Online gaming is one of the most flourishing and stable segments in the technology sphere, supported by a loyal audience of gamers and the spreading of mobile technologies, along with the worldwide expansion of high-speed Internet connection. The two last factors also work towards the developing of digital economy, and especially, of virtual currency market. By 2017, virtual currencies have already taken 0,1% of the world’s global money transactions — and this really means a lot. Just to compare: the world’s 7th most-used currency, yuan, has a share of 1,78%.
So, there is no wonder that all this made possible the idea of making business at the crossing of these two perspective and profitable markets. For example, what if you integrate crypto-currency into an online game’s economy? Businesses have already found several ways of doing this. For example, Big Fish and Zynga accept Bitcoin as a payment method. Others have gone further, allowing gamers to mine currency inside the game and then convert it to ordinary (fiat) money — such as EverDream Soft, whose game the ORB Project enables users to trade in-game items and characters for real money through Gaming Wallets powered by blockchain. Or Active Games, who have just launched a mobile game Lordnmacer II providing the same options: any gamer can invest money into buying in-game objects and currency, and vise-versa, make real-money profit from selling them.
All these business ideas actually have a long history: long before all this, in 2003, Project Entropia became the trailblazer by making the option of turning in-game currency, PED (Project Entropia Dollar), into fiat money and back the economic concept of the game. It was a success: thousands of gamers flogged into Project Entropia, inspired by the possibility of making real money on playing an MMO. The success was shortly repeated by another large project, Second Life. And in 2014, after some 11 years, the trendsetter, renamed from Project Entropia at Entropia Universe, also introduced Bitcoin into their payment system, making it possible to turn digital assets to Bitcoin, make deposits in Bitcoin, et c. And now, in 2017, Lordmancer II by Active Games is starting another trend — it is one of the first games to imply full-fledged crypto-currency integration into an online multiplayer game for mobile devices. Players in Lordmancer II will be able to turn in-game currency called the Lord Coins (LCs) both into in-game currency and Etherium through their Lordmancer Wallet in the blockchain.
However, it is never easy to master new fields. The crypto-currency market is still relatively new and developing, and there are plenty of pitfalls that await businesses, such as potential legislation problems and technical issues. And, apart from that, there are still “old” gaming industry problems to be avoided — such as the “black market” problem. Let’s have a quick look at all of these potential problems and their possible solutions.
Possible legislation problems are a result of very big difference in approaches to the regulation of crypto-currency in different countries. This is why it is important to pay special attention to how such regulations are set in your priority countries, and develop a monetization model that will not violate the local laws. For example, in South Korea — one of the largest online gaming markets — the anti-gambling laws forbid any form of trading digital assets for real money. But this doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to enter this country’s market with a game where virtual currency is involved. For example, in Lordmancer II there is no “free” market of trading virtual goods for fiat: all the deals between players are made with in-game currency or LCs, and only the LCs can then be transformed to fiat money or Ethereum, all at a set rate. Besides the anti-gambling laws, currencies like Bitcoin still face severe restrictions in some jurisdictions — for example, Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are banned in most African and Arabian countries. But on the opposite, virtual currencies are allowed and well-regulated in most developed countries like Switzerland, Japan, USA or Norway. Of course, this means, that in these countries all the profit made in virtual currency will be subject to taxation, but on the other hand, there are already special laws in these countries that will protect businesses that operate with such currencies — including your own business, should you enter the market. And finally, if you plan to issue special crypto-tokens for the game project, not every country is suitable for that — for instance, China, while being one of the main contributors to the crypto-economy, has banned ICO in 2017.
Technical issues are mostly connected with the blockchain technology. All blockchain platforms are still very slow-working in relation with other modern technologies, they take a lot of computing resources and are not able to handle with a lot of traffic. This is why it is not yet possible to place any blockchain platform inside a game’s architecture. But there is an efficient way out: to connect a virtual currency platform to the game by a simple wallet, which would be situated outside the game itself, but serve as a mediator for exchange operations. An efficient platform for making deals like this is Ethereum, because of its “smart contract” system, Bitcoin is more popular as a means of payment outside the game infrastructure — for example, for purchasing games, LCs or making deposits.
Speaking of the “old” problems, that are specific for the game industry, the first one that always comes up is the “black market”. Bot farmers have always plagued online games, making in-game money cheap and disrupting the game balance by illegally selling rare items, characters or currency for fiat money. However, this problem is also solvable, and there are several ways. Most popular way so far was tracking down suspicious accounts and banning them — like Blizzard and many other large developers do. But for a game like Lordmancer II or the ORB Project, where all the traditional “black market” options are official, life, most probably would be significantly easier. Since any player can buy or sell a character or any other in-game asset for real money, doing it illegally makes no sense. Of course, there are always ways to abuse the system, but this is where the traditional ways like banning can be applied.
Apart from preventing abuses, it is vital to develop an efficient monetary policy for the game’s financial infrastructure, which will both keep the users interested in the options provided by the game, and enable the game’s owner to make profit. For example, Lordmancer II is a free-to-play game, but players will need to buy special in-game tokens — the Lord Coins, if they want to complete deals with other players outside the game, i.e. earn or spend fiat or virtual currency. But this doesn’t mean that users will have to spend money: LC tokens can be also purchased for in-game items or in-game gold. There is also a commission of 20% for all deals between players inside the game — and this is an additional source of income for Active Games, which is aimed at supporting the game’s everyday needs. The developer also controls the in-game economy to prevent inflation and volatility in the game’s digital market: 90% of Lord Coins spent inside the game are burned, and the remaining 10% go to the Game Funds to support the ongoing game operations. In addition to that, half of the 20% commission from player-to-player deals is also burned, while the rest goes also to the Game Funds. This way, the game market is controlled, and the chances of a deflation are minimized.
So, in general, starting an MMORPG with involvement of crypto-currencies is not a very fresh idea, but there is still a lot to do in the field: lots of different new business models that can be applied or found, and thus, new ways of making profitable and interesting games.
More info about Lordmancer II on site lordmancer2.io