newer:
- Communities
- Bounties
- Participation systems
represent a major shift.
Instead of:
“Buy this token.”
Projects can say:
“Help us build this movement.”
Members can earn rewards for:
- Memes
- Videos
- Articles
- Community growth
- Referrals
- Content
This is much closer to a DEO model.
A Decentralized Engagement Organization.
Where Normie Fits
This is why Normie is uniquely positioned.
Normie isn’t:
- A game
- A trading platform
- A traditional social network
Normie is fundamentally:
Engage-to-Earn
Every poll:
Creates engagement.
Every answer:
Creates behavioral data.
Every interaction:
Strengthens the network.
Every participant:
Creates value.
The future version could reward:
- Voting
- Poll creation
- Referrals
- Content creation
- Community leadership
- Data contribution
- Personality discovery
- Behavioral insights
This aligns directly with the DEO thesis:
Engagement is the new equity.
The Next Big Trend
I believe the evolution looks like this:
Play-to-Earn
↓
Learn-to-Earn
↓
Quest-to-Earn
↓
Create-to-Earn
↓
Engage-to-Earn
↓
Belong-to-Earn
The biggest opportunity may not be rewarding people for playing games.
It may be rewarding people for:
- Showing up
- Participating
- Contributing
- Building culture
- Growing communities
In other words:
The future may belong to tokenized communities, DEOs, and platforms that successfully turn engagement into ownership.
Which is why projects like Normie, combined with the DEO framework, are conceptually aligned with where Web3 appears to be heading:
From speculation → participation.
From audiences → owners.
From trading → believing.
From tokens → communities. 🚀
