Some of you might see a complex piece of engineering.

有些人可能會看到一部分複雜的程式碼

You'd both be right.

兩者都是對的

Meet Genesis, the first Cryptokitty.

來認識一下創始貓吧，第一隻謎戀貓

She's not alone.

它不是獨自一個

All of a sudden, cryptokitties are everywhere.

突然間，到處都是謎戀貓

“Cryptokitties”

「謎戀貓」

"Cryptokitties"

「謎戀貓」

“The viral blockchain-based game that sparked a global craze for virtual cats.”

「這個爆紅的遊戲是以區塊鏈為基礎製作而成，讓全球陷入虛擬貓的狂熱之中。」

“It's a picture of a cat.

「它是個貓的圖案

And apparently someone bought one for $100,000!”

似乎有些人花了 10 萬美元來買一個這樣的東西！」

You've probably heard of cryptocurrencies— but these are cryptocollectibles.

你可能聽過加密貨幣 — 但這些是加密收藏品

They're like digital beanie babies or baseball cards.

它們就像是數位的豆豆娃或是棒球卡

It sounds silly, but Cryptokitties is testing a profound idea: Can a digital good be…

這聽起來很蠢，但謎戀貓的出現是為了測試一個很有深度的想法：一個數位商品是否能夠....

rare?

是一個稀罕、珍貴的商品？

Every 15 minutes, the company Axiom Zen releases a new cryptokitty that only one person can buy.

每 15 分鐘，Axiom Zen 公司就會釋出一隻新的謎戀貓，而且只限一人購買

And they'll do that until November 2018, when they're capping these “Generation Zero" kitties at 50,000.

它們會一直釋出，直到西元 2018 年 11 月，它們的「初代貓」覆蓋數超過 50,000 隻為止

But there are already more cryptokitties than that, because unlike baseball cards, you can breed them.

但現在謎戀貓數量已經超過 50,000 隻了，因為不像棒球卡，你可以繁殖謎戀貓

The game is that there are billions of different possible combinations of traits.

規則是這樣，兩隻謎戀貓結合後可能會出現數十億種不同的特徵組合

And so you can decide which combination of traits is interesting to you

所以你可以決定哪一種特徵組合是你感興趣的

and you can go out and try to find a cat that has that combination and buy it.

你就可以試著到處找找有那種組合的貓，並買下來

Or you can try and find a combination that no one's created before.

或是你可以試著找到一種特徵組合是之前沒人發現過的

And through our breeding mechanics you can come up with new combinations of traits

而且透過我們的繁殖機制，你可以發現一些新的特徵組合

or, if you're lucky, even new traits entirely.

或是，如果你夠幸運，甚至會有全新的特徵出現

That's Layne Lafrance and Dieter Shirley.

這是Layne ‧ Lafrance 跟 Dieter ‧ Shirley

They both helped found Cryptokitties in November 2017.

它們兩位在西元 2017年 11 月協助發現謎戀貓

And they've convinced a loyal group of users to spend more than $23 million buying and

而且他們讓一群死忠的用戶花費總計超過 2,300 萬美元來購買

breeding these digital cats.

繁殖這些數位貓

In just a few months, a whole community of third party sites and services formed around cryptokitties.

僅僅幾個月內就出現一些完全為了謎戀貓而形成的第三方網站社群與伺服器

You can do youngest first, cheapest first.

你可以先從最年輕的開始，最便宜的開始

See, like $10 bucks.

看，像這個只要 10 美元

And as I mouse over, this is a plug-in I found.

當我把滑鼠移到上面，我發現這裡有個插入欄

We are trying to find new ways to play with these Kitties outside of the main game.

我們正試著在主要規則外，找到一些能與這些貓咪互動的新方法

So we're starting with contests!

所以我們開始了競賽！

Derpface is possibly one of my favorite kitties because he is just so unbelievably ugly.

Derpface 可能是我最愛的貓咪之一，因為他真的醜得讓人無法置信

The traits that made Derpface the ugliest Cryptokitty

使得 Derpface 成為最醜謎戀貓的那些特徵

—even though, I mean, I think he's adorable—

— 即使，我意思是，我覺得他蠻可愛的 —

are baked into his code.

