There has been a considerable amount of traction recently in relation to Web3 gaming. Web3 gaming denotes a paradigm in terms of the relationship between creators and players, with middlemen often removed from the ecosystem (or, at least, playing a minimal role).
Built on a blockchain architecture, these games reward participants for their time and are looked upon as investment mechanisms by many. There is a multitude of rewards models, including
But what they all have in common, regardless of their respective acronyms, is that the people who take part get rewarded.
A New Paradigm in Online Gaming
Axie Infinity represented a completely new paradigm in terms of online gaming. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it offered a means for residents of the Philippines who lost their jobs to earn an income. They earned enough that the Philippines government stated that revenue earned was subject to
With Axie Infinity, participants invest in “Axies”, a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) that the game is played with. There are a lot of mechanics and strategies involved but, suffice to say, the Axies can appreciate in value and be “flipped”. An upfront investment is required so it is in many ways more of an investment than a game, but it has elements of both and is fun to play.
Gaming is a legitimate way to earn an income, thanks to distributed ledgers. It takes
These Web2 games were released and developed using a centralized model. This meant that a lot of the rewards went to publishers and marketers as opposed to developers and players. This is all changing thanks to Web3 gaming.
Web2 gaming is being replaced with Web3 gaming, and participants are going to be fairly rewarded for their time spent on a given platform.
Further Web3 Integration Is Coming to Gaming
While great inroads have been made in Web3 gaming, we are still only at the beginning. When virtual reality headsets become a normal feature of Web3 games involving in-game NFT wearables, it’s going to create quite a buzz.
Imagine playing in a first-person VR shooter where the NFTs you purchased is your actual suit and firearm. Losing could be quite expensive. But it will be entertaining. This is all still in its infancy, but it may well be where we are headed, and not all that far in the future.
A more immediate concern for understanding Web3 gaming relates to interoperability between blockchains and NFT tracking. There are many NFTs created but often no way to directly transfer one NFT for another in different gaming ecosystems. So the assets created in one game cannot be used or exchanged in another.
From a financial perspective, it makes far more sense to play games where your time is not completely wasted due to a lack of interoperability between chains, and this information should be at hand before you get involved in a given ecosystem.
There are gamers who have spent thousands of hours on games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, DOTA, and League of Ancients (all classical Web2 games). Players on Web3 games will be able to redeem their time in some manner, so they can take their experiences with them.
In the near future, you will be able to convert your time spent into the form of rewards, meaning that no experience is wasted.
Making a Living with Web3 Gaming
We are witnessing a definite merging between work and leisure when it comes to Web3 gaming, which is now a realistic way to earn a living. But to do this, analytics are needed to make informed decisions. There needs to be a mechanism whereby players can assess which is the best game to play. Remember, it can take hundreds and even thousands of hours to become profitable at a given game - you really don’t want to waste your time.
This is where online discovery platforms come into play. They pull in information from multiple blockchains and data sources. All games are rated and reviewed on the platform by at least 50 players and analysts. Games can be filtered on distinctions such as top-rated, most popular, free-to-play, highest yield, blockchain protocol, and more. Though this is only a recent beta launch, it offers a perfect mechanism to find the right games, for those looking to seriously earn an income through gaming. It intends to be a robust search engine for all Web3 games.
The Rainmaker Games Discovery Platform also integrates social media such as Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. Web3 gaming is much more interconnected with a distinctly social element, which is a large part of the appeal. It’s possible to purchase a headset and work with a team of your friends to earn income as a group, on a popular game. But this can only be done with a tool that allows people to make educated decisions before they embark on a new “campaign”, real-world or virtual.
The highest-earning Web3 games according to Rainmaker at the current time include:
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The Sandbox - $117 in daily revenue - 4.4 Stars - $2,300 upfront cost. -
Decentraland - $65 in daily revenue - 4.4 Stars - $1,375 upfront cost. -
Decentral Games - $53 in daily revenue - 4.3 Stars - $200 upfront cost.
Other discovery platforms are likely to come online, though we are still in the early stages and Rainmaker has the early lead. Analytics is certainly needed to track NFTs cross-chain and to provide further information for the gaming experience. Time is money, and so is data.
Analytical toolkits are needed for those serious about making an income through Web3 gaming.
Web3 Gaming Is Here to Stay
While there have been some question marks about the viability of newer revenue generation models, these modern paradigms are here to stay. If anything, they are only going to get bigger as more people take part in building a brand new, self-sustaining ecosystem.
A better question might be where all these rewards were going in the older model, with third parties taking the lion’s share of profits. So far, there has been more than enough to go around in the realm of Web3 gaming. With much more to follow.
Just make sure you do some research and learn the basics of crypto security, and you’ll be good to go in an inclusive era of Web3 gaming.