As the gaming industry blossoms, more and more gamers demand a new wave of entertainment that ruptures the traditional industry. Unfortunately, not many projects seem to satisfy their needs.
As metaverse and Web 3.0 are starting to gain traction, the traditional AAA scene seems to be reluctant to take part in the new tech movement. This causes a lack of innovation that affects the community and ultimately generates the sick discourse of “just play and shut up”. This attitude is dangerous as it does not only create a conformist generation but a generation that will be less eager to engage with gaming companies.
A new wave of entertainment in the Web 3.0
The new paradigm in the entertainment industry can be observed in recent years. From streaming services to a new whole social media scene, we are entering a new model of enjoying media.
The rise of the new Web 3.0 also comes with concepts that will be key aspects of our new online lives on the metaverse. Blockchain technology and decentralized business is proven to be a model that could satisfy current problems of online data and economics. Decentralized transactions are not only something useful in the niche crypto scene, it’s a new way of incorporating finances safely and easily that would be the solution to many data issues on the World Wide Web.
NFT craze
NFTs have been around since 2014, however, they have increased in popularity thanks to the spread of celebrities and other pop endeavors. They are usually associated with the crypto market due to their use of blockchain technology but some important differences make NFT a unique asset online.
Physical money and cryptocurrencies are “fungible”. This means that they can be traded or exchanged for one another in the same value range.
However, NFTs are not fungible, which means that they are not tradable to one another. Each NFT is unique, exclusive, and has a specific value based on its demand, rarity, etc. Essentially, an NFT is a certificate of ownership that uses blockchain technology to verify ownership and transaction of tokens.
NFTs are limited and have a special identifying code. This makes them an asset that can be used for many ventures. For example, they can be videos, pictures, gifs, illustrations, game assets, etc. In addition, the creator can also store certain information in an NFT. This is useful for artists and creators that would like to incorporate secret messages or sign their files.
Economic tales of the gaming industry
There is an interesting irony when conservative gamers refuse to take part in the new GameFi model of games. While gaming is considered a hobby and a way to re-set from the routine without thinking about economics, the gaming industry has taken advantage of its players for years. In the early 2000s, it might have been true that players could enjoy games outside of a constrained business model. Paying for a game was enough to fully immerse and enjoy the experience. However, the success of the industry involves high economic ventures and the constant need to capitalize on game features.
Downloadable content, loot boxes, and microtransactions involve extra fees and are highlighted constantly inside the game as a strategy to achieve big successes. Players are encouraged to pay for portraying a certain identity and status against other players, commercializing the enjoyment of games. The sad truth is that the industry is no longer a bonding and fun experience for gamers, but a giant business model with a thirst for profit. Even if a game is given away for free, developers will have gated a huge majority of the game content behind paywalls.
Apart from indie enterprises outside of these gaming giants, it has always been about economics. An interesting example is World of Warcraft, which even used certain psychological tactics to get players hooked and addicted to the game. They took advantage of their addictive behavior to get them grinding on their accounts and then attempted to sell them for real currency. So in this case, not even gamers’ could benefit from their game efforts, being sold like objects for extra money for the company.
The importance of NFT on games
The use of NFTs in the gaming industry would completely revolutionize the model and offer many opportunities to trade and purchase items safely. The Play2Earn games have been a fresh breeze of air in the industry and the connection with decentralized finances does not only offer safe spaces for players to earn. They are also an entertaining model that manages to open the doors for game builders, unique customization, and ownership of assets as never seen before.
With the use of NFT, ownership is granted to gamers. In addition, blockchain technology will assure that their items will irrevocably belong to them. Trading and exchanging assets is simple and avoids scams of secondary parties or excessive fees from the gaming developers. At the end of the day, selling and purchasing in-game items is already a big part of many traditional games, and the use of NFT would avoid a vulnerable position for players and help developers capture more of the value of their creations.
Traditional games are also shifting a dynamic that many have claimed to be dissatisfied with, the phenomenon of “Pay to win”. In these types of games, different assets can be purchased directly from a store or other players and grant a big advantage to players that refuse to pay for them. The result is an unfair system where efforts are not rewarded and money is all that matters.
While in the GameFi sphere some games have some entrance fees, the overall goal is to make an inclusive space for gamers to own, trade, purchase, and win different assets that are valuable and can be traded inside and outside the game. One example is Codyfight, a competitive gaming metaverse for AI and Humans that leverages NFT and rewards creativity in a scalable P2E model. In this game, there are no entrance fees and gamers can engage either in competitive gaming or free-to-play modes that come in with rewards. Also, Codyfight allows users to showcase their talent and contribute to the game by creating NFT skins and coding AI bots among other features.
NFT is the future of gaming. In the metaverse, the ability to exchange game assets within the gaming community and even within different games can define a new way of enjoying finances and entertainment. Also, the decentralized aspect of GameFi creates spaces where gamers are also the designers of their journey. The community will have a deeper relationship with game developers, as they will become ultimate contributors to the game.
