Badge Minting 101
Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges! Oh, wait, to enter here, I guess we do.
The growth of metaverse gaming is, and will continue to be, staggering. Some experts say that this will be the next big technology platform with more than $800 billion in market opportunity over the next two years alone. Much of this intersection between the digital and physical realms will be driven by online gaming, which is all about access. And to get that access, you have to create, or “mint” in the metaverse vernacular, a badge.
Minting a badge is kind of like going backstage at a concert. A backstage, “all-access” pass gave Wayne and Garth a chance to meet Alice Cooper. This badge, which is a form of a non-fungible token (NFT), not only gives access to the games, but also can provide opportunities for discounts, greater prizes, and even monetization of the badges themselves. The big question for many is how to get in on it.
To create a badge, one just needs a Binance Smart Chain (BSC) wallet such as MetaMask or TrustWallet. No matter what, the wallet has to include a little bit of money in order to pay for transaction fees, known somewhat hilariously these days as ‘gas fees.’ These prices can vary based on the type of cryptocoin used, but prices are generally higher for those with faster transaction times. The more you pay for gas, the faster you go, but that is the subject of a different article.
If the game’s site is set up properly, the process is pretty intuitive. There will be a very clear link to click on to begin minting a badge and the appropriate bots should be available to provide help.
Your wallet application should pop up asking you to confirm the transaction, including the gas fee to be paid. Once the transaction is completed, the badge should show in your wallet and the game’s website should automatically detect it, showing your badge on your inventory page within the site. Then it is likely time to move on to the game’s Discord to verify your badge and then your new world is opened.
Keep in mind that there are different kinds of badges allowing different levels of access. For example, Gametaverse opened a contest a few weeks ago for its Genesis badge, where badge holders will be able to claim the Gametaverse governance token $GTA, an opportunity to receive GameFi NFTs airdrops, and access to NFT whitelists that will provide access to even more special offers. Other sites may have even better offers, but those badges may cost more.
As in life, in the metaverse you will undoubtedly need to pay for better access.
Minting for the Consumer is Great. What about for the Creators?
The other side of this process is just as important to look at. How can creators make all of these great opportunities available for the prospective badge holders and drive the engagement to make the badge worthwhile? That’s where the badge minting campaign begins.
First and foremost, your site has to have the technology capabilities of minting a badge. The creator must implement badge minting technology on their website and clearly indicate on their site how consumers can mint their made, complete with concise instructions on how to do so. The consumer must be able to go to the site and immediately find a button that says something as simple as “Mint Badge Here.”
Additionally, developers should set their mint process up on Polygon using Matic, as opposed to using Ethereum. And I’m sure you are wondering why:
- Lower “gas” or transaction fees — The standard gas fee of Polygon is less than USD$0.01 per transaction where Ethereum’s gas fee usually starts at USD$25, but does fluctuate due to network congestion.
- Faster Transaction Finality — Polygon’s transaction finality is about 2.3 seconds per transaction where Ethereum’s rate is about 10 seconds per transaction.
- The growth of NFT projects on Polygon is phenomenally exponential right now- Points 1 and 2 are a big reason for this.
Lastly, TEST YOUR BADGE MINT TECHNOLOGY! Nothing can sink a project faster than poorly performing links or anything else that might turn off a potential participant. Make sure to check mobile when you are testing!
Without going into the extremely technical and tedious details of the next step of the process, newly-minted badge holders should be sent to a community-centric location for more information, to make new friends, and to verify that they’ve minted their badge. This location is usually and most commonly Discord. And if you’re going to send your players to Discord, you’d better be sure your Discord is set up to handle the traffic.
Once people are routed to Discord, you need to let them into the Green Room, so to speak. Create an “alpha” channel or some kind of incentive available only to badge holders once they verify they have minted the badge. For the creator’s benefit, track the traffic and invites. Learn where you can improve and where to focus efforts.
Now the only thing left is to let your hype team mint their own badges and let them do their thing. A good hype team can make or break a project, so make sure that they are informed, armed, and ready to go.
And when you and your team are ready, launch your campaign and let the fun begin.
About The Booknerd.eth
The booknerd.eth is the founder of Block Capital and one of the country’s foremost digital marketers. A leader in the growth of blockchain and the NFT Space, he is a founding member of the WhalemakerDAO and has invested in top metaverse and Web3 companies, including IVC, SimWIN, YGGSEA, and HubSpot. He is also the president and co-founder of Results.io, a marketing venture focused on increasing engagement for gaming organizations entering and operating in the metaverse.
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About Results.io
Results.io is a Web3-focused growth agency specializing in marketing and community cultivation looking to help industry-leading projects drive engagement for NFT, P2E, and IDO’s. Learn more about the company at Results.io
