Blockchain is providing a new gaming experience to gamers and profit to the companies. We all know a lot about how blockchain benefits the finance sector, food chain, healthcare sector, academic institutions, and many more. Now blockchain is empowering the ever-evolving online gaming industry.
You must have heard of online games where users can play games to earn tokens. In the past, the industry has been centralized with power in the hands of publishers and game developers. But recently with blockchain technology merged into online games, there is an improvement in trust among the players and companies.
The in-game economy isn’t to be taken lightly. In fact, it is a profitable and robust system. Even when the blockchain wasn’t popular people did use real money to purchase online game assets. So if consumers are given a chance to earn from those tokens, then why not? Earlier, there has been a psychological tactic to lure players into buying more assets. However, the in-game purchases had no real value, which is enough to discourage the gamers.
In this blog, we will dig deeper into how blockchain brings a shift in the game economy — the why behind the usage of blockchain in online gaming and the pros of using the technology.
Major Problems for Players in Online Gaming
The rapidly growing online gaming industry is dealing with a few sets of problems. First and foremost, none of the in-game assets belongs to you; the game ends the assets go away with it. There are so many changes you feel should be in the game, but you can’t convey that to game developers.
Thirdly, there are arbitrary changes in the game rules and something you were not expecting. Finally, agree or not, we all are paying real money for intangible assets; thus, the assets should not be stored on centralized servers as it’s more prone to hackers.
Blockchain in Gaming
The stocks or the bonds in the finance industry aren’t fake it has a value attached to them. Similarly, the games have weapons, avatars, skins, etc., which also have real value. These are mainly unique and rare Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). For instance, in the game Cryptokitties there are digital cats which are rare collectibles.
The five basic steps to building a blockchain-based game on Ethereum from scratch are — to creating an Ethereum account, learning Ethereum development, and coding of smart contracts. Subsequently, learn about the DApps, and start coding the smart contracts. Lastly, test and run the smart contracts. DApp is one of the popular ways to launch blockchain-based online games.
Additionally, gamers can select the MyEtherWallet as a web wallet, and they can later switch to Ledger Nano S if they aren’t actively playing.
How is blockchain useful?
One of the popular blockchain-based games is Mobox, an NFT-based play-to-earn game that works on Binance Smart Chain allows buying, selling and trading. Anyone in blockchain gaming, the players or the investors, can freely access the games and earn money.
In decentralized gaming systems, no one company controls the games. Due to the technology, all the names of winners & losers or people who have bet on the game are stored in the blockchain network. Therefore no tampering with the data. In addition, the blockchain also provides a safe platform to develop games.
Decentralization in the Gaming Industry
Gaming has always been a part of the digital economy. However, the current blockchain technology eradicates the need for real currency and all the money can be earned in the form of crypto and NFT. There will also be better interaction between the international players.
Whatever the gamers earn, such as — avatars, extra lives etc., can be traded in the open market. The trade will be in real money or tokens. BGA, a home to leading gaming studios, has found in a survey that 43% of gamers and developers believe that the pain point in employing blockchain in the gaming industry is lack of awareness. Therefore, awareness-driven content by online gaming industries will propagate the vast adoption of blockchain technology.
Source: Blockchain Game Alliance Report
What’s Play-to-earn (P2E) & What are the Rarer In-game Assets?
As the name suggests, these are crypto games where the players earn digital money or cryptocurrency by playing an online game. The money earned can be used to redeem real-world goods and services. Play-to-earn is the driving force behind blockchain gaming.
CryptoKitties produce kittens which are NFTs and are rare. The last time one of these rare digital cats were sold for 600 ETH. Thus, the rarity is also a profitable feature of such games.
Virtual Events in Gaming by the Usage of Blockchain
You know that virtual events and tournaments are an essential component to the gaming industry and even other industries. However, many challenges are there to organizing an event, such as — high ticket prices, bandwidth, cybersecurity, etc. Also, it isn’t easy to verify the rewards participants earn. Blockchain technology can make this process hassle-free by tracking and verifying who has received the rewards for their matches or competition wins.
Why Blockchain In Gaming?
The transactions here are in the form of crypto, thus a complete removal of any mediators. Nodes or simply the computers that handle the transactions are linked with each other. Any type of modification on the network isn’t easy.
The famous DDoS attacks aren’t possible. Further, the concept of having private Keys makes the transactions secure. Additionally, the data encryption in the blockchain is an excellent feature. Due to this, the in-game asset acquisitions can be done effectively.
Advantages of Blockchain-Based Gaming
- With better data encryption, the lack of servers improves the security of online games.
- One of the most secure ways to make payments is the one and only blockchain. Also, the games have their native crypto tokens that make the transactions more convenient.
- The in-game purchases are transferred to the public address and the assets are bought by using smart contracts therefore, there is better transparency.
- Blockchain games follow the community. Thus, the approach to communication isn’t top-down. Any player can suggest ideas, and if the community accepts the ideas, then the enhancements are done.
- The players can use their unique IDs to play games from one platform to another.
The problems in Blockchain-based Gaming
The setting up of a crypto wallet and adding crypto to it is a challenge for many gamers as many would be hesitant to set up a wallet in the first place. Also, traditional online games are already popular, so it will be difficult to attract players to play blockchain-based games. For on-chain games, the handling of private keys is difficult as more the actions, more are the sign-in transactions. This can lead to not handling the private keys properly.
Summing it all up
Since the blockchain itself is completely safe. It is the smart contract that can be manipulated if there are bugs in them. Every business opting for blockchain infrastructure for online games must also take care of the code of the smart contracts. An open ledger of all transactions is one way to secure the project.
Every gamer needs to understand that it’s important to avoid risky websites and take regular computer back-ups. In addition, the crypto earned should also not be left in the wallet; secure the private key and never share the password with anyone, especially on the internet.
There is explosive growth in the gaming industry. Online gaming to earn tokens and exchange them for real money is a win-win situation for both players and the organization.
Partner with Zeeve for Blockchain-Integrated Gaming Development
Are you planning to build an online game? Then consider the advantages of blockchain in the gaming industry and collaborate with the dedicated and passionate team of Zeeve. With Zeeve effortlessly manage all your blockchain-based games.
With intense research on the gaming market and a team of skilled developers who have the knowledge to integrate blockchain technology with games, partnering with Zeeve will be an enriching experience.
Zeeve is the leading Web 3.0 and Blockchain Infrastructure Management platform trusted by thousands of Blockchain Startups, Enterprises, and Web 3.0 Developers. To learn more about Zeeve, feel free to connect with us on Twitter and Telegram.
