Introduction to Gamification Mechanisms: Hyper-gambling Stimulates Dopamine, A Perfect Guide to Designing On-Chain Games

This paper explores the speculative nature of the core of games, and puts forward the concept of “hyper-gambling”, that is, the integration of games and financial speculation. Criticize P2E games for becoming labor, and optimistic about the future of prediction markets as on-chain games, because of the built-in cycle of speculation, consequences and dissemination. This article is based on an article by Lauris and is collated, compiled and contributed by AididiaoJP, Foresight News. (Synopsis: Happy hormone addiction: How do “soft gambling” like blind boxes, gacha, lottery discounts, etc. hijack your brain? (Background added: Musk warns: Meme coins like gambling don’t all in!) It’s stupid to make a fortune on meme) The core of the game has always been about risk, speculation, and dopamine. Casino is the most straightforward form: blackjack, poker, slots, these are pure thrills of chance. Without a gambling market, it is difficult for sports events to scale. The reason why the exchange card became popular is because of the lottery mechanism of unpacking and drawing cards, which makes people chase rare cards. Even decorative styling in video games gave birth to an underground economy in which rarity and speculation were more important than practicality. This is not a flaw, speculation itself is a characteristic. It makes the game sticky, communicative and social. When risk participates in a cycle, attention grows compounded. We call this “hypergambling”: the fusion of speculative game mechanics and financial speculation into a communicative entertainment foundation. With the support of on-chain infrastructure, this becomes inevitable: liquidity, verifiability, composability and globalization. Negative textbook: Why the “play-to-earn” model collapsed The last wave of “crypto games” Play-to-Earn is essentially betting on the wrong loop. It once seemed unstoppable: Axie Infinity exploded, the guild expanded rapidly in Southeast Asia, billions poured in, but then everything collapsed. Why? Because P2E mistakes games for work. Players aren’t playing, they’re extracting value. The cycle itself is not fun, but labor. Once speculative inflows dry up, there is no support. The game never scales in the form of labor, but in the form of play. And the core of the game is always speculative. That’s why most attempts at “crypto games” are doomed to fail unless speculation is integrated into the core functionality. Ponzi schemes and inflationary tokens are no longer valid. What people want is consistent: the thrill of risk combined with the breadth of entertainment. This is exactly why every on-chain game is quietly reintroducing betting mechanisms today. They realized the obvious: if there is no speculation in the cycle, there is no survival. Macro Perspective: Hyper-Gambling as Market Design Speculation has always been the most common form of play. From the dice games of ancient Rome to modern casinos, from sports betting to unpacking Pokémon cards, the common thread remains the same: risk is entertainment. The Internet financializes it, cryptography gives it liquidity, and on-chain makes it programmatic. This is a game changer: liquidity becomes instant and global. Every bet or interaction is verifiable. Market dynamics themselves become the distribution engine. That’s why most people’s imaginary “crypto games” are destined to fail. There is no speculative loop, it’s just a Web2 game with a worse user experience. Ponzi schemes and inflationary tokens cannot survive in the current environment. The only games that can scale on-chain are those that connect directly to the market. This is the inevitability of hypergambling. It is not a side matter, but a new market design in which play and speculation are inseparable, and attention itself becomes a distribution track. What’s right about prediction markets Prediction markets are a game. The market is an entertainment cycle; The return is the truth at the time of settlement. The prediction market, both ostensibly and as the underlying support of the consumer experience, will become a huge long-tail, high-variation game up and down the chain. They work because: Small pools of money get gains. Retail investors can drive the market; The price impact is clearly visible and addictive. Settlement creates stakes. The result is solved, the credentials exist, and the consequences are the content. Odds are memes. Implied probabilities become graphs, screenshots, shareable narratives. Reflexivity is innate, bets drive price → price sparks discussion → discussion drives more bets. Their persistence lies in the fusion of speculation with consequences and distribution. Short versions of prediction markets that may exist for a long time Classic prediction markets are narrow in scope: binary, slow, fragmented. They are good at dealing with consequences, but they are difficult to sustain. The technology is amazing and brings together opinions in search of truth, but most of the trading volume is still generated by large players and major market participants rather than retail investors. The next wave will improve its microstructure, not just the shell: think of each game as a mini-market with a clear payout curve (pot, AMM, or order book). Designed around visible market changes, let users feel the initiative. Adopt a faster checkout cadence to keep the cycle alive. Connect games, quests, and creator challenges to shared fluidity. The standard loop is: Attention → Pricing Risk → Credentials. Everything else is just an aid. Persistent on-chain games will be less like labor cycles and more like prediction markets with better styling, microliquidity pools, shareable odds, ongoing consequences, and reflexive distribution. Why on-chain makes this inevitable Crypto technology provides the perfect basis for casting play: Instant liquidity – bets and results can be settled without intermediaries. Composable marketplace – every game is connected to a shared infrastructure. Transparent odds – Verifiable fairness is built into the chain. Meme amplification – tokens turn each outcome into a narrative. The next wave won’t be like an Axie labor cycle. It will be like an arcade connected to the financial system, where each machine is a mini-market, every action is priced, and every new player adds liquidity to the loop. Related stories Gambling thinking sweeps the world: unknowingly becoming the root of losers Chinese courts: Virtual currency contracts are illegal gambling! BKEX Exchange Employee Sentenced for “Opening a Casino” You are not mistaken about the book profit and loss, you just misbelieve the rules of the game behind the perpetual contract “Introduction to Gamification Mechanism: Super Gambling Stimulates Dopamine, The Perfect Guide to Designing On-Chain Matches” This article was first published in BlockTempo’s “Dynamic Trend - The Most Influential Blockchain News Media”.