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GameFi, ‘the financialization of video gaming’ that came into mainstream adoption during the NFT boom last year, is changing both the gaming industry and traditional finance. GameFi improves on the play-to-win model that some games employ by integrating a play-to-earn model, where players can play games and generate value. For eons, traditional games have isolated players from other games and, in some cases, other players. Currently, most traditional games are entities of their own and aren’t interoperable - verses where players can jump from one universe to another without losing their progress. Factors such as the lack of interoperability between platforms, studio greed, lack of stable technology, and more, play into why that isn’t possible at a large scale. Games like Spider-Man and God of War, which were previously only available on consoles, have only lately made their way to PC. If you’re a gamer, you probably know what I am talking about. There are so many console games that, as a PC gamer, I want to play. However, for some reason, those games aren’t available. Moreover, for the longest time, players from different platforms couldn’t play the same game with one another, providing siloed experiences for many gamers. However, we’re seeing some progress in the interoperability of games. It was only two years ago that and introduced cross-play. The Gaming universe, as a whole, is still very disconnected. Apex Legends Call-of-Duty: Warzone Most players can’t hop from one game to another. The idea of losing the progress that players have put time and effort into accumulating is difficult to swallow. I had made a lot of progress in League of Legends; however, the idea of starting anew, without the achievements and items I gained over the years, was difficult to process. This is where GameFi comes in. Making Games Interoperable GameFi introduces interoperability to games by creating value for experience, progress, achievements, and items collected in games. It then preserves that value in an infinitely large virtual world that some call . the metaverse What GameFi achieves is wonderful on its own. It generates value for your gaming experience. All of the hours you put in, the items you collect, and the achievements you make have value. How does it do that? It does so by using decentralized finance and blockchain technology. By having a shared space, in this case, a distributed ledger, where everyone can track their items, achievements, and progress, GameFi makes gaming more interoperable. By going one step further and giving it a relative value in the shared space, in this case, the blockchain, gamers can hop with their progress from one game to another without losing value on their progress. GameFi is undoubtedly revolutionizing the gaming industry by introducing what traditional gaming could be once it creates value for its players, game, and developers. What’s more, GameFi encourages players to detach from one game to another without hesitations; it removes borders and promotes a healthier ecosystem rather than one run by greed. Ever since the NFT boom, GameFi has seen a lot of success. Over the years, we've seen a number of exciting projects with millions of players; popular titles include The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and Crypto Blades. However, today, the market is oversaturated with games that look the same and have the same storylines. One factor could be that the crypto space promotes that. Why fix something that’s not broken? After Bitcoin’s conception, the crypto market saw many Bitcoin copies, and for some time they were successful. GameFi projects are copying what popularly works, and for some time, it works. However, this approach is tarnishing the space’s reputation, and everyone looks at it as more off a get-rich-quick scheme than something viable. This makes it difficult to find actual good games to play, but don’t worry, I am here! As a gamer, I love hyper-realism, storylines, lore, and mechanics in-game. I'll keep playing for hours if a game has great graphics or a great story. To each their own. I’ve been following the GameFi space since its conception and have played a plethora of games. If you’re joining the GameFi space or on the look for new games, here are some that I have been enjoying as of late. Illuvium Dota Auto Chess and League of Legends Teamfight Tactics are some of the most played auto battler games. At their release, they were some of the most played games on every streaming platform, bringing in millions of viewers, as people’s favorite streamers thought hard and long to beat their opponents with strategy and grit. With an abundance of Play-to-earn games copying Pokemon, games like Illuvium are taking their own route by developing a narrative-driven quest game where players can battle it out in the proving