You may have heard of blockchain as it relates to cryptocurrency. Blockchain is the source code for over 6,000 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. However, blockchain is not only relative to cryptocurrency; it is also relative in the gaming world. What is blockchain and what is it bringing to the table for the gaming world?
Blockchain Simplified
You probably have heard the term blockchain and you may have even kicked the word around once in a while, but do you really know what blockchain is? You likely think it has a complex definition that is seeped in tech talk. The fact is, blockchain is just a ledger of a network of computers. The ledger records transactions and makes it very difficult to falsify or fake the transaction.
In the U.S., there are more than 107 million internet domains. The U.S. has more domains than any other country in the world. That is a lot of information being transmitted constantly. Blockchains make the information more secure and keep a record of digital transactions.
How Is Blockchain Helping Gaming?
Again, blockchains are most often associated with cryptocurrency, but they are used in a wide range of applications, including banking, medical records, and yes, gaming. Blockchain gaming combines games with cryptocurrency so that the user can earn while they play.
The user or gamer earns cryptocurrency that they can use to trade, buy products in the game, or cash out for real-world money. There are some popular blockchain games out there. However, you are more likely to run into blockchain gaming in the gambling world.
In online gambling, blockchain gaming has had the largest impact. Worrying about conversion rates is a thing of the past with blockchain gambling games because cryptocurrency is universal across all nations. The value of the cryptocurrency has nothing to do with geographical location.
MMO Games and Blockchain
Anyone that plays MMO games is fully aware that reputation is everything. Blockchain MMO gaming allows the user’s reputation to cross platforms. Instead of being famous for your reputation on one platform, that reputation can translate to a wide range of platforms. Your reputation will follow you to any game that shares the same blockchain.
Blockchain games could create a constantly changing gaming world. It can open up the door to opportunities to create entirely new worlds apart from the base story. Blockchain gaming is decentralized and takes advantage of the network to create games that bring a wide range of benefits to players. There is tons of potential for blockchain gaming.
Example: Axie Infinity
One of the most popular and one of the first blockchain games was Axie Infinity. This highly popular game raked in $342 million dollars in 2020. The difference between Axie Infinity and, say, Call of Duty or Fortnite is the blockchain and earning potential.
In Axie Infinity players breed, raise, and battle for their Axies and earn tokens and NFTs exchangeable for cryptocurrency. The goal is to successfully raise the Axies and sell them to other players. The use of blockchain in this game heightens the features in the game and the excitement of earning real-world compensation for being successful in the game. Clearly, gamers are interested in this game given the amount of revenue the game generated in 2020.
It is not all about earnings. The difference between earning an award, trophy, or another item in a blockchain game is that it is your actual property. Let’s say you are playing Fortnite and you purchase a skin. You can only use that skin while you are playing Fortnite. With a blockchain purchase or earning, you can keep the purchase or what you earned in your wallet indefinitely and sell it off at a later date even if you are no longer playing the game.
Change Is Coming
Right now blockchain gaming is pretty limited, but that is going to change in the near future. As gamers become more demanding and want more excitement from their games, the industry will respond by creating more blockchain games. Keep your eye out for the latest additions.
