Barriers to Blockchain Gaming: Could It Be the NFTs Themselves?

Blockchain gaming and NFTs ("Non-fungible tokens"): these words come together like two peas in a pot. They are almost synonymous. In this article, I want to present three possible barriers to blockchain gaming adoption, and yes, NFTs possibly being one of those barriers. This isn't meant to put blockchain gaming down, but these barriers are real. Before we discuss, let's quickly explain what blockchain gaming is. Summon the elevator pitch!

Blockchain gaming is the integration of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies into traditional video games. Some common examples of these are creating NFTs in the form of items that can be used within the game, charging fees for players to make in game actions, and rewarding cryptocurrencies to players for achievements.

Now then, what are these barriers? We'll start with complexity.

Seed, gas, gwei, on-chain, off-chain. These are not common lingos you hear when playing video games, and rightfully so. That's because blockchain gaming is in its infancy, and the concept of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies are already enough to put people off the idea of touching it. The technology can have some very complex concepts, and it will take more time for people to get the necessary exposure to be comfortable using the technology in everyday life. When Microsoft first developed the computer, it wasn't adopted within a day or a year. Even the cost was a deterrent, which coincidentally is another barrier to blockchain gaming adoption that we will cover later one.

An example of this complexity are wallets, such as Metamask. Using these wallets can be so intimidating. Learning to interpret and manage the value of gas on your transactions, adding tokens via their contract address, and the notion that if you send money to the wrong address, your funds are lost forever is not something the average person would embrace.

Cost of entry. Many blockchain games require you to have purchase or pre-purchased the NFTs that will be used in the game. And with NFTs being such a hot topic, you can bet the game developers have been capitalizing on this hype. The developers of Cryptozoon were charging approximately USD $600 for their Zoan eggs back in July 2021. FYI, you had to purchase a Zoan to play the game, and the game wasn't even live back in July. Imagine this conversation:

I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of disposable income to throw around.

Another facet of cost is gas fees a.k.a transaction fees. The ever so popular or notorious game, take your pick, Cryptoblades is a prime example of this. In Cryptoblades, you paid gas fees to battle enemies and in doing so you received rewards in the game's local currency, SKILL. To ensure that you actually made money, players had to calculate the cost of battling enemies vs. the rewards received against the price of skill that day. It's like dipping into your bank account every time you play the game and you can bet that people don't want that kind of stress hanging over their heads when playing video games.

Alright, boys and girls, we've finally hit the controversial barrier to adoption. The NFTs themselves. Let's look at the typical lifecycle of video games and they usually go like this: upon launch a horde of players join the game, they play the game, perform in-game tasks, few achieve the highest possible level or item and then most players move on.

Now, how do NFTs derive their value? Simple, from scarcity. Gold doesn't command the price it does today because it is as abundant as sand (no pun intended). The less of an item there is in existence, the more its value.

So why is that not a sound strategy for video games? Let's use Minecraft as an example. Minecraft was launched in November 2011. It has been around for 10 years and in 2020 it had an estimated active player count of 131 million players. To accommodate the life of the game and number of players, NFTs would have to be created consistently over 10 years to entice new and existing players. And what would be the value of these NFTs when they exist in such large numbers? I'd say close to nothing. Sure, there can be some extremely limited edition NFTs, but what would be the point of playing the game? If the only way to obtain an end-game NFT is to buy it, then it would defeat one of the main reasons we play games. Which is to grind for that end game.

Blockchain games and NFTs are meant to disrupt the world of traditional gaming, but the method that NFTs derive their value could be a hindrance to a successful and long-lasting blockchain game. Developers will have to find a balance between the number of NFTs that exist in a game, ways that players can obtain NFTs, and new players being able to enjoy the game, but not be too disadvantaged without owning NFTs.

I don't know what the future of blockchain gaming holds, but it will be an interesting one!