1/12/2019
Hero is initially recognized for their contributors in the community and gets pats on the back by them from the community.
Hero does more and more, their social capital rises.
Hero dedicates much of his time and focus, perhaps even full time towards this quest of doing 'good', hero learns what people in the community value.
Hero is invited to conferences to speak, they get twitter followers, people encourage the hero, they feel good and works even harder than ever.
Hero forks out larges amounts of personal funds to travel to conferences to meet their digital friends and other community members. They meet folks in real life and are additionally motivated and inspired.
Hero at this point even might neglect sleep, wellbeing or perhaps already their outside social life (Hero most likely have had no social life outside of crypto anyways). Hero is getting good at what they are doing, they are also gaining a keen sense of how to accumulate social capital in this space.
Hero is beginning to get tired even though they are doing well and progressing. Hero realizes that they need to up the stakes to grow beyond their linear progression and position in the community.
Hero realises that they need to pay rent, begins to figure out how to make a career or become sustainable off what they are doing, thinks about applying to grant programs. Hero goes thorugh several cycles of this activity on repeat for a period of time, this is known as the honeymoon period.
Hero is up-skilling, gaining large amounts of social capital and still vital with good health. Things are still novel, Hero isn't being taken for granted yet.
Hero experiences a falter. Along the way, they fail to gain social capital for their work, they try to convert their social capital into food and rent aka money, or either they encounter an incidence where they rapidly lose a significant amount of social capital. By this time, the hero is now mostly or solely depending on their social capital as a vehicle for their career and their livelihood.
Hero realizes either a couple of things: social capital is lost extremely easily, social capital evaporates quickly, social capital carries a high slippage when it is exchanged for financial capital. It's not that great anymore. Hero feels extremely vulnerable standing on shaky grounds, realizing that they are living in a sandcastle that will wash away with the waves of time and other hype cycles.
Hero realizes that high fives do not pay rent nor does it put food in their stomach. Hero is disappointed.
Hero realizses social capital isn't that great. Disillusioned, they realize that they were simply part of another hype cycle. They begin to think more about their future in space and what they want to do with their life.
Hero begins to scramble, trying to think of a solution. They get opportunities but in small amounts as they roam around the space. They however are no longer under the illusion of the social capital spell. The honeymoon period is well over.
Hero is now faced with reality. What are they getting out of this? Why are they doing this? How are they going to pay for rent? Was there even a viable career? How long will this crypto thing gain more traction? Does the rest of the world even care?
Hero is angry. The hero is frustrated. No one truly appreciates the hero.
Hero burns out from these existential questions. They look outside the fish tank. Maybe dry land might be more attractive after all.
Hero leaves the game, pauses it for a while or recovers to turn to play. If they come back, they begin to prioritize their personal interests and financial gain more clearly, social capital takes a back seat - it no longer matters so much. They begin to prioritize real-world value, they begin to think more about impact, they see through the matrix. They begin to re-orient their life back around things that matter - such as their family, significant other, the other comrades in the trenches alongside them, life experiences, helping others.
Hero is well connected in the space by now, and relevantly competent in some regard and is now free. Hero is no longer disillusioned, cynical, angry. Hero is acceptant of reality, they find beauty in their journey, they find some peace and gratitude in their experiences. The hero is now free.
This is the typical story arc of an Ethereum hero. This journey is inevitable. No Hero ever knew what they were getting involved with. They wished other Heros knew.
By Peter