How to relive and live your gaming life through NEAR Games: No Pay, No Game

NEAR Protocol PH
NEAR Protocol Philippines
5 min readJun 28, 2022

Baka hindi nyo na maaalala. Noong panahon, siguro mga 90s and early 2000s, bago pa dumating ang mobile games, mga PC rooms palang at game consoles ang uso. Tulad ng Playstation, Xbox, at Nintendo. Dahil ang karamihan ng mga Pinoy ay wala namang kakayahang bumili ng mga ito (except of course sa mga rich kids dyan, 😉😉) ay nag rerenta nalang sila. Kaya, No Pay No Game. Pun intended, of course.

Noong araw 20 Pesos per hour. Na abutan mo paba ang 60 Pesos per hour? Sobrang mahal. Pero naging affordable narin noong bandang huli, lalo na ang mga PC rooms. Minsan nga may offer silang 12 hours nonstop. Siguro bayaran mo lang nga 150 Pesos, pwede ka nang mag play ng 12 hours straight.

Ngayon baka sabihin ng iba na hindi maganda ang gaming. Kasi yung mga bata nagbubulakbol sila sa school. Hindi na pumapasok ang iba. Yung iba tumigil na sa pag aaral, hindi na maka gawa ng mga homework nila. Na addict na.

Pero baka ang tanong ay, bakit kaya nakaka addict ang gaming, lalo na ang online games? Ang mga scientists ay pinag aralan ang pyschology of gaming. At natuklasan nila na isa sa mga dahilan kung bakit nakaka addict ito ay hindi lang ito nakaka feel better, pero nakakaimprove pa ito ng quality ng buhay. Oo, promise, hindi ito biro.

Pero, papano naman naging posible na ang pag lalaro ng videogames both online and offline ay nakatutulong sa real life? Bueno, Bago natin sagutin yan, pwede natin I ground ang sarili natin sa isang survey na malamang mag aagree ka: may survey sa mga matatanda, yung bilang nalang ang araw nila, kung ano ang mga regrets nila sa life nila. What are their common regrets?

English nalang natin ha. Ito sila:

1. I wish I had not worked so hard
2. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
3. I wish I had let myself be happier
4. I wish I had the courage to express my true self

Most of you, you may not remember how the old-school gaming was in the 90s. Before the advent of mobile games, PC rooms and game consoles were the game in town; pun intended, of course. Students would cut classes just to play games in PC rooms. They would pay 20 PHP per hour. Sometimes, some PC rooms would offer 12-hour nonstop playing for only 150PHP or something.

Now you might think that that was a bad situation. Well of course it’s a bad situation. Kids get addicted to playing video games. They would not do their homework, nor do they attend classes at all. Well, that is true. But the more fundamental question is, what is it about gaming that it becomes addicting?

There are experts who studied the psychology of gaming. In fact, one of the reasons why playing online games or any sort of video game can be addicting is that it not only makes us feel better, we actually become better in REAL life. Yes, there are benefits to gaming that translate into real-life value.

Now that sounds unrealistic. How can playing video games online or offline can make one better in real life? Before we answer that question and the scientific research that supports the claim, let us first ground ourselves on the real-life survey that may ring the bell of truth for you:

A nurse has recorded the most common regrets of the dying. And a handful of regrets came about. They are the following:

1. I wish I had not worked so hard.
2. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
3. I wish I had let myself be happier
4. I wish I had the courage to express my true self

1. I wish I had not worked so hard. Yung iba sa kanila ay talagang ginugol nalang nila ang buhay nila sa kakatrabaho. Wala nang panahon sa mga iba pang aspeto ng buhay. Kaya na feel nila na sana hindi nalang nila nilunod ang buhay nila sa sobrang trabaho.

a. Ang solusyon ay gaming. Pwede ang isang pamilya ay maglalaro kasama ang mga magulang at mga anak sa paglalaro ng videogames. May research din na nagpapakita na ang mga magulang na nag sspend time playing videogames with their kids ay nagkakaroon ng stronger relationships with them. Parang bonding time nila ito.

2. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. Dahil sa katatrabaho at wala nang panahon sa social life, nalilimutan ng marami mag spend time sa kanilang mga kaibigan. Nag focus sila sa pera, pero pinabayaan nila ang kanilang mga kaibigan, na sana mas mahalaga pa kaysa pera.

a. Ang solusyon ay gaming. Diba kung maglaro kayo ng Farmville, o ng iba pang mga interactive online games with your friends, no matter how far they are, parang close parin kayo? Lalo na kung nag uusap din kayo within the game itself. Siguro karamihan sa inyo makakarelate dito.

3. I wish I had let myself be happier. Hindi alam ng mga tao na ang happiness ay isang choice. Parang wala silang choice kundi maging miserable nalang ang kanilang buhay, lalo na if their lives are driven by fear.

a. Ang solusyon ay gaming. Ang paglalaro ng onine game ay pwedeng mag replace sa mga gamot para sa clinical anxiety at depression. Sa katotohanan, 30 minutes lang na online game per day ay sapat na to create a dramatic boost in mood at nagpapataas ng happiness level.

4. I wish I had the courage to express my true self. In an attempt to conform to society’s expectation, na lose ng iba ang kanilang authentic self. Para bang binigyan lang sila ng script para I act nila sa isang drama, na hindi kinonsider ang kanilang pinaka gusto sa buhay. Hindi sila nabigyan ng pagkakataon to express their true identity.

a. Ang solusyon ay gaming. Ang mga avatars na kinucustomize natin sa mga online games ay pwedeng maging expression ng ating authentic identity sa real life. Especially true ito kung ang avatar natin ay nag rerepresent ng most heroic versions of who we might want to become. Otherwise, actualizing our true potential. In fact, may studies na nagsusuport dyan. Check mo itong research: https://www.psychologyofgames.com/2013/11/the-psychology-of-video-game-avatars/

Kaya kung nag aalangan ka mag laro ng mga games online, just remember this article at ang research na sinite sa taas. Dito sa NEAR Protocol, may mga games tayong pwede I explore at yayain mo rin ang mga kaibigan mo na maglaro kasama mo.

At sa gayun, hindi ka na magbabayan. Pwede pa ngang ikaw ang babayaran ng tokens dahil naki lahok ka rin. Ito ang beauty ng Play to Earn model ng Web3 ngayon. Kaya see you all in the NEARverse.

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NEAR Protocol PH
NEAR Protocol Philippines

NEAR is a decentralized application platform that is secure enough to manage high value assets like money or identity and performant enough to make them useful