Settling down

I got into crypto and play-to-earn on December 16th, 2021. I don't remember now what I thought or saw on that day but it just made me constantly think of making a side income from playing a game: Axie Infinity. I already play games on my time off. If it paid for it then it'd be great.
I had learned of Axie a few months back and had tried to get into it then but it didn't work out. I think a team of 3 Axies then was over a thousand dollars? I just didn't think such a risky investment was worth it. There was an alternative, to join these "scholarship" programs where they would lend you a team and you would do the playing and the profit would be split. I joined a discord, tried to find a scholarship, and was quickly turned off by the concept from what I saw then.
They wanted to know your name, address, country, social media, why you think they should choose you, your qualifications and experiences, etc. It looked like they wanted a job resume. I mean I understand that they're entrusting you with their asset and they want someone they can trust, but man that just seemed very serious and not fun. The atmosphere didn't feel relaxed and casual like that of playing a game and so I totally gave up on getting a scholarship and forgot about the whole thing.
So on that particular day, the 16th, somehow Axie Infinity got into my head I kept thinking about it. I went and looked up the state of the game and was surprised to find that the prices of Axies have dropped considerably. I didn't need something like a grand anymore. I just need a few hundred bucks to jump in. At that point, I didn't need to beg anyone and I can just use my own money so I jumped in on that same day.
Found a random Reddit post saying this particular team was cheap and did fairly okay for the price point of about $300. I went and bought 3 aqua Axies and tried to get ones with similar skills as the one the post showed. In hindsight, I probably should've done more research before quickly buying. Since it later turned out that my three axies were simply non-functional "floor axies", I couldn't hope to make any SLP in the arena because I wasn't winning any battles at all.
So by the end of that very same day, I was playing Axie Infinity and made about 50 SLP that day just from PVE Adventure Mode. Something over a dollar at that time.
After that, I looked forward to every 2 weeks when I can withdraw my SLP and convert it into money. It quickly became clear that making a side income from this was unlikely and the most I can hope for is playing it for about six months or longer to get back my initial investment and call it quits.
I called it quits yesterday when I sold my Axies for the same amount of ETH I bought them with. But with the crypto crash that's going on right now, my ETH are worth way less than back when I bought them.
Aside from Axie Infinity I've been into Splinterlands and the Hive ecosystem and got like $20 in Cardano. I never stopped searching for play to earn opportunities though. But by now it seems clear that Splinterlands and Hive is for me. Sold off all my Cardano and about to put whatever money I had left all into Hive and Splinterlands.
I'm settling down here. Sometimes you just don't choose things, things just happen.