grounds. Illuvium is an upcoming, decentralized, hyper-realistic, and hyper-scalable role-playing auto battler game that has been on my radar for quite a while now. What I love about Illuvium is that it’s just another AAA game that has its own storyline, its own lore, and characters. It doesn’t knock off already successful games and instead focuses on providing an immersive story to its players. Filled with interesting, visually appealing characters that players can own, breed, and battle, the Illuvium metaverse is a beautiful world filled with quests, adventures, battles, and beasts that hook players onto their seats for hours. I am a big League of Legends fan, mainly because of its lore, its music, and the theme that it consistently promotes. Whether it’s Ionia’s demise, Noxus’ battles, or Piltover’s success, Runeterra’s (League of Legends World) story is consistent throughout it all, which is why their Netflix series, Arcane, was such a hit. Illuvium has studied good games and employs a unique lore-heavy approach, which is why they deserve a spot on my radar. The Sandbox Games like Minecraft and Roblox could be the closest thing to the metaverse right now, mainly because it’s an infinitely large open world, people can do whatever they want, and it has a huge player base. For example, over 170 million have reported playing Minecraft, while a staggering 43.2 million people play Roblox every day. Millions of people sharing cyberspace, hanging out with their friends, and sharing progress, is what the metaverse aims to achieve. A lot of Minecraft and Roblox’s success can be attributed to the freedom of creativity that it provides. Realistic block art, crazy hacks, and recreation of games like Hunger games, these games thrive off of player creativity. Millions of players create in this game, which puts into perspective the millions that aren’t rewarded for their creations except for a couple of clicks and watch time. The Sandbox, interestingly, is one game that has targeted that. The Sandbox is rapidly becoming one of the most popular GameFi projects because of the many ways it encourages and rewards players' creativity and gaming experiences. It was created to empower artists, creators, and players, and it is an excellent choice for Minecraft and Roblox users who want to play and feel rewarded. I’ve said this once, and I’ll repeat it again, the VoxEdit tool is undoubtedly my favorite tool of all metaverse games that exist, especially because it’s a powerful and amazing tool that players can download for free, build amazing 3D voxels, and deploy them as NFTs into The Sandbox marketplace. I love it when platforms encourage creativity, and The Sandbox is definitely one that does. Metablaze Most Blockchain games are vehicles for investor funding, which is why they lack that ‘AAA touch’ that most games have. They’re too focused on fundraising than creating a loyal player base that is hooked to playing your game. Axie Infinity was a great project; however, after scholarships were introduced, I was quite disappointed. It failed to make gaming fun. With a loyal player base, even indie games like Unturned and Jumpking with 2D graphics were able to rake in millions of sales on different platforms and rank up with high-budget-AAA games such as Cyberpunk and GTA-V. The success of those indie games can be attributed to their great storytelling and amazing mechanics. In case you haven't guessed already, I am incredibly biased toward games that have great storylines. Every game I’ve played and finished is because they had a great story or were consistent in their experience, which is why I appreciate MetaBlaze so much. MetaBlaze takes the story-first approach to the game instead of flashy graphics and mechanics. While it does have some really good-looking playable characters, an immersive metaverse, and an adventure-filled role-playing game, it truly feels like an interstellar journey when playing its role-playing game. By prioritizing gamer loyalty instead of investor funding, MetaBlaze hooks its players and stays consistent through its metaverse by blending elements from science fiction, action, role-playing, strategy, lore, and more. What’s more is that it’s constantly expanding and evolving with immersive, sci-fi-inspired games and characters, making the metaverse even more fun to be in. What I love about MetaBlaze is that it’s consistent in its sci-fi metaverse experience. I play games to de-stress, kick back from a long work day, and teleport from one reality to another. And MetaBlaze helps me do that. Closing Remarks The metaverse is an equal ground for both big and small institutions. Whether you’re a high-budget game studio or an indie game developer, there’s equal opportunity for both. The metaverse will inadvertently be the evolution of our reality, from work to entertainment, and everyone must be ready to embrace it.

