The world of Web3Memes can become your wildest fantasies.
Or, at least, that’s what happened to the pseudonymous Bored Elon, who now goes by just “BORED” in all caps on Twitter. Bored’s Twitter account has 1.7 million followers, but the person behind the faux-Elon Musk avatar is real.
On a cool, overcast San Francisco morning we met on the busy sidewalk. There were many coffee shops near Union Square because of attendees at the Game Developers Conference. It’s a week of professional nerds gathering in massive convention halls with large branded backpacks to talk development and funding—and maybe make a few friends and collect business cards in the process.
Bored was in town for business. He looked like his voice (he is a regular Twitter Spaces guest and host) and he didn’t divulge his name. Bored claimed that he created the parody after Elon Musk released the Hyperloop whitepaper 2013
“The paper basically said, ‘Here’s the map of how to do it. I don’t have time, anybody who wants this can have it for free,’” Bored said. “And I just thought: OK, you do some pretty wild thinking while you’re bored.”
The road was just feet away. Both of us held tiny mics, but no one else seemed to notice as we talked about his rise.
“I will say it was my 10th attempt at creating a parody account,” Bored told me. “And it is wild that, you know, the person that I ended up parodying now owns the platform itself. I never would have expected that timeline.”
Bored is not your typical Crypto Twitter “influencer.” He isn’t fresh out of college, yelling on Twitter Spaces, or wearing flashy clothes at drunken mosh-pit parties. He’s an introverted guy, a little bit corporate even, and said that he’s worked in the video game industry for a long time. He was vague when I asked where he worked. Bored doesn’t want his real identity revealed under any circumstances.
“I’ve kind of stepped away from being this character,” Bored said of his Twitter evolution over the years. “But it’s kind of like being a writer for a show—like, you just run out of ideas. So I don’t necessarily want to play that character anymore.”
Elon to gaming
Bored has changed its name from a comical website to a startup co-founder. Bored BoxHe started the company with a pseudonymous cofounder Subtle Rebuttal. Bored Box is a platform that showcases Web3 games that are curated and grants Box NFT Holders of exclusive gaming NFTs with other benefits.
He borrowed the “Bored” branding from his massively popular Twitter persona—and the vibe checks out, given that gaming is a common cure for boredom. He believes that finding worthwhile games on the Web3 platform is difficult at this time.
“The general problem we’re trying to solve for Web3 is that shopping for games and discovering games—it kind of sucks,” Bored said. “Every place you go to get games is like eBay, right? It’s just a trading platform.”
“What it really needs to look like is the Steam Store,” he added, “or the PlayStation Network Store or Nintendo eShop.”
While the Web3 gaming market is still in its early stages, there are several game launchers available that provide a wide range of titles. Elixir, HyperPlayEpic Games Store, and, are two of the first options available to gamers seeking Web3-tested games.
Bored box aims to offer another option. Bored Box NFTs was first launched on May last year. Ethereum. Each one resembles a game console, and they were intended to be like “loot boxes” for select Web3 games.
Bored has said that boxes will evolve into a Web3 storefront, which acts as a sort of membership pass, allowing owners accumulate points. soulbound (non-transferable) “boredom points” over time that can then be exchanged for NFTs or IRL items.
“They are what gamers are used to,” Bored said of the points,”which is like an in-game currency that you can trade for cool stuff.”
As Bored curates his Web3 gaming steps forward, he continues to hold his pseudonymity dear and doesn’t understand why some “anons” eventually reveal their identities.
“I think a lot of people who have done what I’ve done after a couple of years have basically let their ego get the best of them, and decided that they wanted to let the world know who was really behind the character,” Bored said. “I don’t have that at all. I actually prefer to separate those two lives completely.”
