In this article I will talk about blockchain gaming, in particular with some personal considerations on its evolution. In the first place, gaming on blockchain refers to assets that allow monetization (token farming and NFT resale). In 2004, the World Of Warcraft game started the trend of buying and selling upgrades within games. Later many other video game manufacturers have adapted to the various FIFA, Fortnite, Call Of Duty, etc. This trend then also expanded on smartphone games.
Basically it is possible to play for free but by paying you can get upgrades and other items that allow us to advance more easily (however, they cannot be exchanged for fiatcurrency). If you bought assets in old games, you couldn't resell them. Over the years someone has tried to monetize the same, selling their account using alternative payment methods (such as Paypal and Credit Cards in exchange for access data).
NFT: PLAY AND EARN OR PLAY TO EARN?
This concept has been taken up for the NFT world, with substantial differences: scarcity and the possibility of monetizing.
Remember that an asset has value if it is "rare" or in any case if it is limited in number. However, for it to have value it must be required. The ability to monetize clearly comes from selling your NFTs. Developers also make money because they usually take a fee on various on-game transactions.
There are two alternatives:
1) The game allows you to earn so that tool is required
2) The game is fun (and maybe it ALSO allows you to earn)
To date, most blockchain games are "Play To Earn", however the key step will be:
"Play TO Earn" ---> "Play AND Earn"
Why? Most games allow you to make money but are not fun. When the game token drops in value, the game begins to lose players because they only play to make money. Basically almost all blockchain games are a "farm and dump" of the token so after a few months the token goes to 0$. You think about Axie Infinity, Splinterlands, Alien Worlds but also some "Move To Earn" like Stepn. When the token collapsed, these games also lost active users.
In many of these we find the classic "Ponzinomics". I play, win a challenge, get a token and sell it. Some are "utility tokens" so they should be used to do something else in the game, however if I spend money and the game is not fun... I will tend to use the "farm & dump" strategy.
This, combined with 90% of active users, causes the price of the token to collapse. If the token goes to 0$, there are no more incentives to play because it's not fun. There are also other methods of earning such as "crafting / minting" or in any case the union of several NFT that generates me a more powerful one that I can resell. As you can understand it is a Ponzi: the model is successful until new people enter.
Instead the model to which we should aim is precisely the "Play And Earn". The game should be:
1) Sustainable (Ponzinomics is not enough: assets must be rare and have a usefulness)
2) Fun (longevity, nice graphics and gameplay)
3) Mass adoption
It seems some devs have figured out that games like Axie Infinity or Stepn have no future as they weren't fun or just meant to make money. However, I would like to point out that maybe something is starting to show and I think of games that should be "Play And Earn" and created to entertain those who play them. I am thinking of Star Atlas, Netvrk, Wilder World, Ascenders, etc Star Atlas has received a lot of criticism because its two tokens have collapsed (-97%) but let's remember that they were launched via an IEO on FTX (similar to Binance launchpads). The price was affected. Add to this the macro-economic crisis and the bear market. What needs to be evaluated are the long-term fundamentals and I believe that metaverses such as Star Atlas have them. For example, look at the graphics of the first playable demo on Epic Games (Alpha version):
What do you think about it? Are you playing any blockchain games? Would you play a non-fun game if the yield was low?
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