In many chain game projects, player growth is reversible:
If you participate today, leave tomorrow, and come back the day after, the position will not change fundamentally.
Paths can be switched freely, with low costs, and advantages are hard to maintain in the long run.
But in the player network of YGG, another mechanism is gradually emerging—
Value path dependence.
The core of path dependence is not to restrict choices, but to:
The paths you have taken in the past will continue to influence the paths you can take in the future.
Moreover, this influence will be amplified over time.
First-level path dependence: Initial behaviors become fixed
Players' behavior patterns formed in the early stages will be recorded by the system for a long time:
Is biased towards execution
Or biased towards testing
Is biased towards feedback
Or biased towards organization
These early choices will determine how the system initially understands you and how it allocates opportunities to you.
Once a certain direction is repeatedly validated as effective, this path will be continuously reinforced.
Second layer of path dependence: the directional allocation of opportunities
The system will not "re-randomize" in every allocation.
It tends to continue to increase stakes along the direction you have already validated:
Players skilled in testing are more easily drawn into testing
Players skilled in execution are more likely to receive execution tasks
Players skilled in coordination find it easier to enter core areas
Opportunities roll along the old paths, rather than jumping laterally.
Third layer of path dependence: irreversible accumulation of ability structure
When you continuously invest time on a certain path,
Your ability structure will increasingly lean towards this direction:
Deeper experience
More accurate judgment
More efficient
Feedback is more professional
At the same time, the opportunity cost of other paths is also rising.
It's not that you can't turn, but rather that "the cost of turning is increasing."
Fourth layer of path dependence: comparative advantage of resumes
The resume is not a simple accumulation but forms comparative advantages.
The deeper you go on a certain path,
The advantages among similar players become more evident.
This advantage will be repeatedly read by the system, project parties, and regional networks,
And translate into a clearer positioning.
Fifth layer of path dependence: the network solidifies expectations of you
When the network repeatedly validates your performance in the same scenario,
This will form stable expectations:
What are you suited to do
What problems can you solve
In what situations are you most reliable
Once this expectation is formed, it will directly affect resource allocation.
The network begins to "use you as per your path."
Sixth layer of path dependence: exponential rise in replacement costs
The deeper the path, the harder it is to replace.
Not because you are irreplaceable,
But it’s because latercomers have to replicate simultaneously:
Your resume
Your trust
Your rhythm
Your judgment
Your historical continuity
These costs accumulate together, forming a strong moat.
Seventh layer of path dependence: differentiation of long-term gains
Ultimately, players from different paths will lead to completely different long-term outcomes:
Shallow path players need to compete continuously
Medium path players maintain stable returns
Deep path players enter structural layers
Structural path players gain long-term premiums
The gap is not caused by a single choice,
But rather the result of long-term paths being continuously reinforced.
Why is "value path dependence" so critical?
Because it determines:
Whose advantages can be retained long-term,
Whose efforts will be continuously amplified,
Who will stand in a higher position years later.
Within the YGG system,
Paths are not enforced,
But once you go in the right direction and continue down that path,
The system will help you widen this path further.
Ultimately, the long-term gap for players does not come from short-term bursts.
And comes from:
Was the early direction correct?
Whether it continues to deepen in the medium term
Whether the long-term is solidified by the network as the "default choice."
This is the true long-term competitive structure that YGG is forming.
@Yield Guild Games #YGGPlay $YGG