Making Games More Interoperable with GameFi

Your Complete Guide to Getting A Job On Blockchain

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a beautiful piece of technology made to seamlessly augment our everyday experience. It is widely utilized in everything starting from marketing to even traffic light moderation in cities like Pittsburg. However, swords have two edges and the AI is no different. There are a fair number of upsides as well as downsides that follow such technological advancements. One way or another, the technology is moving too quickly while the education about the risks and safeguards that are in place are falling behind for the vast majority of the population. The whole situation is as much of a blessing for humankind as it is a curse. In this article, we will be mainly discussing how the AI is being utilized, how the ease of processing data-enabled companies and government agencies to have power over online privacy, and how to stay careful of possible abuses of said power. A Blessing Have you ever noticed that every application lately has been asking your permission for personalized ads? These are advertisements from companies that are targeting you. However, how do they know what you may want? This is due to the hard work done by a good number of AIs. They are constantly sifting through and analyzing what you are looking at. Everything is being calculated like: for how long or what you are even messaging sometimes. Do not be afraid though, they are not reading your secret messages. Reputable companies have these robots looking for some keywords in your conversation. For example, if you are speaking to your friend about bicycles the AI gets excited and offers you an ad from Specialized, Cube, or Ghost offering their brand new mountain bikes. This is how companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others make money. If the product is free - you are the product. In these cases, a product for marketing companies that pay hefty amounts to have their ads on one or all of these platforms. AI in Everyday Life | The Good The AI enhances user experience to totally new levels. Unfortunately, analyzing and sifting through huge masses of data is not something the human brain specializes in. To properly process a big chunk of data the companies have to hire a team of individuals. The whole ordeal can take hours, days, weeks, or even months depending on what they are trying to analyze and we are not even taking into consideration the financial expenses. Even with the professionals, there are moments of subjective bias involved in the result. Humans also tend to flat out ignore or forget a good number of details. An AI though is a different case. Data processing is their specialization. It is something they love doing the most and are happy to continue doing until the end of time. The process is becoming more and more efficient the longer this process goes on. The whole point of artificial intelligence is the ability to enhance their capabilities by finding better and efficient ways to do the same task. Banking, for example, is the one that has benefitted the most from an AI. As an example, most of the top banks now offer online financial advising. This is done by AIs on the starting level. These programs analyze your spending, give visualized charts, and help save money where possible. Different exchanges like stock market, foreign exchange market (Forex, FX), cryptocurrency markets, etc. are using the AIs to predict where the market is going to move. Apart from this, the historic data is also always being summarized for personal and corporate use. As it was once said the future is nothing but a repetition of the past. AI in Military | The Good The military is very fond of the potential of AI. In 2018 the US announced that they will be implementing artificial intelligence in every branch where it is applicable. The AI is going to help the military in analyzing intelligence, making lightning-fast decisions, automatization of vehicles, weaponry, and logistics as a whole. It is worth noting that the US military is one of the prime places to develop such cutting edge development since they are showering in finances. In 2020 the US congress has approved as much as $718 billion for the Department of Defense out of which $927 million is going to be moving towards the AI and machine learning development. It is worth noting that the technology has evolved quite a lot during the last decade. Although the good nature of this is debatable the idea that no military personnel has to risk their lives to gather information that can be done using a robot is a huge achievement. AI in Cyber Security | The Good Although technically doing cyber crimes is harder now since there are a bunch of protocols available to protect end-user from possible threats it’s also easier because there are a fair number of scripts available that automate very tiresome and complex processes. Cybersecurity is related to several problems that experts have been trying to deal with as they go along. Once the corporate network becomes large the surface at which the attacks may proceed increases exponentially. This can be done either via breaching , , or basic social engineering. Today’s systems are protected using multilayer security systems. During the development, the software undergoes an intense testing phase to root out all of the possible hoops that hackers can use to exploit a vulnerability. After the product is finished, there are teams working day and night on enhancing, adding functionality, and patching previous problems. Once the code becomes big enough though the issues are extremely hard to cover and the IT teams have to prioritize some over the others. This is why some of the bugs in your favorite video games are not being patched out quickly and may stay forever if they aren’t game-breaking. application security network security Companies usually build their infrastructure with their intranet protocols that are hiding all of the necessary information from unwelcome guests. However, this means that the network security aspect has to also be covered fully. This is done via firewalls, anti-virus and anti-malware software, data loss prevention, virtual private networks, etc. A good number of programs are written to alleviate this whole process. For example, behavioral analysis is almost solely done with artificial intelligence. This means that there is a software setting and gathering data about how certain individuals are acting while they are inside of the system. The moment there is a suspicious activity the AI either has the right to restrict access temporarily or straight up direct an IT specialist to take a closer look. A Curse Artificial Intelligence is a double-edged sword though. It is important to understand that there are a fair number of precautions that need to be taken before utilizing a service of your choice. It is important to know which company is pulling the strings. Your personal information can and will be utilized to gain more and more funds. However, some companies are going to tell you upfront and some won’t. National security agencies have been targeting these data-gathering companies for years already. Google for example has much more capacities to spy on people than a lot of developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries. The data that goes through their servers is a huge point of interest in a number of both good and bad people. Some of the companies are going to monetize on these offers selling out their collected data to the highest bidder. AI for Data Collection | The Bad The European Union has enacted a (GDPR) law for companies that are operating in the EU space. The GDPR regulates the acquisition of information from online customers. Numerous methods are utilized to achieve this goal. It can be anything from what we have already mentioned like robots skimming through the data that you freely share (like status updates, likes, etc.) or more hidden files designated for this very same purpose like cookies that you download from websites upon visit. There are different types of cookies, of course, but all of them can be utilized to gather data. This is why currently most of the websites are asking for your permission to use them. This is why it is recommended to check the cookie policy for a website that you frequently visit. For the ones that you don’t - just don’t allow cookies at all. General Data Protection Regulation Most of the time cookies are used to enhance already existing websites. They are the sole purpose why it takes considerably less time to load pages once you’ve already visited them. However, some of these cookies (tracker cookies) are used to track your activity on the internet. This is not even limited to the website that you are using. For example, Facebook cookies get activated every time there is a company API being used. This means that every page that uses Facebook comments, likes, or other services automatically activate their cookies on your computer. This is why you can be commenting something on one website with Twitter addon and then get an ad centered around that very same topic on Twitter. Although I have not mentioned the AI here it is obvious that all of these processes are going through machine learning algorithms that process and dish out the results. You cannot fully hide your activities on the internet though. People have utilized virtual machines to do different tasks, turned off all of the data collection options, used VPN, but the core idea is that the trail, even though very convoluted at this point, is still going to be leading towards you and it all depends on how badly someone or something wants to find you. Either way, you need to trust someone when you are using the internet. Why Trust One Company Over the Other? This leads us to one of the final topics of this article. Why should you trust specific developer companies and not others? Apart from the general reputation that company gets it’s important to understand that where the firm is based and takes orders from is a big deciding factor. For example, why are Chinese companies not trusted overal? There is a fair argument saying that if you don’t use TikTok due to concerns about Chinese agencies collecting your data you shouldn’t be using Instagram because the US national security departments will also be doing the same. However, things are not that straightforward. Apple vs FBI | A Case of Integrity There have been cases where these agencies have demanded access to user data or even straight up requested to have a backdoor into every device. is a prime example of one such instance. To summarize in 2015 the FBI extracted iPhone 5C from a shooter who participated in a December 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack. They demanded Apple to unlock this device and Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has kindly rejected this notion. The company has outlined the importance of preventing terrorism but they couldn’t just give out a backdoor to every iPhone to the FBI. This is in light of the situation that the US government, or the National Security Agency (NSA) in particular, was already by a famous whistleblower and founder of WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden. Apple’s dispute against the FBI in 2016 outed to be spying on the citizens Apple took this case to court where they used an argument that their customer privacy would be in vain if such instance comes to happen. The FBI didn’t just want one iPhone to be unlocked but they wanted a software backdoor into every past, current, and future smartphone from Apple. The court has ruled in favor of Apple and the case was closed. This is a happy ending to this scenario. However, we have to keep in mind that the US constitution gives companies an ability to argue such cases in court. Whereas if such thing happens in China, Russia, or any less-democratic country the companies simply do not have the power to go to court and defend their case. Company Origin Matters The political nature of the nation is also extremely important. All of the middle to large-sized corporations in China are under the direct supervision of the Chinese Communist Party and share the information with their national security agencies. Tencent, for example, which is a Chinese company that has developed most of the popular applications like TikTok, WeChat, and has numerous companies under its umbrella-like Riot Games (League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runterra) and Epic Games does not and cannot uphold such standards. More importantly, the CEO and founder father if the company Ma Huateng is a prominent member of the CCP as well as one of the most influential persons across the world. The argument can be made that TikTok doesn’t keep US customer data on Chinese servers but this is a soft barrier. A company can transfer this data for as much as they like and there are a good number of triggers that the Chinese government can pull to make them do their bidding. A department of this very same company called researched the security features of Tesla car’s autopilot function. They messed around with sensors and found ways to make the AI go haywire. Tencent is also a 5% stakeholder of Tesla company. This is important information to keep in mind. Tencent Keen Security Lab has Conclusion The 21st century is a period of technological wonders. Things that were only available in SciFi movies and books are slowly coming to life. While technology is integrating itself into our daily lives it is important to start learning about security aspects as well as the technology that is being utilized. Being picky is not bad when it comes to the usage of the internet. It is strongly encouraged by security professionals across the world. While the digital world may seem like it's separate from our real lives. The reality stands that it is an integral part and as real as the physical one. The usage of an AI is making it possible to enlarge operations to scales unseen before. There are some positive sides like ad campaigns but also negative ones like surveillance systems working against consumers. This is all dependent on who’s driving the car and we, the users, can decide which cars to ride and who will be the driver. This article is designated to highlight some of the uses of AI and how it augments our lives. The core idea is that if users become knowledgable about the subject we can pick and choose which companies to trust. In a capitalist market, consumer trust drives income and the companies will act in any way necessary to keep their user bases.

