The most popular game on Ethereum currently is either a scam or a parody of a scam. The distinction may not matter.
Fomo3D, currently the most popular[1] (non-exchange) application on Ethereum and the first project to generate more traffic than the monumental CryptoKitties[2], defies easy categorization. It could be called a game. It could be called gambling. It satirizes ICO and pyramid schemes, while maybe simultaneously being those things. It's even been called[3] socioeconomic performance art.
Fomo3D[4] is one component of a larger project called PoWH3D, described on the project's wiki[5] in the following way:
"PoWH3D is a clever self-contained simulation of the cryptocurrency space as a whole. Cryptocurrency is first and foremost a technology. While cryptocurrency can be used as an investment as well, this is based on a form of 'market speculation' powered by the mathematics of Game Theory."
Looking at PoWH3D's materials, it quickly becomes clear that the "cryptocurrency space as a whole" is not a place the project's creators have much admiration for. For instance, the website features an "inspiration board." Headed with the words "because bad ideas like ours are built upon the cumulative failures of the crypto community," the board features photos and brief bios of various perceived shitcoin shills and crypto con artists. John McAfee, pictured lighting a $100 bill on fire, is described as being able to control markets with a single tweet and also as being wanted for murder; Mark Karpeles, we are told, used embezzled money to purchase the services of more than 25 prostitutes. Vitalik Buterin, Charlie Lee, and Marquis Trill are all subjects of ironic admiration, and even Charles Ponzi (eponym of the famous scam) is cited as an inspiration for the project.
The
