@inproceedings{c6060be62b9b4cfe9f0b711bdbb79278,
title = "Vintage CryptoKitties and the Quest for Authenticity",
abstract = "This paper presents the case of the blockchain-based game CryptoKitties (Axiom Zen, 2017), more specifically, one particular way of making game tokens potentially more valuable by labeling them 'vintage'. Firstly, I show how the meaning of 'vintage' was collectively constructed by the community of players and negotiated online until it was acknowledged by the owners of the game. Secondly, I measure the influence of the 'vintage' label on the game market in the first six months of 2018. I base my measurements on open market data available through such services as KittyHelper, Etherscan and the Chrome plug-in CKBox. I conclude that 'vintage kitties' did not acquire surplus market value even after they became a publicly recognized part of the game: breeding them resulted in losses for the majority of players. However, their retro aesthetics inspired creativity of many players and signified the social status of 'the new rich'.",
keywords = "blockchain, browser games, crypto games, cryptocurrencies, Ethereum, online marketplaces, virtual economies",
author = "Alesha Serada",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 IEEE.; 2021 IEEE Conference on Games, CoG 2021 ; Conference date: 17-08-2021 Through 20-08-2021",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.1109/CoG52621.2021.9619106",
language = "English",
series = "IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG",
publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",
booktitle = "2021 IEEE Conference on Games, CoG 2021",
address = "United States",
}