⛔ No USA

Hey frens.

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time to wind down for the weekend.

I’m seeing a mix of red and green on my list of top gaming tokens today. Sui is down about 5% in the past week, while IMX is up about 7%. PENGU has notably climbed 20% in the past 7 days, but it is still down 83% from its all-time high.

Today we’re talking about the Black Mirror token, plus the biggest problem around the upcoming crypto game MapleStory N.

— Kate Irwin

P.S. Let me know how you’re liking The Drop! Send me an email at [email protected].

MapleStory N launches soon — but not in the USA

We now know what’s been hinted at for a while: MapleStory’s crypto spinoff, MapleStory N, is finally launching on May 15.

On May 8, players in select countries will be able to pre-download the game.

The new game will be a 2D, sidescrolling MMORPG like the original game. MapleStory N is part of MapleStory Universe (MSU), which also includes plans for a mobile game version for players plus MapleStory N SDK and Project ModN (a blockchain game sandbox) for developers.

MapleStory N uses its own Avalanche L1 (also referred to as a subnet) to facilitate player-to-player game item trading without an in-game shop. Players will be able to buy and sell in-game items and create game items, too.

MapleStory N will have a built-in anticheat feature and use AvaCloud’s security infrastructure. The game has been tested with millions of onchain activities already across roughly 972,000 registered wallets. The team estimates they had about 506,000 total users during the prelaunch period.

The original MapleStory game from Nexon sports a pixelated “Chibi” anime aesthetic where players can choose from different character classes such as warrior, magician, bowman, thief or pirate. Players can join guilds, auction items, enhance items, level up, navigate dungeons, battle monsters and bosses, and select new skills — to name a few ways players engage with the world. 

But there’s a hitch with MapleStory N: It won’t be available in the US, most of Europe, or countries like Japan and South Korea.

MSU’s terms put forth a long list of over 50 restricted countries — that’s 1 in 4 countries in the world. Ten months ago, some Redditors noticed this. Notably, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, India, and some countries in southeast Asia are not on that restricted list:

That list is still the case today, though MapleStory N is apparently trying to support more regions.

Being banned in the US and much of Europe could pose a significant problem for this game because it won’t really be able to reach Western audiences, which make up a large part of the game industry’s spenders. South Korea and Japan are also important markets in gaming. 

In fact, MSN will not be available in the top 7 largest gaming markets globally. It will only be available in 2 of the top 10 markets by revenue (Mexico and Canada).

Yes, players may try to use VPNs to get around these restrictions, but some platforms are able to identify and block VPN use.

What’s strange is that other crypto games, like Off The Grid, have launched with a token and dedicated Avalanche L1 in the US without problems. 

MapleStory’s terms say that all of these countries are barred from playing its game because of “the status of crypto sanction or regulations in each country.” 

But the US, under Trump, has pivoted toward a favorable stance on cryptocurrencies overall. The SEC has also dismissed a slew of prior investigations into OpenSea, Uniswap, and others.

If the MSU doesn’t change its terms, this game won’t get nearly the audience it otherwise could. I think that’s sad, because this one is promising.

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It’s true: A Black Mirror crypto token is coming

Done watching the latest season of Black Mirror and want to feel like you’re living in one of its dystopian worlds? 

I’m being facetious — but the “Black Mirror Experience” is real.

Black Mirror is getting a crypto token, as well as a gamified, dystopian “social rating” experience with crypto elements powered by Animoca Brands subsidiaries Pixelynx and Kor protocol. 

They’re using the catchphrase: “Obey your mind. Obey your assistant.”

The out-of-the-blue X thread announcing the token this week says over 60% of the token will be allocated “to the community.”

Right now, players can connect their wallets to the Black Mirror Experience site to get their social and wallet activity assessed and judged. A ranking will be given, and players will get a Social ID Card NFT showing that ranking.

The NFT will be dynamic and change as you take actions that impact your rating. It tracks your reputation score, your “badges” (things deemed good) and “stains” (things deemed bad). The project’s creators are calling these NFTs “your onchain passport to the Black Mirror ecosystem.”

The platform says it’ll eventually add minigames, more quests, betting and AI coaching.

We don’t yet know how or when the token will drop, but I’m guessing those with high social card scores will ultimately be airdropped larger amounts of the token than those with low scores.

In response to my confusion over whether this was even real, Pixelynx CEO Indul Phull confirmed it’s legit and said the experience is the result of a deal with rights firm Banijay UK.

Banijay oversees Black Mirror’s global ancillary rights and is a key player in Black Mirror’s crypto dealings. Banijay has negotiated crypto plays for other shows, too, like Peaky Blinders. 

In a separate reply, Phull said Netflix is “one of the rights holders who approves usage and strategy.”

Pixelynx, which counts musician Joel “deadmau5” Zimmermann as one of its cofounders, previously launched the Black Mirror “Smile Club” “smile-to-earn” rewards competition last year. This is somewhat tied to that. It’s also part of Animoca Brands’ “Mocaverse” list of projects.

• Coinbase Wallet is apparently getting a social feed. It launched the latest version in early limited beta today. 

  • Coinbase said the new wallet has been overhauled “to bring social and apps to the front, to create a space where everyone can post, share, earn, and explore.”

  • It’ll probably get more traction than that underwhelming social NFT marketplace it launched a few years ago and then quietly sunsetted (the URL now redirects to wallet.coinbase.com).

Another great comic from Mental Marvin: