Having A Gas: This Week In Crypto Pop Culture, December 31-January 4

It’s Friday, January 4, everybody! Hopefully you’ve gathered yourself together after New Year’s Eve … and … you’re … ready …

I’m sorry, readers. I cannot lie. It’s not Friday, January 4, at all. It’s Saturday, January 5, believe it or not. Barely a week into 2019, and I’ve already lied to our readers and released Having A Gas a day late. What a start! I hope you can forgive this breach of the trust we’ve built up over the past three weeks and muster the courage to make it through this roundup of the lighter stories in this week’s crypto and blockchain news.

Hey (Hey), You (You), I Don’t Like Your Blockchain Girlfriend

Game developer YYMOON Network ended its open beta this week for NEO.Girl, a blockchain game set to be released on BlaCat, a NEO-based blockchain gaming platform.

NEO.Girl isn’t just any blockchain game, it’s a blockchain dating simulator centered around an AI girl named Luna. Players work to earn affection from Luna in the form of “love bubbles,” which can be spent on one of the 4,000 limited edition clothing items available for Luna to wear within the game, all of which are treated as “scarce, non-fungible assets that may appreciate in value if the number of users increases.”

The game also features a life and death cycle, allowing users to create a boyfriend avatar, procreate with Luna, and have unique gene codes passed down to the next generation, which are then stored on the blockchain.

Now, I’ve played my fair share of dating sims. I dated a few pigeons in Hatoful Boyfriend. I found true love with a dinosaur in Jurassic Heart. I even had my heart broken by a Brother printer in Brother Falls in Love. But a dating sim that offers blockchain immortality?

Well, that just sounds silly.

The Very Human Act of Owning Crypto

We’re already one percent done with 2019, so I’ve lost hope that I’ll have enough time to do anything new this year. But if you’re not paralyzed by the indifferent, unending progress of the universe, CoinDCX believes your 2019 should start with cryptocurrency. The Indian crypto exchange tweeted a flowchart to help individuals determine if they should jump on the crypto train in 2019. The flowchart asks hard-hitting questions like: “Are you human?”…”Do you wanna get rich fast?”…”Do you wanna own a Lambo someday?”

Really tough stuff. On one hand, I’d love to be a millionaire, on the other, I’m not huma – I mean, I don’t want to own a Lambo.

In case the flowchart wasn’t enough to convince you, the tweet offers good ol’ fashioned peer pressure: “Not being in the #cryptocurrency space is like not using the internet in 2010!”

Ahh, yes, 2010. The historic year everyone finally logged on to Internet dot com.

Time Is a Flat Block

I think everyone knows that this week marked the 10-year anniversary of Bitcoin’s genesis block. Well, I say everyone, but I really mean everyone in the cryptospace. It wasn’t that long ago, that I, a meager twenty-something with a bad Twitter addiction and student debt, knew nothing of Bitcoin as it was on the cusp of puberty.

I had my own crypto anniversary this week. Three months, to be exact. Bitcoin is off spending all of its parents’ money at the book fair and collecting Yu-Gi-Oh cards (how do you do, fellow kids?), but I’ve finally reached the age where my neck is sturdier and I’m settling into a sleeping schedule, giving my editor some much needed rest (at least I hope so.)

ETHNews features a much more eloquent piece on celebrations of Bitcoin’s double-digit birthday this week. My point is, in case you haven’t guessed it through each of these strange crypto vignettes, time is weird. One minute someone anonymously creates a counter to centralized financial institutions, next thing you know you’re suddenly writing bad jokes about crypto exchanges.

That’s it for Having A Gas. Join us next week, and remember, [insert clever catchphrase here].

Nicholas Ruggieri studied English with an emphasis in creative writing at the University of Nevada, Reno. When he’s not quoting Vines at anyone who’s willing to listen, you’ll find him listening to too many podcasts, reading too many books, and crocheting too many sweaters for his dogs, RT and Peterman.

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