被融入它的程式碼中

See, this is what Derpface and Genesis both really look like.

看，這就是 Derpface 跟創始貓真實的樣貌

The “genes” in their code define their physical appearance on 12 features,

它們程式碼中的「基因」決定它們的 12 種身體外貌特徵，

based on a template by a human designer.

根據人類設計師的樣板

They call those features….

它們將這些特徵稱作...

Cattributes are the visual elements of the cat.

貓屬性是可以看見的貓的屬性特質

Like us, these cats can also carry traits

就像我們一樣，這些貓也能在程式碼中裝上一些特徵

in their code that only show up in their offspring.

但這些特徵只會在後代顯現

But the genetic algorithm that drives cryptokitty reproduction — that's kept secret.

但驅使謎戀貓繁殖的遺傳運算法則 — 還是保持神秘

When the cats are breeding together the secret sauce combines those elements to make with

當貓咪被放在一起繁殖時，有個將它們的特徵結合在一起的秘訣

a certain amount of... well we can't really tell you much about that.

會創造出一定數量的...我們真的不能跟你講太多

But!

但！

They are combined.

它們會被結合在一起

And people spend a lot of money on the chance to get their dream cat.

人們花很多錢，為了獲得他們夢想中的貓咪

Price depends on the generation number and on what traits are in high demand.

價格根據它是第幾世代的貓，還有根據特徵的需求量而浮動

In other words, popular Cryptokitties earn high prices the way collectibles always have:

換句話說，熱門的謎戀貓的價格比較高，就像其他收藏品的規則一樣：

Scarcity.

物缺則價高

And what's so interesting about this is that digital scarcity is brand new.

這其中最有趣的是，數位的匱乏是個嶄新的現象

Before the computers came along if you had a thing, only you could have that thing and no one

在電腦問世以前，如果你有個只有你擁有的東西

else have that thing unless you gave it to the other person in which case you would no longer have it.

而且除非你讓給另一個人，不然沒有其他人有那樣東西，在你這麼做之後，你也不再擁有那樣東西

But that completely changes when goods become digital and accessible online.

但當商品數位化並且能在網路上取得後，一切都改變了

Every time you give somebody data on the internet it's a copy.

每次你透過網路給某個人資料，都算是一個備份

I think the sort of reckoning

我覺得稍微設想一下

we had in the 90s and early 2000s was how do we live in a world where everything can

我們在 90 年代跟 2000 年早期，我們如何活在一個每個東西都能夠

be copied infinitely and you know and what's going to happen to the music industry?

無限被複製的世界，而音樂產業又會因此發生什麼事？

What's going to happen to the news and entertainment industries? And we've seen it all play out.

在新聞與娛樂產業裡會發生什麼事？我們也看到這一切都發生了

But Cryptokitties can be scarce because of the technology they're built on.

但因為他們建立的科技，謎戀貓可以變得稀罕

They're using a blockchain.

他們使用的是區塊鏈

Specifically, the Ethereum blockchain, so you have to buy them with “ether”.

更具體地，以太坊區塊鏈，所以你必須要用「以太幣」購買

But you might also be familiar with the original, Bitcoin.

但你或許會對最原始的虛擬貨幣比較熟悉，比特幣

A blockchain provides a decentralized system for recording transactions, making fraud and piracy a lot harder.

區塊鏈為檔案交易提供一個分散的系統，使詐騙與盜版變得更困難

And so the essence of blockchain is that we have -- whether you want to call a book or people

所以區塊鏈的本質就是我們擁有 — 不管你想要說是書本，或是人們

used to refer to it as a ledger.

習慣說是個記帳本

And they would say, “Hey, you know you know Bob has this, Alice has that.”

他們會說：「嘿，你知道 Bob 有這個，Alice 有這個。」

And then everybody gets a copy of that book.

然後每個人都會有一份書的備份

And if someone comes along and says, "No Alice doesn't have that."

如果某個人出現，然後說：「不，Alice 沒有。」

People can point to their own copy of the book and they can say, "No no no you're wrong.

