The Possibilities of Play-to-Earn Gaming
Gaming predates the internet and has had an avid and loyal community well before games were even able to be played with people that weren’t sitting right next to you. From the early days of the internet, gaming has become a communal experience for many. With massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), hundreds and thousands of people could be playing in the same world at the same time. All around the world, players could be collecting items for quests or teaming up to take on bosses.
Then came the games that created multiplayer options for their players, like Call of Duty and Fortnite. With the ability to buy skins, customize dance moves, and unlock themed characters or other items, players were not just able to play with each other, they were able to customize their avatars to make them stand out. Then there’s always Pokemon Go, which was one of the first gaming experiences that truly blended the virtual world with the real world as people would walk along their cities using their phones to collect Pokemon as they sprung up.
All these games and most of the others offered players a chance to use real world money to enhance their gameplay or experiences. Whether it was paying for a cool avatar skin that looked like a banana wearing a suit, or purchasing extra berries to entice wild Pokemon, players could further blend the lines between the real world and the gaming one.
However, this style of gaming was mainly focused on a consumer and company relationship in which the players were the source of income for the company and didn’t have much of a chance to earn any of it back except through entertainment and, for a select few, the chance to play in tournaments or esports events. Players have been required to simply go along with whatever the company chooses to do, and some of those changes and choices didn’t always fit the needs or wants of the players.
For example, if a gaming company decided that they were removing a portion of their game, you had no say on it. Even if you had spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to purchase in-game items for that portion of the game, when the company shut down that section, the player lost everything that they had invested. Similarly, when an item was marked as rare or valuable in the game, and cost a large number of real-life dollars, but then was available for sale at a steep discount, there was no way for those who had spent the money for the full priced item to get their money back. Additionally, in these instances, the “rare” item became less valuable and rare because it was now available to a larger amount of people, defeating the purpose, for some, of investing in it in the first place.
Along with these factors, there were only a few places, proportionally, that allowed users to create and develop their experiences. Roblox was one of the most popular. Here, users could create their own mini games that became available to all Roblox players. From obstacle courses style games to fashion shows or muscle building contests, users could create all sorts of experiences and share them with the Roblox community. However, Roblox sets the rates that they pay out for the people who are creating most of the game’s “world.”
With such dependence upon the gaming company, players have had limited choices and decision-making powers when it comes to the world that they spend so much time, and in many cases, money in.
Enter Play-to-Earn Games
Now, imagine a way that gamers are not only able to spend their time enjoying a world and gameplay style that the love, but also are able to make decisions on how it develops, truly own pieces of the gaming world, and even earn back some of the money that they spent to begin playing.
This is the world of play-to-earn games.
Play-to-earn (P2E) is just what it sounds like: players can earn money by playing the game. This can take a lot of different forms, and may seem like a hoax to many people, but there are several P2E games out there, with more popping up each month.
With blockchain technology, which allows assets and ownership to be written, secured, and verified with the blockchain, P2E games are becoming even more common. Although many games have built their own in-game economies in the past, P2E games are becoming true economies within the virtual worlds. Gamers are not only able to play, but they are able to earn, spend, trade, and more within the world. Plus, their purchases are validated and secure through the blockchain, like NFTs. Skins that players purchase will now actually be able to hold their value since they will be unique, ownership will be clearly defined, and rarity able to be determined.
The use of NFTs within P2E games has created a sense of true ownership for players and has allowed them to not only be a part of the in-game economy, but to also set some of their own rules about their owned assets as well.
Now, it is important to note that P2E games are not just a source of free money. Many of them require an initial cost to begin playing, usually in the form of purchasing some sort of in-game tokens or NFTs to mark you as one of the players of the game. This initial startup cost ranges from game to game and can vary depending on a number of factors, one of them being how popular the game currently is. The in-game tokens are all unique, but usually purchasable through cryptocurrency. And the best part is, that even though you are paying to play at first, you have the chance to earn back those in-game tokens through a variety of interactions. Then, you can transfer these tokens back into cryptocurrency and cash out.
Some of the interactions that P2E games offer for players are:
Battles
o Usually in a form such as player vs player (PvP) or player vs computer or environment
o Winners can take home prizes or players can wager against each other
Tasks
o Daily lists of tasks to complete in-game
o Quests that are given by NPCs that provide rewards upon completion
Resource Gathering
o Developing your assets to “mine” for the in-game resources
o Use resources to either develop, trade, or sell to others or the in-game shop
Collecting
o Whether it is virtual card decks or digital pets; uniqueness and rarity matter
o The larger the collection or the rarer, the higher players can set prices to trade, loan, or sell to other players
Leveling up
o Like traditional adventure games, players can reach new levels and earn new achievements or rewards
Collaboration
o Players can team up and take on difficult encounters and bosses
o Rewards and boons can be split between the party members
One of the best parts of this system is that rewards, resources, tokens, NFTs, etc. are all owned by the players. Because they are written into the blockchain, they are owned by the player until they decide to do something with it and not dependent upon the company running the game to set the price, availability, or timing.
