How blockchain helps with the gamification and financialization of the metaverse
By Shrey Mishra
The metaverse has always had a strong gaming component. The open-world environment of the metaverse can be seen as a direct descendant of open-world games, and most games have always had in-game economies to sustain gameplay and add incentive for players. Let’s look at the gaming landscape: Every year, Fortnite adds almost 50 million users to its already heavy user base, and has a revenue of upwards of 5 billion annually. Minecraft has a user base of 141 million active players worldwide, and Roblox has 54.1 million active users worldwide. This tells us that games both generate interest and make money.
As you can see, we are therefore at a very exciting point for games and game applications in the industry. There is the prospect of widespread deployment of 5G, leading to the rise of web 3.0 and ultimately much cheaper headsets and devices to access virtual reality. This comes at a point where we are staying more at home amid pandemic-related restrictions, and where augmented reality has been pushed to the forefront of all industries. We need new, immersive solutions to work, solve problems and socialize. We need new ways of connecting with each other that extend beyond a small window on a phone or laptop.
There are many very specific applications for 5G in gaming, where players will be able to stream games over the cloud and experience faster loading, better graphics without the need for a graphics card and advanced gaming. In fact, there are advanced concepts in development in the developer and game community, such as Web GPU, a map of a future system where Web GPU API will facilitate accelerated graphics and computing power.
A major catalyst in the development of the metaverse will be the further development and promotion of the blockchain that powers programs such as Decentraland. Simply put, the blockchain is a way to verify and store information in several places at the same time so that the probability of forgery, fraud or deception becomes close to zero. Blockchain-based currencies are called cryptocurrencies, and currencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin are among the most popular and trusted currencies used by the online community. NFTs are also supported by the blockchain, and NFT-based games such as Cryptokitties and Axie Infinity develop robust in-game communities where players even build guilds to train new players. In Axie Infinity, players collect monsters called Axies which they then train for battles. Players can choose to breed their monsters with other players’ axes, trade them and of course participate in battles to win prizes. Many players choose to give a starter team of Axies to their loved ones as a fun financial investment. Since Axier exist as NFTs, they can be liquidated and converted into real-world assets.
There is cause for concern, in that the financial side of blockchain-based technologies is not regulated and may well form a bubble that does not survive a market crash. There is a need for metaverse gaming companies to develop accountability and real-world usability into gaming for it to have some longevity.
Either way, what we currently have are pieces of a future metaverse that will slowly cohere as we become able to sustain it through 5G and affordable headsets. Open world multiplayer games are our closest approximations to the metaverse at the moment. And what was interesting about these games was a new way to earn money – games to earn. Users gain access to a tokenized, performance-based economic field where gaming earns them money, sometimes so much money that they might even be able to buy a house. The invention of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and the development of NFTs have radically changed and decentralized all forms of online ownership. All of this infrastructure is the basis for a new metaverse economy, where decentralized ledgers determine and map ownership instead of entities like banks.
Of course, there are issues that need to be resolved. Cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of energy and is not good for our planet, but the collaborative nature of the nascent metaverse is on its way to providing solutions to these pressing problems. For example, we now have the option of choosing cryptocurrencies that are good for the environment, such as Solarcoin and Bitgreen. The metaverse isn’t going anywhere. The global gaming industry is projected to grow at a phenomenal pace, reaching USD 218.7 billion by 2024. In fact, gaming is considered a key use for 5G advancements. A metaverse game world that gives players the power to create and shape the world, i.e. is decentralized, has the potential for liquidity, and possesses accountability and practical utility, will be a game changer in the creator and game economies.
The author is founder, XR Central
Also read: Blockchain analyst Coby Morgan expects Ethereum to be susceptible to government intervention after merger
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