The game industry is built on the premise of rewarding players with digital goods. However, it’s a never-ending race to keep up with demand, and in the process, gaming companies are neglecting gamers. Gamers are getting less rewards for their time spent playing games – but that could all change soon! Gaming companies have been experimenting with blockchain technology to find new ways of incentivizing gamers and rewarding them for their time spent playing games.
Every time you win, you earn Smooth Love Potion coins or SLP. The cryptocurrency can be sold for actual dollars. So the more you play and win, the more you can earn. Sounds far-fetched? Tell that to the 22-year-old who reportedly bought two homes with his SLP winnings.
All of that brings us to our today’s topic – how cryptocurrencies and new markets have changed gaming.
Playing to Win vs. Playing for Fun
With the boom in cryptocurrency comes a new way for gamers to make money. In fact, this is not just limited to players – you can also earn from playing. We all heard about people selling images and videos of their video games. But what if you could get money for the time you spend playing certain games?
Some people started streaming on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch for this very purpose. However, with the rise of cryptocurrencies comes a new way to monetize your skills in-game.
Gamers can use their full potential inside the game using cryptocurrency rewards. Imagine playing hours every day just to earn some coins and gems so you can buy items and clothing. Now, imagine being able to sell those items for actual money. It’s a win-win situation now!
What if the gamer feels he isn’t good enough? What if he spends hours a day yet can’t compete with his peers? Well, they have a solution – playing on higher levels of difficulty, so players need more time and effort.
Gamers have more incentives now to spend hours playing the game. They are given virtual currencies that they can use inside the game. These virtual currencies can be used for many purposes. Gamers also get tokens when they win a match, complete quests, etc. With these tokens/coins/gems, gamers can earn real money by selling items they earned inside the game.
Revaluating Ownership in the Digital Age
For many crypto enthusiasts, Blockchain technology isn’t all about earning money. It’s also about ownership. You see, in-game items are already being sold all over the internet.
That is nothing new. You have games like Counter-Strike and marketplaces like Gembyte, which sell one-of-a-kind skins. What has changed is how these items are bought and sold.
Previously, trading was centralized. With the rise of blockchain technology, owners get the ability to sell their game assets outside the game itself. And that’s exactly what people did. They found ways to sell virtual goods on secondary markets like eBay or Craigslist (or even forums).
The power was in the hands of the game publishers, who are centralized entities. They set the rules, prices for items, and all other aspects that went into owning or trading an item inside their games. With blockchain technology, on the other hand, gamers have more options.
Use Gembyte To Sell Your Crypto Assets
Gamers can sell their assets easily using blockchain platforms like Gembyte. Every single item bought on Gembyte has a unique ID. Once purchased, you own it forever and can sell it to anyone who wants to buy it.
And as we know, blockchain is decentralized – so there’s no central authority that controls the money or items traded within games. That means gamers have more ownership over their virtual earnings and goods.
Increased Safety Measures and Fraud Prevention
When you’re using platforms like Gembyte, the middleman is out of the equation. That means there’s no need for a central party to stand between the two parties involved in the trade.
Middleman? What’s That?
Eliminating the middleman means it’s harder for scammers to get involved. With the middleman gone, they can only trick people into sending money or goods by pretending to be someone else (sending phishing links).
Since blockchain technology is decentralized, there are no central servers where information is stored. That provides more security and privacy. There are other security features like access keys, aliases, 2FA codes to make accounts even more secure.
To prevent fraud without the middleman, blockchain has implemented mechanisms that protect users to prevent fraud without the middleman. One of those is its public ledger, where all transactions are recorded and visible to everyone. There’s no way for people involved in the trade to falsify information or remove proof of the transaction.
Blockchain technology’s transparency and security features provide a space where real buyers and sellers can meet to trade items while not worrying about fraud or scams.
Gaming Companies Are Still Split
Are NFTs the future of gaming? It seems like it, but it will take some time before the blockchain concept changes the world of gaming. Still, even as some major companies embrace NFTs and crypto, others are still divided about their benefits.
Ubisoft received huge backlash after introducing NFTs in Ghost Recon. However, that won’t prevent gaming companies from experimenting. A recent survey showed that more than half of US developers are interested in blockchain technology.
It’s clear that gaming companies are still split about NFTs. However, it doesn’t seem like they are going anywhere anytime soon. More gamers are embracing them because of how much they have changed the industry.
As blockchain technology becomes more accessible to developers, expect virtual assets in games to play a bigger role. Games may even be built around them in the future. NFTs and cryptocurrency make gaming better in a lot of ways.
They empower gamers and change ownership over virtual goods, which keeps things fair for everyone involved.