How are NFTs Kick-Starting New Gaming Revolution?

Gamers love to collect loot: from virtual pets to magic swords, the rarer the item the higher the value. Game developers are now making it possible for players to profit off their hard-earned items with the power of NFTs. Essentially, turning gamers into investors

What Are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT)?

Non-fungible tokens have been getting a lot of traction in the last few years and for a good reason. While the idea of digital tokens has been around for a while, most forms of cryptocurrencies are still fungible. The non-fungible characteristic refers to the unique nature of these blockchain-based tokens. NFTs are unique in such a way that literally nothing can replace them and therefore give holders verification of ownership.

Disadvantages Of Traditional Fungible Items In Games

In the gaming industry, digital items that can be traded based on utility or scarcity have become a sizable part of the emerging metaverse landscape. However, gamers don’t possess true ownership of these items and most of the real-money trades have to be done through 3rd parties like eBay. 

Additionally, most online multiplayer games prohibit real-world trading of any kind in their terms and conditions. Since you as a player do not possess the total ownership of your inventory, you don’t have the right to break these terms due to the danger of account termination. No matter how much time or money you’ve spent on the game, all of your progress could be erased in an instant. Meaning purchased assets all go to waste regardless, once you stop playing.

NFTs In Video Gaming

While NFTs have been mostly utilized in the art world, tokenizing video game items could revolutionize the gaming industry. In-game items or property in decentralized games can be tokenized and turned into a unit of data on the blockchain that players own and completely control.

Many games already utilize this system and most notably collective games like Cryptokitties. In this game, each kitty is a cute and unique NFT that functions almost like physical Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards. These collectibles are then traded among players for a value that they determine without a central market.

The most exciting part of collectible games is your total ownership and the ability to show off your rare possessions to your friends. And with tokenized collectibles this ownership is irrefutable and you’re immune to any hacks, errors, or confiscation by the game masters.

Top 5 NFT Games

From Gamers To Investors

While the majority of games forbid players from real-world trading, the addition of NFTs in decentralized games – like Decentraland- embraces it. This legitimizes gaming as a way to earn a living instead of just a hobby.

The total possession of your in-game inventory could have a similar effect to the pokemon card craze of 2020 when simple physical collectibles were sold for thousands of dollars. However, NFTs have much more potential since they aren’t limited to physical trading or the collectible genre only.

Any game that features player-to-player trading could implement a decentralized eco-system with the technology of NFTs. This system would reward the loyal and most active players that collectively increased the value of the game itself and therefore their assets. 

Invest By Joining Early

Instead of investing money, NFTs revolutionize gaming in such a way where your investment is made by engagement and activity. Players that backed a blockchain game from the very start by investing their time and belief would get rewarded the most just like proper investors. 

Even if you were to buy in-game assets for fun it could also be considered as an investment. That’s because, in contrast to traditional games, where your money is sunk into a bottomless pit, NFTs allow you to sell your possessions at any point for profit or loss. 

Freshly launched games often hand out one-time rewards and the earlier you start, the more unique items your account acquires. These limited commodities increase in value over time due to the growing scarcity and popularity of the game.

Play-To-Earn – The First Sign Of A Revolution

Several blockchain games not only feature NFTs but revolve their whole gameplay around player monetization through the blockchain. However, instead of building an expensive crypto mining machine players can grind cryptocurrencies themselves with their home devices. 

This model is called Play-to-Earn, and gamers benefit just as much as the developers. While these games usually contain collectibles their gameplay is much more catered to the hardcore grind playstyle. 

Games like Axie Infinity have an infinite replayability potential where you’re allowed to profit/play as much as you physically can, which can’t be said for traditional games. Some of the Play-to-Earn-based games yield better per-hour earnings than most minimum wage jobs around the world.

Pay-To-Win With NFTs?

Whenever an online game features a cash shop with real-money transactions, the question on every player’s mind is whether the game is going to be pay-to-win. Meaning, if players will be able to purchase items/services that boost their progression or offer other unfair advantages.

The addition of NFT’s gives players so much control it could be potentially harmful to the state of the game. The real money aspect attracts indigenous people that are often only after the money without a care for the game. As a result, there might appear exploiters, hackers, or botters that inflate the market.

However, the majority of blockchain games are aware of this and so far have handled it very well. The new MMORPG Ember Sword, for instance, tokenizes cosmetics but nothing that could affect gameplay in any way, such as weapons or armor.

Impact Of NFTs In Gaming

In the world of gaming, non-fungible tokens hold a lot of in-game usage potential. While tokenized items add a new layer of interactivity by gamifying the entire way players interact with games in general. Until now only live streamers were able to make money playing games full time, but with the inclusion of NFTs, earning is accessible to any gamer.