Whether players simply want to mine their resources and use them to continue playing the game and advancing, or they want to offer their items out for temporary loan to other players, there are a lot of options for how players can earn back their money and then some. Trading with other players, or even selling NFTs, items, resources, and more either back to the game or to other players is another way. Usually, though, the company takes a fee out of each transaction, so it is important to do research about each game you’re interested in before investing a lot of time or money into getting established within it.
Another great part about this is that players are often able to create their own assets within the game, creating their own NFTs that they can then keep or offer up for sale or trade to other players, all while they control the pricing. In a way, it is much like an artist selling their artwork, or freelancers offering up their services. For the gaming community, however, one huge positive of this system is that they still get to play games that they love.
The P2E Market
Because play-to-earn is becoming a huge market, blending gaming with crypto and other industries, there are plenty of games to choose from, allowing gamers, investors, and more to choose what fits their needs and style the best.
One of the most popular and successful is called Splinterlands. It is a card collecting game that allows players to create a digital deck based on the in-game lore and world. Then, they are able to battle against each other with their decks, or trade and sell cards if they like. Because they automate the battles instead of requiring players to do them live, players who don’t have a lot of time to play might find this appealing.
Another of the biggest and most talked about is Axie Infinity. Here, players can buy, sell, trade, and breed Axies, little creatures that live within the world. The buy in of Axie Infinity is a bit steep (anywhere from $500 to over $1000 to get started), but those who were there early have been able to cash in a lot with the popularity and press booms that pushed their numbers through the roof. For example, a recent purchase of virtual land in the Axie Infinity world cost $1.5 million.
Others, like Epic Hero and Mercenary, also have their own unique gameplay styles and rewards schemes. For example, Epic Hero has 3D NFTs modeled after heroes and rewards NFT holders for each transaction. Mercenary has two modes of medieval gameplay, one where mercenaries are acquired and battled against other groups, the second more of an expedition style with squads of players.
No matter the game, though, the market itself has been booming lately. One article even states that not only did gaming apps account for about 1.4 million crypto wallets being created, but of all of the NFT sales that occurred in 2021, about 20% came from P2E games. That 20% comes out to about $23 billion.
With the pandemic pushing more and more people to look for ways to work from home, or just pass the time, there have been a lot of new players entering the P2E community. And, since that community blends not only those who like gaming, but also those who are looking to invest, to be their own boss, or just are interested in the future of cryptocurrency, the P2E market brings a wide variety of interested parties to the table. Some estimates even predict that the gaming niche may skyrocket in the next few years.
Looking to the Future
With more and more focus being put not only onto cryptocurrency, but to the concept of the metaverse, there are a number of possibilities that may lay ahead for the P2E industry, and some companies are already trying to showcase what that may look like.
Decentraland, for one, has already begun to create a metaverse like experience where players can not only purchase land and have create their own experiences, but because it is a decentralized “world,” the players are able to help to create the in-game economy and structure that make a metaverse unique. Players have more and more autonomy in these types of games, and with the concept of a truly virtual world where people can escape from the physical world for a while tied to the idea of being able to earn money while doing so is something that a lot of people are excited about.
Additionally, as companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft continue to develop their own metaverses, they are also creating new VR and AR technology. This technology is meant to create a more immersive experience, where you aren’t just using a keyboard and mouse to enter the metaverse or your favorite P2E experience, you’ll actually be able to see it, move around in it, and interact with it through your body’s senses. This can again create a potential boom in the P2E space as new technology leads to new, innovative playing styles and options.
Additionally, because of the buy in cost of P2E games, it can seem like a “you have to have money to make money” sort of scheme. However, although large companies, celebrities, and investors are pouring in a lot of money now, the wide-open market is going to create a lot of space for new companies to come in and change the game. Not only are there going to be a lot of metaverses and P2E games to choose from, but players may also find themselves with so many options that it will be a matter of choosing their favorite gaming style or time to earnings ratio since there will likely be a variety of initial startup cost levels available to choose from.
With P2E gaming, the gaming niche is becoming more mainstream. There are multiple communities coming together in this space and what they will develop next lays in the hands of them all. Only time will tell what the next steps of P2E gaming will look like, but it will probably change gaming as much as the internet did when it was first created.
