Crypto gaming is a new form of gaming that integrates cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology into video games. This allows players to truly own in-game assets as well as earn real-world value from playing. But how exactly does crypto gaming differ from normal video gaming? In this article, we will explore the key differences when it comes to ownership of assets, play-to-earn models, interoperability across platforms, and decentralisation.
Ownership of In-Game Assets
In normal video games, players do not actually own any of the in-game assets they accumulate. These assets, whether it is powerful armour, rare skins, or unlocked characters, are stored on servers owned and controlled by the game developers. At any time, these assets could become unavailable if the developer shuts the game down.
However, crypto games rely on blockchain technology, which allows players real ownership of in-game assets. For example, assets can be represented by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which players can securely trade or sell outside the game itself. As the famous crypto investor Andreas Antonopoulos puts it:
“Non-fungible tokens provide scarcity at the content layer that doesn’t exist in centralized streaming and gaming platforms.”
This means that the rare armours and skins players work hard to acquire actually belong to them, with blockchain provably guaranteeing their authenticity and ownership.
Play-to-Earn Model
Modern video games rely heavily on in-game transactions, where players exchange real-world money for assets like skins, loot boxes, season passes and more. While this generates huge revenue for developers, players do not receive any monetary value in return for the time they invest into games. These purchases are one-directional money flows.
In contrast, crypto gaming incorporates ‘Play-to-Earn’ models where players are financially rewarded for their gaming effort and progression with crypto tokens or assets that have real-world value. These rewards can come from:
- Completing in-game quests
- Defeating enemies
- Selling NFT items to other players
So rather than just a hobby, crypto gaming allows even amateur players an opportunity to monetise their skill and effort. Top crypto games like Axie Infinity enable players to earn over 10 times the minimum wage in countries like the Philippines.
Interoperability of Assets
Another major difference is that assets earned in traditional games remain locked and inaccessible outside of those games. This means the valuable items you’ve collected in games like World of Warcraft or Minecraft cannot be transferred for use in other games. These walled gardens benefit developers who want to retain users in their ecosystems.
In contrast, blockchain gaming promotes open standards and interoperability. Since game assets are represented by tokens and NFTs on public blockchains, they can seamlessly integrate across games, worlds and even virtual reality metaverses. For example, buying land or customising an avatar in one metaverse environment may unlock benefits across multiple platforms over time. This cross-compatibility aligns well with how people expect digital ownership to function.
As Viktor Radchenko, Trusted Founder of Bidify puts it:
“For virtual assets to mirror the properties of their real-world counterparts, they require a standard form of digitization first. NFTs as a technology provide just that.”
Over time, we expect crypto-based game assets to achieve greater portability across different gaming and metaverse environments as open standards evolve.
Decentralisation
Traditionally, video games are created and ruled as complete dictatorships. The development studio makes all executive decisions controlling everything within the games they build, with virtually no input from players. They provide the assets, set their prices, control scarcity, ban accounts, and modify mechanics at will.
Crypto games are far more community-driven, with decentralized governance increasingly supported through tokens. Changes to ecosystem-specific cryptocurrencies or NFTs that power games can be put to a player vote. High token ownership translates to voting power, allowing active participants to guide the game’s evolution.
Early experiments in decentralized gaming such as Axie Infinity allow players to influence key decisions like gameplay balancing, competitions, treasury management and more. While the technology is still maturing, blockchain promises video games that are increasingly “by gamers, for gamers”.
Accessibility
That said, crypto gaming adoption faces some steep barriers currently when it comes to accessibility. Playing most blockchain games requires users to first purchase cryptocurrency, set up digital wallets, and pay transaction fees, which may be daunting to casual users. They also tend to be complex, with steeper learning curves. And due to extreme speculation, costs of entry fluctuate greatly.
In contrast, traditional gaming marketplaces like Steam offer frictionless onboarding with proven monetization models over decades. Users can seamlessly purchase and play thousands of games with a simple username and password. So despite its innovations, crypto gaming still has much work to do before matching traditional gaming in terms of friendly user experience and stable mainstream adoption.
Conclusion
In summary, while still in its early days, crypto gaming brings fundamentally new models of digital ownership, play and decentralization compared to traditional gaming. Players can earn real-world value, own assets on blockchains, and influence games like never before.
However, there are still very real barriers in terms of accessibility, complexity, and stability that prevent mainstream adoption as of 2023. It may take years before crypto integrations seem as seamless and frictionless as current monetization systems that platforms like Steam have perfected.
But for players willing to take the plunge, blockchain promises a paradigm shift where time and effort spent gaming can translate into opportunities that simply don’t exist otherwise in traditional closed ecosystems. As the technology and UX matures over the next decade, expect online gaming behavior and business models to be disrupted in even more radical ways.
FAQs
Can you earn money playing normal video games?
Generally no. While a small number of professional esports players earn salaries and prizes, casual gaming rarely translates into real earnings. At best, unlockable skins may be sold between players against most games’ terms of service.
What tokens are used in crypto gaming?
Popular crypto games issue their own unique tokens and NFTs, often on Ethereum or Polygon, such as AXS (Axie Infinity), SAND (The Sandbox), GALA (Galagas), and ULTRA tokens.
Do you need cryptocurrency to play crypto games?
In most cases yes, as certain crypto tokens are required to get started. These pay for transactions, assets or storage. So some digital currency purchase is mandatory.
Can in-game assets be transferred between normal games?
No. Conventional games and their asset markets are completely siloed by developer, so money or items cannot cross over from one game world to another.
How safe is investing money in crypto gaming?
Like all cryptocurrency projects, these games carry risks from volatility, hacking, scams, regulatory uncertainty and more. Players should view involvement as speculative with potential to lose all invested capital despite potential upsides.
