Crypto games, play-to-earn, GameFi. You might have heard all these terms thrown
around, but they all refer to the same thing: the intersection of crypto and games. To most people in crypto, the word GameFi
means games that offer economic incentives when you play them, like earning tokens or
NFTs. In other words, making money by playing games. But the potential of GameFi is much broader
and more significant than that. Some examples of popular GameFi projects are
Axie Infinity, Decentraland, The S
andbox, and Star Atlas. But to really show you what GameFi is and
how it can revolutionize the gaming industry, let’s take a popular non-crypto game and
imagine it as a crypto game. Call of Duty: Warzone is a battle royale game
where 100 players fight each other till there’s only 1 left standing. There are hundreds of weapon, character, and
vehicle skins, and the in-game currency is called CP, which is used to buy these things. Some items are seasonal or only achievable
through special missions,
you can’t just buy them in the Warzone store. But everything in the game is locked inside
the Call of Duty ecosystem, and on top of that, the store doesn’t allow you to sell
anything. So what real value do these items have? If the developers close the game or decide
to remove certain items, the things you earned will disappear forever since you technically
don’t own them. The same goes for the in-game currency, which
is worthless outside the store. But what if all the items in Warzone were
NFTs
and CPs were crypto tokens? You would fully own the items you earned or
bought. You could transfer them to your friend, sell
them on a marketplace, or store it for a future game. You could buy CPs at a price that the public
market has decided and sell them for other tokens. Suddenly, the borders that surround the Call
of Duty ecosystem break down and the game becomes part of a bigger universe where in-game
items are truly owned by the players and useable across all experiences. Of course, this
would mean that you could
sell your items and in-game currency for real money, which is where the term play-to-earn
comes from. But that’s only one aspect of GameFi and
comes second to real digital ownership. Unfortunately, many GameFi creators today
don’t see it that way and can focus too much on the earning aspects of their game
and not the entire experience. They might forget the game needs to be fun
to play in the first place. If it isn’t, it will only attract players
looking to make money,
which ultimately will make the game resemble a ponzi scheme and
collapse. We even made a video on this, which you can
watch here. GameFi is like an expansion pack to games,
not a replacement. It’s a way for in-game economies to break
past the boundaries of the game itself and introduce digital ownership to players. That is how GameFi will revolutionize the
gaming industry and introduce a new layer to our playing experience.
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