Crypto games — A niche? A new genre of gaming? Both.
Crypto games are, usually, browser based games that incorporate the use of smart contracts and a blockchain for some (or all) of the game’s features. Most crypto games use ERC721 tokens as game assets. ERC721 tokens are different from the regular ERC20 tokens you know. ERC20 tokens are all identical to each other in all aspects and value. ERC721 tokens are all different from one another as each one has unique qualities, attributes and a different value. That way, they can be implemented in a game as purchaseable assets that actually belong to the player’s wallet address the same way you own Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
The most familiar crypto game is CryptoKitties — it’s success was phenomenal. CryptoKitties are ERC721 tokens and each kitty has a unique genetic code that affects how the cat looks in the game. The looks of the kitties in the game is ofcourse server side, but the ERC721 token that represents the kitty is on the Ethereum blockchain. The game doesn’t let you do much except buy, sell and breed kitties, and yet it was such a huge success that it actually clogged the Ethereum blockchain with transactions.
It’s a new and exciting field, both as an investment channel and a new way of using blockchain technology.
As an investment — a lot of people got rich really quick in CryptoKitties and in other crypto games that followed, since you can sell your ERC721 game asset for much more than the price you purchased it in. Most people play crypto games for that exact reason. Even if the market is super bearish, getting in on a crypto game at the right time can double or even triple your investment overnight. However, when the game starts to fade there will always be people who are stuck with very expensive ERC721 game assets that no one wants to buy. The reason for success and value increase of ERC721 game assets is that usually they are rare. Either there’s just no enough of these assets for everyone, or that they are categorized by some rarity scale by the developers.
As a new way of using blockchain technology: The advantages of crypto games over regular games are very clear. The players actually own their purchased game assets, and even if the game dies or shuts down, they still have their asset in their wallet, and they can use it on neutral markets or integrate 3rd parties to use them. Neutral markets are also a new crypto thing that popped up because of crypto games — these are actually exchanges of ERC721 tokens that checks which ERC721 tokens you have in your wallet, and represent them on the market as a sellable or purchaseable asset regardless of the original game they were created in, or their original devs.
This causes the regular gaming industry look kind of bad. In a normal game, you are bound to the game and it’s devs, and if the game shuts down then all of your purchased content is worthless. You don’t really own anything, you are just paying to rent it until the game dies, or worse, until you are banned from the game and lose all your progress and assets. Also, you cannot take the assets you have purchased in one game and use them in another game or sell them on a neutral market. The crypto games genre is heading in a very innovative direction on that front, and people are designing new games that integrate with existing games and interact with their existing assets. For example, the famous Solidity learning tutorial, CryptoZombies, teaches you how to build a zombies collectible games, and interacts with cryptokitties smart contract in order to let the zombies feed on the kitties! This is the dawn of a new era for gamers, as interaction between different games is a wet dream indeed. Imagine taking your weapons from a futuristic sci-fi game and using it in a medieval themed game. It’s freaking awesome just to think about it! Having a wallet filled with weapons, spaceships, characters — all from different games and all are useable in any game you want… Nerdvana.
The downsides of crypto games are also very clear at the moment: Most games are just static jpgs that don’t do too much, and don’t justify the word “game” in crypto game. Some would say it’s due to blockchain limitaions. However, this genre is slowly picking up and new games with new 3D designs and abilities are being developed and launched lately. This will definitely take the crypto games niche into it’s own gaming genre and will only keep growing, especially since gamers dream to get paid for playing, and crypto games are all about money anyways. Another big disadvantage in crypto games is the fact that blockchain technology is simply not there yet. The Ethereum blockchain chocked with CryptoKitties and transactions cost a lot of money all over the Ethereum network. Also, almost every action in crypto games costs gas in order for it to change the information on the blockchain and progress in the game. Developers have to find a very delicate balance between blockchain side and server side, in order to help players play by reducing fees, but also to keep the game as decentralized as possible.
And so a new niche of crypto is born, and a new genre of gaming is born. Crypto games are slowly growing into an industry. As hardcore gamers and blockchain enthusiasts, we are thrilled that this thing evolved and exists. Right now we are developing our first crypto game called “ExoPlanets”. You can check it out our new website here: https://ExoPlanets.io
We would love to hear what do you guys think about crypto games in general, where do you think this is heading, if you have taken part and played in these games before, what was your experience, and of course your opinion on our project “ExoPlanets”.
May the gods of the bullish market bless you.
