The state of Crypto-Gaming

The Blockchain has recently started to become a popular platform for game development. Ethereum, the de facto standard for decentralized applications, is leading the way with this development.

There are good reasons for the emergence of crypto-gaming. On the one hand, the blockchain is ideal for ensuring fairness, in particular in games in which users face one another online. The blockchain also allows tracking digital assets, such as game characters, and protect their value in the same way it prevents double spending of digital currencies.

This has led to a recent influx of new crypto games. But are any of them any good?

Some numbers

Let’s first look at some numbers. Of course, it is very difficult to get reliable numbers in the fast-growing and unregulated blockchain ecosystem, but we can get some idea by looking at relative numbers and percentages extrapolated from websites aimed at tracking blockchain applications. At the time of writing DappRadar list 213 Ethereum smart contract-based applications. This is of course nowhere near the real number, but the applications listed on sites such as DappRadar are those that advertise their existence and are a valid sample for the end-user focused applications we wish to analyze. 150 of the 213 dapps listed are classed as games. This means we may assume that games represent just over 70% Ethereum-based applications that advertise their existence.

According to a recent Coindesk article, $10 million are in circulation in various games. The same article states that the total price of collectible cats on CryptoKitties is around $90 million. These numbers have to be taken with a pinch of salt, as we simply do not know how many games there are, but it is clear that we are talking about a lot of money being spent on crypto gaming.

Naturally, the current craze attracts many money-making schemes.

Glorified Gambling

First, let’s clarify that many applications that call themselves games are in fact gambling sites and lotteries. This particularly applies to the first wave of games that emerged before the CryptoKitties craze.

Apart from ethical concerns people may have with gambling, there is nothing wrong with this type of application. But let’s not call them games.

I wonder, however, how many of these dapps worry about their local gambling regulations. Just because you put part of your lottery on the blockchain does not mean you don’t have to comply with your state’s or country’s regulations.

Money-Making and Ponzi Schemes

From gambling dapps, it is a small step to blatant money making and Ponzi schemes. Recently, there have been almost daily announcements on Reddit and other forums, introducing games that allow users to pay in some money for a chance to receive more money back. For instance, one recently announced “game” allows users to pay for pressing a button. When the button is not pressed for a pre-established time period, the accumulated money paid in is won by the last person that actually pressed the button. Naturally, the house takes a decent cut. Does it get any more Ponzi than this? And even if you accept this, where is the fun in a game that only consists in pressing a button?

Unique Collectible … and their Clones

One thing the blockchain is very good at is representing digital assets. Hence, it was only a matter of time for tradeable collectibles to emerge. The success of CryptoKitties has taken everyone by surprise, but it is actually a great demonstration of Ethereum’s capabilities (besides the congestion caused).

Given the success of the cats, it was clear there would be copycats (excuse the pun), but we just did not expect that many. We now have crypto dogs, crypto celebrities, crypto punks … you name it. There are even crypto politicians and crypto Japanese porn stars.

Some of these collectibles actually allow some form of interaction. For instance, CryptoKitties breed (one would assume that the crypto Japanese porn stars interact in a similar fashion). However, the main purpose of these games is to create value from nothing and then indulge in trading. This is clearly not sustainable. Once the novelty wears off only a few types collectibles will survive and hold value.

The Emergence of Real Games

Whilst collecting digital cats becomes boring quickly, the underlying idea of non-fungible digital assets represented on the blockchain is actually useful for games. We just have to add the actual game!

The industry is just realizing this and there are now several real games emerging that let their unique digital assets represent game characters that can interact and do stuff.

The key to real crypto gaming seems to be using the blockchain for decentralization, fairness and digital value representations, but not reinvent the wheel. After all, video games have evolved over 40 years, and there are things that have been proven to work:

• A good story. The most important aspect of a game is making it fun to play, and the absence of a story will make gamers lose interest.
• Many possible outcomes. For a game to be fun there needs to be an element of surprise.
• Strategy. To keep players engaged, a game needs to allow gamers to learn, improve and develop a strategy. If the game is too easy, too hard, or too much based on luck, gamers will stop playing.
• Graphics. Computer graphics have advanced significantly, even on the web, providing a huge potential for improving the gaming experience.

For these reasons, we base our game, CryptoFights.io, on traditional role-play style interaction. Player owns 3D heroes, which can be equipped with weapons and armor and fight in a virtual arena. The game uses Unity3D and Web/GL to present state-of-the-art graphics. Gamers have a range of strategic decisions to make and the game engages long term.

Signing up for beta use is now possible at cryptofights.io. See you in the arena!