人們可以從他們自己的備份中找到並且說：「不，你錯了

I see right here in this in my copy that Alice has this."

我在我的備份裡面看到，Alice 有這個。」

When a Kitty is born and it's beautiful and I love it, there's something very special about knowing that

當一隻漂亮的小貓出生，我很愛它，有一件很特別的事

it belongs to me and no one else and no one can take it.

它屬於我，而且獨一無二，沒有人可以把它拿走

But the truth is, it's not all yours.

但事實是，這不全是你的

You own the code for that cat, but not the actual image.

你擁有這隻貓的程式碼，但不是實際的圖像

In the case of cryptokitties, they have sections in their terms of service that say that they own

就謎戀貓來說，他們的服務條款有一章節說他們擁有

all of the images, all of the graphic elements and that they have the right to use them however they want.

所有的影像，所有的圖像元素跟他們有任意使用的權利

That you actually have no right to use them in any way.

事實上你不管在哪一方面都沒有權利使用它們

That's not so different from a baseball card.

這跟棒球卡不太一樣

If you have, say, a Topps baseball card and it has the player's name on it -- say

如果你有，這麼說吧，一張 Topps 的棒球卡，上面有球員的名字 — 像是

Barry Bonds, and a picture of Barry Bonds on it -- you own the physical object but you

Barry ‧ Bonds，然後有 Barry ‧ Bonds 的圖片 — 你擁有這樣的實體物件，但你

don't own the copyright.

沒有它的版權

Owning the physical object doesn't give you the right to print up other cards but it does

擁有實體物件並不會讓你有權印出更多卡片

give you the right to trade your card to someone else or to sell it to a collector.

但它確實給你權利去跟別人交易你的卡片，或是賣給收藏家

But for Cryptokitties...

但謎戀貓...

If they decide they want to, say, change the artwork or if they sell the company to someone

如果他們決定他們想要，例如說，改變圖樣，或是如果他們將公司賣給某個人

who wants to pull the artwork offline and use it only in their new Cryptokitties movie

而他想將這些圖樣拉到網路之外，並且只有在他們新的謎戀貓電影系列中可以使用

series, they could do that.

他們可以這麼做

And you'd be left just with this string of letters and numbers on the blockchain with

你就只會留下這一串區塊鏈上的文字跟數字

no art attached to it at all.

上面也不再附有任何藝術內容

So I think that's a fundamental difference between real-world collectibles where you have the object

所以我覺得那就是兩者間最基本的差異，在現實世界的收藏，你可以擁有實際物品

and they can't take it away from you

而且他們不能從你身邊拿走

and a digital collectible...

至於數位收藏...

We really really really wanted to put the art in the blockchain,

我們真的真的想把藝術放上區塊鏈中

because our users, I think most of them conceptually know that

因為我們的用戶，我想大部分的他們在概念上都知道

what they own is sort of some numbers, in a blockchain.

他們擁有的是一些在區塊鏈中的數字

But what you think you own, what you think of as your, cat

但你所認為你擁有的，你認為屬於你的

is that picture of the cute little guy with the funny eyes.

貓就是有著逗趣眼睛的可愛小傢伙

And unfortunately, the decentralized systems are just not mature enough to support art in a robust way.

而很不幸地，這個分散系統還不夠成熟，沒辦法穩健地支持藝術

Cryptokitties are cute and complicated and they show that we still have a ways to go

謎戀貓是可愛的也是複雜的，也顯示出我們還有一段路要走

until we can really keep a digital collectible like we can a baseball card.

直到我們真的能夠讓數位收藏跟棒球卡一樣的保存

When I was doing research for this video, I became super interested in what makes Cryptokitties a "game."

當我為了這支影片做研究時，我非常有興趣想知道是什麼讓謎戀貓成為「遊戲」

If that's the sort of thing you're interested in,

如果那也是你感興趣的事

you should really check out The Verge's YouTube channel.

你應該去看看 The Verge 的 YouTube 頻道

One of my favorites is on the way medicine is using games to improve cognition.

其中一部我最喜歡的影片是，醫學正朝著使用遊戲來改善知覺的方向邁進

So, go check them out.

所以，去看看吧