NFTs came to existence only about two years ago, yet they have taken the world by large within this very short period. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest applications of NFTs happens to be in the gaming world and so if you are a crypto enthusiast or a gamer, there is a good chance that you may have heard about the concept.
In case you are not aware, let us explain. In a decentralised network, you can “tokenise” your tangible assets by attributing digital values to them. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are unique digital assets thus developed using blockchain technology. However, unlike cryptocurrencies, which also use the blockchain network to authenticate ownership, one NFT cannot be exchanged for another one, since no two non-fungible tokens are the same. This category would include a work of art, a blog entry, rare collectibles, etc. Now, what does it all have to do with gaming? The answer is- a lot. Read on to find out.
How do NFTs solve the challenges of the gaming industry?
Gaming is an interesting pastime and we all are into this form of entertainment to varying degrees. However, the conventional gaming environments pose a number of challenges, the biggest ones being the in-game collectibles’ ownership (or lack thereof ) and the long periods of time wasted on the activity without any considerable profit return for the players.
The arrival of NFTs has opened heaps of opportunities for everyone in the foundation – the game developers and designers, the businesses, as well as the gamers themselves. In addition to solving these above-mentioned issues, this technology has created a space for a variety of new and innovative online games to be developed which wasn’t possible before. For example, the exciting gacha systems and gacha games only existed in the offline world so far. Thanks to NFTs and gaming companies like Gachyi Land, now the fascinating gacha games have made their way to online gaming, and that too in the form of the most exciting massively multiplayer online role-playing games. More importantly, this union of blockchain technology and gaming allows for the framework of such games (gacha systems in this case) to be integrated in other types of games as well, facilitating an enormous amount of variations in the gaming industry.
NFTs completely redefine the concept of ownership for video games
In a traditional video game, the in-game assets that players acquire are one-time purchases and are owned by the gaming company, even when the players pay for them. If the game shuts down, or the owners decide to remove particular items or collectibles, they will be lost forever and so will the money spent on them. NFTs make it possible for the players to take control over their money and time invested in the game.
- Ownership rights over in-game assets:
In an NFT game, the in-game collectibles and rewards that players earn or pay for are properties of the players, instead of the company. In each game, blockchain-based payment solutions maintained by smart contracts enable players to legitimately call the shots regarding all wallets, even high-value ones. These transactions are totally transparent, and the player decides if he/she will sell or reuse the NFTs earned in the game, without any interference from the gaming company. In fact, in theory, if the gaming organisation wants to delete their assets, they’d have to purchase them from the players.
- Provenance assurance backed by blockchain technology:
Ownership disputes over in-game digital products can swiftly intensify, especially when the object under consideration is unique and rare. Blockchain-powered smart contracts in NFT games prevent this from happening. The ownership of an asset is easily verifiable in a blockchain ledger as all transactions, once recorded, are absolutely permanent.
- Immutability and interoperability of assets earned or purchased in a game:
The NFTs earned in a decentralised game are not locked in the specific game and live on the underlying blockchain framework instead. So the players that are the owners of these NFTs never lose their collectibles no matter what happens to the game. Moreover, a number of different games can be designed using the same blockchain protocol. So, assets from one game can be used in another.
- Blockchain security for the assets:
Anything created using blockchain enjoys the layers of extremely strong protection that the technology provides. The players’ privacy is secured and the platform is nearly unhackable. So they can rest assured that every collectible in the system remains safe.
NFTs create opportunities for players to make money while playing games
It is true that some video games are great for channelling anger, frustration, and other negative emotions; while some others are quite helpful in improving memory, spatial intelligence, social interactions, and even leadership qualities. Nevertheless, in reality, playing good games is quite expensive. Not only do gaming gears like special settings in the computer, gaming keyboard, or Xbox/PlayStation, etc. cost a lot of money, but the avatars, skins, upgrades, and other assets in the game come at a price of time, electricity, and of course, literally money. In conventional forms of gaming, players neither get this money back nor get compensated for the huge chunk of time they spend playing games. NFT games change this whole dynamic.
Every NFT game comes with the ecosystem’s own marketplace which allows players to trade the assets they acquired in the game in the form of NFTs, and thus earn money from them. On top of this, a huge majority of NFT games come with a play-to-earn model – where the players can own and enhance the value of these in-game assets by monetising them.
- Play-to-earn allows players to control their holdings and increase their worth by performing tasks like unlocking upgrades, breeding creatures, purchasing game items, and more.
- Predominantly, these play-to-earn games also include in-game crypto rewards that may be wagered for passive income, thus guaranteeing financial compensation for the active players. These rewards can be anything from in-game assets like tools and weapons to commercial bonuses such as cryptocurrencies and more tokenisable assets, tradable in the form of NFTs in the marketplace.
Thus NFT games can go beyond just being a hobby for the players, gaming this way can be taken up as a full-fledged profession. As a matter of fact, within this short time of NFTs’ introduction to the gaming universe, it has become so popular that some of the games have attracted more than 700,000 players in just a month.
In conclusion,
NFTs are an amazing concept for the gaming universe, but they are not without problems themselves. The integration of them into existing games will require a complete makeover which may come with its own set of costs. That’s why, so far, NFT games are created separately, but these don’t have that extensive reach as of yet. That’s where companies like Blockchain AustraliaTM comes in, which helps businesses to develop decentralised platforms and applications to create and supervise NFTs, along with effective advertising and marketing strategies as well as network. Contact us today to reap the benefits of this amazing invention.
