NFTs + Gaming and why this could be the future.

NFT’s are a controversial topic right now. The art world is in turmoil as the very notions of ownership are being challenged.

This disruption may be new to the world of art we traditionally associate with galleries and million-dollar auction houses, but in the world of video games. It’s not new.

MMO (Massively Multiplier Online) games have been around for quite a while now; World of Warcraft, Runescape, Secondlife, and The Elder Scrolls Online are some of the most well-known ones.

These shared worlds allow players to move through it in real-time with hundreds or thousands of other players simultaneously, the action of one can have consequences for the many and this creates the idea of community.

Despite players pouring millions of hours into these worlds collectively, anything virtually owned or earned in them is still subject to the whims of a centralized organization.

This is soon to be a thing of the past as games build on the blockchain.

Games like Decentraland and Upland are bucking the trend by decentralizing the world the players exist in and giving them unequivocal ownership of their in-game assets.

But from this arises one central problem. I’ve found is that without a central entity creating stories and events to keep players engaged, interest in the game lags.

Influence could be just the thing to change that.

The shared universe is an asteroid belt where players (prospectors) own individual asteroids. They can then begin mining resources to allow them to build, grow and expand. Or they can lease out their asteroids to other players.

What I’m hoping for is an active market between players; deals being struck, negotiations for resources, NFT trading, and given time, the overall quality of the experience improves as existing players push onwards and upwards, creating the type of story that is missing from other property-owning games. It has all the marks of becoming a game with enough actual gameplay to be considered more than a novelty.

But more than this, actually owning the assets is an intriguing prospect in itself. Considering Republic Real Estate is allowing investors to get in on virtual real estate, that asteroid you own in Influence may end up having a very real-world value.

Influence may be the beginning of something huge, both in terms of the in-game universe and its real-world influence.

All credit goes to and Written by @RichardBMooney (please check him out on Twitter if you enjoyed this article)

Join the rapidly growing community on Discord