The P2E Trilemma Is Real. Do we need to solve it?
June 4, 2025
The “Play to Earn Trilemma” is simple:
- 🎮 Fun
- 💸 Sustainability
- 📈 Profitability
Everyone said you could pick two, never three. And they were right — for 99% of crypto games.
But the problem was never blockchain. It was bad economics.
Let’s Compare
Web2 has the same trilemma, only better hidden:
- Free-to-play games optimise for addiction, not fun.
- Monetisation depends on ads and whales.
- Studios scale with venture money and hope user growth never stops.
Now throw tokens into that mix — and without proper mechanics, you just accelerate collapse.
The WAM Approach: Delete the Trilemma
We didn’t try to fix broken economics. We threw them out.
- Rewards are earned through skill, not passive grinding.
- Tokens unlock progression, they’re not handed out like candy.
- Growth is tied to platform activity, not Ponzi inflows.
We engineered:
- AI-based bot detection
- Performance-based tournament payouts
- Stake-gated access to prevent sybil abuse
- Novelty rewards that detect creative play
And it works — because it aligns what people want (status, skill, reach) with what the platform needs (engagement, competition, community).
The Result?
- Bots can’t extract.
- Players can’t just coast.
- Creators have an actual incentive to make the system better.
The trilemma isn’t a law. It was just a bad assumption. WAM is proof that better systems win.