[Open Rug 23 - Understanding and Targeting the PVP Generation]
In 2024, the enrollment rate for new students at Australian universities dropped by 9%, a decrease of 15% since 2016.
In 2023, China stopped publishing youth unemployment data, and the number of university graduates reached a historical high.
Ten years ago, graduates of the landscape design program at the University of Sydney could only pray that one of the 25 local companies would give them an offer, or they would have to change careers to survive.
The vast world you think of has already entered the PVP era. The generation born after 2005 has never experienced any era of dividends; concepts like China's rise or the internet boom had already exhausted before they came of age, with local competition more fierce than ever. Non-zero-sum games feel as distant to this generation as a brick phone (smartphones are innate to them).
Before the emergence of the crypto space, this generation engaged in live streaming and became TikTokers, which became the only way to transcend their living environment, essentially transferring money from others' pockets into their own.
Economic activity has not expanded as a result, including China's export e-commerce, which has merely appropriated the cash flows of local small businesses abroad. Young people under 20 are the real PVP generation
The predatory nature of PVP is not unique to the crypto space; the traditional sectors are even more cutthroat, just because of the existence of a 'compliance framework', and the slippage is greater and less smooth. This also aligns with observations of human history, as the periods of war have far outlasted those of peace.
It can be said safely:
1. Zero-sum or even negative-sum games are the true mainstream of history.
2. The generation raised in a PVP environment will destroy all 'universal frameworks' of the previous generation
3. The behavior of various groups will become increasingly extreme
What is the significance of this?
First, from the audience perspective of the three-game theory, the PVP generation is almost naturally adapted to crypto. They are accustomed to zero-sum gaming environments and have no moral judgment or aversion to the PVP concept.
Secondly, since it is PVP, everyone is pursuing to accelerate the speed of 'other people's money going into their own pockets.' Any design that is slow or has delayed feedback will be eliminated, while products that can enhance PVP speed and success rate will be popular.
Finally, the instant and intense feedback brought by PVP makes this generation's attention span short and indifferent to things that are not stimulating enough. The user behavior on Tiktok reflects this logic. Therefore, attracting them requires extreme ideas, projects, and visual expressions
Most of those expressing disgust for Pump live streams in recent days are not from the PVP generation age group, because only sufficiently curious and stimulating content can gain their attention and participation. They do not care about 'right or wrong'; even if they express negative views on Pump, most of it is just to gain attention for themselves
Regardless of how one laments 'immoral behavior', generational replacement will inevitably destroy 'universal values'. The bell-bottoms of the 80s were seen as a crime, and in the future, Pump-style live streams may become commonplace. Even if not Pump, others will take their place
This is the worst era for Boomers, and the best era for Zoomers
So, what should the scythes of 2025 do?
1. Audience selection: precise adaptation
Either old users (born before 2000): able to accept long cycles, complex logic, and large capital transactions, this type of user is suitable for DeFi or DeFi products packaged into a new narrative. Drawing on the strategies for large clients from exchanges, the methodologies from the last cycle are still effective
Otherwise, your target audience will directly be the PVP generation
2. Design strategy: combination of Ponzi scheme and gambling
• High-dimensional design: The three-game theory is still effective. For example: The essence of Pump Fun is a mutual assistance splitting game, repeatedly allowing profits to transfer between the house and the players through rapid splits of the target - on-chain DEV's are also the leeks in other coins, living endlessly. This process needs early platform intervention to be considered complete, generating customer losses and fees from project launches to retain Devs and KOLs as community leaders to continuously bring people into funding (which is essentially the nature of conspiracy groups, a form of collusion).
• To C design: If aimed at the PVP generation, the product must: have extremely short processes, and profit and loss results must be visible quickly. Exaggerated profit and loss sensory stimulation, rejecting complex payback cycles and profit margin narratives. Basically, what is presented is a product heavy on gambling elements
3. Execution strategy: flash sales
• Create a first impression: Only 30 minutes to gain user attention, which requires: issuing tokens as marketing: creating traffic and attention through token issuance. First there is the meme, then the project: using memes and curiosity culture to attract attention, the project logic is secondary.
• Simplify processes: Hide complex mechanisms in the backend; the first phase should only highlight the experience of 'fast in and out.' For PVP users, spectacular stimulation even outweighs explaining mechanisms. A Dev rushing in to expose themselves is more likely to gain their following than hosting a space.
Finally, if you, like me, are a scythe from the old era, do not be discouraged, we will eventually be eliminated by the market
But before this, we popularized the fact of 'harvesting others' as a de facto 'people management technique' to the younger generation, liberating them from the hypocritical constraints of 'moral judgment' imposed by the ruling class, decriminalizing various zero-sum games before the middle of this century, allowing everyone to engage in PVP equally, outsmarting others. I think this is already a level of progress that drives human civilization.
