Any game that uses blockchain and cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum in any of its processes is blockchain gaming. In simpler terms, if any gamer uses any cryptocurrency in form or transaction, upgrades, gaming weapons, etc., it involves the concept of blockchain into gaming.
This probably is the most outstanding innovation for players and gaming developers, who did not seem to have many opportunities despite being a billion-dollar industry. The whole concept is to bring in more players into the crypto world.
The traditional gaming sector was more of a dark side in development. Other developers could not build a different version of it due to lack of permission and unavailability of core logic and assets.
As blockchain games are decentralized, most of the data, core logic are not taken care of by a single entity but are available for everyone to analyze and reuse. Such games make their token or coin for their platform or use the existing one.
How does it work?
There can be varieties of ways blockchain can be used in gaming, but primarily it works in crypto gaming and NFTs.
Both of these, crypto gaming and NFT, are two different parts of blockchain gaming.
- Here, crypto gaming has various components, like betting and playing with other players while focusing more on spending cryptocurrencies to earn more.
- Moreover, NFT gaming is more inclined towards using its native currencies or tokens to create and accumulate unique NFTs that can be used in-game for particular actions or held and sold later on.
Betting games use a set of predefined codes to make a betting project. Here, players bet their BTC or the platform altcoins needed to play that particular game.
Example of blockchain gaming
There are thousands of games and betting systems already built using blockchain. A few examples are listed below.
Bustabit
It is a crash game platform — a Bitcoin gambling site that has been successfully operated since 2014. Here you player buys BTC and bet on the system to gain X amount of returns before automatically crashing.
Fomo 3D
It is another gambling or a Ponzi game where a player bet X amount to multiply its investment.
Age of Rust
It is the ultimate entertainment. The game is a part of the Enjin community and is created on the Ethereum blockchain.
Crypto wars
It is another famous game on the list built on the Ethereum blockchain. This game uses Metamask wallet to log in and is free to play. It runs on the Ethereum blockchain, using Loom side chains for its build and battle game like the Clash of titans.
Pros & Cons
Although it might sound fascinating, decentralization gaming is not a full-proof and risk-free sector. Every industry or process has some pros as well as cons. Let’s see what you need to know about it.
Pros
- Security is one of the significant reasons blockchain gaming is on everyone’s radar. Blockchain technology makes the platform highly secure and available for everyone to use by being decentralized at the same time.
- Blockchain gaming is very transparent, thereby making it more attractive for all gamers to verify the ledger as it is open for everyone.
- Tokenize the assets and create decentralized, secure gaming markets are facilitated by blockchain, allowing the gamers to check and verify to buy virtual assets at a fair price.
Cons
- Although such gaming is exceptionally encouraging, it also has some limitations. One among these is the transfer fees that the gamers have to bear. As the whole concept of blockchain gaming is new, the transfer fees in the industry are hefty and take a significant portion out of gamers’ earnings.
- Moving forward, another challenge associated with blockchain gaming is the loss of data of the gamers who maintain games in large networks. Ultimately being a new concept, blockchain is still scaling inadequately.
- While governments are witnessing money laundering using NFTs as a new form of crime. Carbon footprints associated with crypto and NFTs creation are also a significant repercussion against it.
Final thought
As blockchain is still new, it is still vulnerable to many scams and cheating. Before moving or investing in any industry, it is always advisable to do good research. Gamers and developers need variety, new experiences, and an opportunity to earn simultaneously by playing and developing games. Blockchain, as a result of this, has given them a feeling of reliability and security.
But nothing is firm as of now because the statistics are still not up as forecasted. To see if blockchain gaming is the winner in the real world, we still need to wait for a couple of years. But still, the prevailing wind and crowd noise seem to support the evolution of blockchain, allowing users to create and play more user-friendly games faster, tight with robust security, wield better graphics and exciting storylines.