What is GameFi and how did it Evolve Over Time?
From enthusiasts to tournaments.
Initially became a concept to be tried by a group of enthusiasts, their surge and features allowed GameFi to be a powerhouse in traditional gaming. They have influenced the industry and even forced traditional gaming companies to adopt their ways.
What is GameFi?
GameFi is the world of finance and gaming where everyday players can make money through the P2E mechanism by completing the tasks required by the game and participating in the ecosystem. Its aim is to create a gaming environment through blockchain and virtual reality and augmented reality technologies (VR, AR).
How did the term GameFi emerge?
GameFi is the combination of the words gaming and finance, and the term was coined by a tweet from Yearn Finance CEO Andre Cronje.
What are the attributes of GameFi?
Play-to-Earn (P2E)
P2E defines the concept of GameFi games. In this concept, players try to make an income through playing the game, and depending on their skill level, more income could be generated. This concept became so popular in developing countries that some people allow others to use their accounts for a fee, and some professional gamers play these games to generate up to a few thousand dollars a month.
Decentralized
Because GameFi works on blockchain, the decentralized nature of blockchain is highly anticipated. Even though centralized applications can be built on blockchain, the nature of decentralized applications (dApps) allows resilient ecosystems. This feature influences these games so much that it makes them resilient to failure at one point and allows community participation.
Immutable
Blockchain is an immutable ledger where all the records are impossible to tamper with. Even though in theory that the records can be tempered with sufficient computational power (51% attack), the amount of computational power required to conduct the attack would render it impossible. And when a transaction is recorded, or a smart contract is impossible to be changed after deployment, immutability allows provable ownership where it was really difficult before the blockchain.
Community Participation
Like in traditional gaming, GameFi requires a strong community behind the games. Even more, community interaction is a key part of the ecosystem where community buildup and management alone can make the game fail. Moreover, players get rewarded depending on their skill and participation and some games allow others to develop other features. Because open-source community development is becoming more widespread with bug bounties, games can create new features and address serious issues faster than most game companies.
Tokenization
Because GameFi works on the blockchain, they extensively use tokenization to create an economy within. As they launch their respective currency and NFTs, game assets were already being tokenized. Even more, these games mostly have a marketplace to sell these NFTs with their respective cryptocurrencies.
How does GameFi work?
GameFi consists of NFTs, blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), cryptocurrencies, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO). By combining all these technologies and adding a P2E mechanism, asset ownership, and DeFi solutions (and possibly fiat money), GameFi provides an ecosystem for players to benefit through their gaming experience and professional gaming.
How GameFi revolutionized gaming?
GameFi revolutionized gaming with community participation. While traditional gaming companies focused on the game while developing, gamers wouldn’t have any say on how games can be developed. But in GameFi, the community decides how the game can evolve, and if they have a stake in the game, gamers can make and vote on proposals on behalf of their game. In addition to community participation, most gamers can make an additional income by playing the game, and depending on gamers’ skills, it has the potential of generating lots of income for themselves. Finally, gamers can develop the game with open-source development and bug bounties to create a greater user experience.
Which GameFi games have competitive tournaments?
Axie Infinity and Gods Unchained have their competitive tournaments.
What are some of the GameFi games on the market?
Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity is a play-to-earn (P2E) competitive game where players compete with others to make a profit. The game offers player vs. player (PvP), competitive tournaments, land exploitation, and a marketplace for transactions. Having initial investment costs to buy NFTs, users need to pay for the maintenance costs of their avatar. Depending on user skill, Axie Infinity is one of the most profitable venues for skilled gamers.
Gods Unchained
Gods Unchained is an NFT card game. Having a tournament with a prize pool of more than half a million, they have four different tournament levels. Unlike other games, Gods Unchained requires gamers to open an account. After the account is opened, players must purchase NFT cards through the marketplace and battle with other players.
Aavegotchi
Aavegotchi is an NFT game with open-source participation. Unlike its competitors, all its mechanics have been designed by the community and its DAO is fully active for proposals. Having a metaverse known as Gotchiverse, players have control over a wide variety of financing and gaming choices.
How to participate in GameFi games?
Most GameFi games only require some funds and a blockchain wallet to participate. But some games require KYC and an account linked with an e-mail to participate. After completing all the perquisites, you can participate in these games and start competing against all the players.
What do you think about GameFi? How did you find its evolution? Have you ever played the GameFi game? Share your thoughts, comments, and experiences in the comments section below.
