The Future of Commerce Is a Sim?

Play shapes how we compete, connect, and express identity. Commerce is becoming its own infinite game. Will AI deepen agency or automate it away?

For as long as humans have existed, we’ve played games.

Perhaps our desire to survive has always been paired with our desire for play.

Some of the oldest artifacts unearthed are not tools or weapons, but game boards. Take Mancala, believed to be the oldest game in the world, dating back to c. 6000 BC in modern-day Jordan. A game of sowing and reaping, Ma…