Is blockchain technology getting in as an integral part of gaming?

[andycrestodina]

In recent times, the hype about the play-to-earn NFT gamesis getting big and bigger. Gamers enjoy the thrill of games and the opportunity to earn a passive income. This has made gamers prefer web3 gaming over traditional games. This has made these games the new generation of gaming, and it is making blockchain to become an integral part of gaming!

[xaumana]

As a hardcore ex-gamer I do have an opinion, and I'm willing to share it.

Gamers had already adopted the vision before Bitcoin provided it

It runs deeper than the general public is willing to see. Gamers were ready to accept crypto's innovations much before BTC was invented. Back in the day, gamers were a special bunch - they formed a special social layer of fantasy. Gamer societies were home to all kinds of future-thinking people and those who had alternative views of life. Old-school gamers like me, we were making our gatherings at the weekly meetings of fantasy and sci-fi novel writers in town, to discuss games with them.

The so called Real World was the world of stupid people who were living the boring reality of everyday life, deprived of magic. In games you could run away from the oppressing System, away from having to find a sh*tty job, getting robbed by the status quo every day, get an education you never wished for, raise a family just because you are supposed to and then slave away for the rest of your unhappy life. Gaming offered you the chance to reimagine the world in a form that you thought could make you happy - with more thrill, with more magic, with more obvious truths and less obfuscations to what is valuable in this accursed existence.

In other words, gamers despised the Old World and the status quo, but were too geeky and nerdy to seriously state their case in a philosophical and serious manner.


Gaming society strived for decentralization long before BTC brought DeFi

Gamers attracted the likes of all kinds of people who were unhappy with the world of their day. And, in response, the world refused to take them seriously, because the Old World hates and fears those who can foresee a greater future beyond the veil of the Matrix.

For it was just so - anyone who's been a gamer between the 90s and 2015, basically, can testify to that: we called "the Matrix" the so called Real Life, and we accepted the world of gaming as our truer reality.

Before BTC was invented, the gaming social layer was already maturing. People started to make a living through gaming, because they flat out refused to grow up! Older generations of gamers HAD to grow up, because the Old World was stronger, the Matrix people were much more numerous and they could make you grow up, even if you didn't want to.

But as gaming was maturing, more and more grown-up gamers, who were forced to leave gaming behind, were building a new kind of future for their children - a kind of future they themselves were deprived of. More and more gamer-fathers were leaving their children alone when they were playing PC games, because they could now relate to that childhood feeling. This was the case after 2007, when many of the 90s gamers grew up to have kids of their own.

So... when multiple generations of gamers started to overlap, they began building their own world - they wanted to be able to make money in gaming and make a living, despite the way the Old World was built. They started organizing huge tournaments with bigger and bigger prizes. Understand? Old gamers now wanted young gamers to receive prizes with REAL value, and not stuffed animals. So hard cash entered gaming.

It was all centralized, of course. The technology wasn't there. And tournaments had bigger and bigger prizes, but they were just for show, remaining inaccessible for 99% of gamers across the world. Only the best of the best were playing at those tournaments with real prizes, and Koreans were dominating (rightfully so, hats off to them and what they did for gaming around the world).

Soon after gamers started wanting fame too! They wanted to be recognized, just like all the other sports. So the term "e-sports" emerged, attempts were made to include e-sports and DOTA in particular in the regular Olympic games.

But the technology just wasn't there.

The invention of BTC found a fertile soil in gamers around the world right from the start

BTC was first mined with regular PCs. Gee, I wonder what audience was most accessible for BTC adoption!

Small wonder the blockchain and all developments of the DeFi and crypto are basically tailored for gaing. GameFi is not just a "play-to-earn" trend. Please... Neither is it a comfortable excuse to make use of useless NFTs.

The blockchain means board games turned into reality! E-sports is just a precursor to GameFi! Welcome to the future people!

[Jaephoenix]

Blockchain is surely and slowly shaping its way into mainstream gaming via its most viable sphere of NFTs. NFTs have become a reliable spinoff of blockchain technology and has gained love from the mainstream crowd, especially the celebrities. However mainstream gaming corps are edgy because of the long time beef between core gamers and crypto which emanated from the perceived price hike of gaming hardware like processors and graphics which happened because of the mining activities of many crypto Proof of Work projects like Litecoin, Bitcoin and previously Ethereum.
However, that narrative is changing after big hitters like Ubisoft gained some interest in NFTs

[mu_enrico]

Not all games are suitable for this play-to-earn genre, for example, single-player games and non-freemium games. Monetizing items with NFT and the usage of real money (including crypto) also violate some laws about video games and will be categorized as gambling, hence 18+ will be applied. So the good old games genre without blockchain will still exist, especially for under-18, and then the monetizable games will also exist for 18+. Both play-to-earn and pay-to-play will still exist.

[Ghozrd]

It all started with NFT tokens and Blockchain as the main server, I'm not very familiar with the network system in blockchain games, but I collect NFT and play it, Sandbox and Some P2E games like Axie have proven the level of game progress in the crypto space and proven that blockchain has many features that not many people know about it

[xaumana]

Gamers had already adopted the vision before Bitcoin provided it
[...]
Gaming society strived for decentralization long before BTC brought DeFi
[...]
The invention of BTC found a fertile soil in gamers around the world right from the start
[...]

To add to my case here...

Gamers were masters at programmability and standardization of ecosystem parameters and imaginary world development looong before BTC.

Since the beginning of RPGs, long before their digital versions, character creation has been a central part in many game genres. To create a character and after that to play with it, changing its stats in some parameter margins, while doing work (playing, investing time, attention and effort) is THE SAME as creating a new token and an ecosystem powered by it.

To create an RPG character, you need a regulated environment. The Dungeons&Dragons system is an immortal classic ever since the board days of gaming! It's THE SAME as having a token standard as a ERC-20 for example.

To say blockchain is becoming an integral part of gaming is a fallacy. It's quite the opposite - GAMING is actually an integral part of the blockchain, as the fundamental underlying vision for decentralization, minting of assets, distribution and ecosystem management can be traced to gaming decades before BTC was first invented.

[Jaephoenix]

Much as I love Play2Earn projects, I think it is over-diluted with scammers. I cannot count the number of such projects that run in, promise huge returns in the whitepaper, collect investor funds in IDOs and disappear into thin air soon after. From Metakings, to Hippo Inu, to Metakillers, to Secret… There are even more of them waiting to pile into the Play2Earn niche since its very popular. My advice is beware

[Docimasy]

It is a great shift but I’m sure as  it is tough to identify what is a legit game and what isn’t. I haven’t tried it yet. What do you guys think? Is it worth the risk & time?

[TomPluz]

Surely, the online gaming industry will never be the same because of the adoption of the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency and I believe that gaming has benefitted a lot with this development. However, I must point out that there now many play-to-earn projects that are here just for the money or financial gains without looking if they can be sustainable or not...these projects can be attractive to investors in the near-term but looking at them long-term one must be careful as most of their models can never be sustainable. No wonder why some consider P2E as just another version of the ponzi scheme...though this can be debatable to other people.