>who would want to build a game on top of a platform that’s currently limited to ~15 state changes per second? And where each of these state changes cost money?

Every developer interested in making (a lot) of Easy money by riding the crypto bubble. Maybe the question should be what gamer would be interested in paying for such a game (i.e. paying significant sums for pictures of cats and paying more at every turn...you can’t even give a picture of a cat away free without paying gas), but the answer is the same...any gamer wanting to make money off the cryptobubble.

Blockchain can be marketed with terms like immutable, decentralized, and smart contract all anyone wants. However the reality is it’s all a race to the bottom based on greed and speculation.

I quit what many would consider a successfull job in programming and had a sabbatical year. Moved to a smaller town and down sized everything in spending to the point where I pay $600 per month for housing, food and bills, so living of my savings haven't been an issue at all.

I have focused on things like reading (read +40 books in 2017, up from 1-2 per year), wood working, sketching, running and skiing. To keep up my programming skills I have done a deep dive in new programming languages and fiddling with some side projects. It has been an incredible year for personal development and it has changed my perspective on what things are important in life (sitting in front of a screen 40-60 hours a week not being one of them). I highly recommend everyone to do this at least once in your career!