What On Earth Is Crypto Gaming?
Being able to earn money from playing video games is a dream that many of us have had. Crypto gaming is simply that – by playing certain games, you can now earn cryptocurrencies as a reward. No, it’s not a scam. Instead of earning in-game points and achievements, certain games are now paying players. But, of course, it’s not all smooth sailing. This guide explains more.
Decrypting crypto
To understand crypto gaming, you first need to understand what cryptocurrencies are. They are essentially digital currencies that are traded via blockchains instead of banks. The most famous example of a cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, but there are hundreds of others. Cryptocurrencies are ‘decentralised’, which means they are not controlled by any government or entity. Blockchains meanwhile provide an ultra-secure way of transferring cryptocurrencies by providing a public tamper-proof record of every transaction that is fully automated.
You need to set up a crypto wallet to store your earnings. You can then convert these earnings into an official currency like US dollars or hold onto them in crypto form (a growing number of online services now allow you to pay directly using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin).
It’s worth also mentioning non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are essentially digital collectibles that are worth a certain amount of crypto. Along with paying crypto rewards, some crypto games reward you with NFTs in the form of rare skins, characters or weapons. Unlike typical in-game items, these digital assets own real value and are also stored in your digital wallet. Imagine collecting pokemon, and each pokemon is worth real money – that’s what NFTs are.
Earning while you play
Crypto games have introduced the play-to-earn (P2E) model – where grinding to complete levels or quests rewards you with cryptocurrency or NFTs that you can cash out.
A standout example is Axie Infinity, a creature-battling game where players breed, train and fight digital pets called Axies. Players of this game have built an entire economy around breeding rare Axies and selling them on marketplaces. During the game’s peak, some people were even quitting their jobs to make money as Axies breeders instead.
But, of course, there are dangers to these games. Some of them require you to invest in characters and other tokens upfront, and constantly tempt you into buying additional items that can result in you spending potentially a lot more than you earn. Cryptocurrencies are also susceptible to fluctuations in value and there have been cases of some cryptocurrencies completely crashing and becoming virtually worthless. In other words, you can earn money but also lose money by playing these games.
The perks of crypto gaming
There is a transparency to crypto games due to their reliance on blockchains. Using a block explorer, you can easily verify transactions in order to check ownership of NFTs and see how rewards are distributed in real time. This transparency helps to prevent fraud.
Many crypto games also treat players as stakeholders, and you’ll often get the opportunity to vote on game updates via decentralised autonomous organizations (DAOs). Developers can also refund you money in the event of glitches with blockchains providing proof of payment.
Ultimately, crypto games can also be a fun side hustle. Even if you only earn enough to pay for a coffee now and again, it’s more than you get out of most conventional video games which are solely designed to take your money.
The future of crypto gaming
Crypto games aren’t perfect yet – some put too much of a focus on monetization rather than exciting gameplay – and there are still only a limited number of these games that you can actually play. However, in the future, we will likely see more games integrating the P2E model in a more exciting way.
Technologies like layer-2 solutions will potentially make things cheaper and faster. Meanwhile an increasing number of blockchain servers are starting to use sustainable energy sources, helping to reduce some of the environmental damage caused by the crypto industry.
Article By WMMN