Artificial Intelligence and Online Privacy: Blessing and a Curse

As someone who has used both and Unity to make games, I read with extreme interest a post by about the announcement of AppOnboard's new CEO, Mike Seavers. This could be one of the biggest wins for the company ever since Jonathan Zweig and AppOnboard . himself is an experienced entrepreneur, having co-founded AdColony in 2008 (sold to Opera for $350m in 2014) and co-founded AppOnboard in 2016. AppOnboard has raised $35m from investors, according to , and the new appointment could lead to new funding rounds when the time is right. This is going to lead to a very interesting David vs Goliath battle between AppOnboard's Buildbox and Unity Technologies. Buildbox Venturebeat acquired Buildbox last year Zweig Crunchbase Meet the Goliath: Unity Technologies Unity is a behemoth in the world of games development. Some stats: Founded 2004. .$1.3bn .Led by John Riccitiello. CV includes being CEO at EA, stints at PepsiCo and Clorox and co-founding Elevation Partners in 2004.Unity's engine was launched in 2005.Unity's engine can be used with over 25 gaming platforms.1.3 million developers use Unity's engine. 2,000+ employees worldwide funding raised Meet the David: Buildbox Buildbox is the David in this battle. Firstly, let us look at some stats about AppOnboard, the company that acquired it: Founded in 2016.Raised $35m from investors. Between 11-50 employees . Acquired Buildbox in 2019.Buildbox was founded in 2014 by Trey Smith and Nik Rudenko. The company that over 100 games built with Buildbox have been featured by Apple, with and growing (announced in 2019, the numbers would have grown since then). Some of the most famous games built with Buildbox include , Color Switch, The Pit and many more. according to Crunchbase announced in 2017 500,000 Buildbox users Phases, The Line Zen Why Seavers Is Important to Buildbox's Future Mike Seavers comes from Riot Games. PC gamers will know them as the creators of and . is one of the biggest eSports titles, with numerous competitions and teams vying to compete for titles. Valorant, despite being a newer game, has the potential to be one of the biggest multiplayer shooters, right up there with and . League of Legends Valorant League of Legends Apex Legends Call of Duty: Warzone Seavers has over 25 years' experience in the gaming industry,  as notes: "Seavers is a 25-year game and software veteran who was most recently CTO of Riot Games and was heavily involved in the creation of Riot’s Legends of Runeterra as well as League of Legends." Venturebeat This level of experience will be crucial to help Buildbox grow and compete against bigger competitors such as Unity Technologies as well as smaller competitors such as YoYo Games' GameMaker Studio 2. How Can Buildbox tackle Unity? There are nine key things Seavers can do in the short to long term: Get publishers on board. Challenge Unity Technologies on pricing. Enable console exports. Improve Android 3D performance. Launch an asset store. Add multiplayer. Make the software work offline. Out-innovate Unity. Ensure Buildbox is on the lips of every developer. Get More Publishers On Board If Seavers wants to make waves, he should strike partnerships with as many game publishers as possible. The company has already made a partnership with British mobile game publisher and this is a good start to getting more users. More please. A deal with Voodoo.io, one of the giants of the hyper-casual game world, would be great (the company has published games made with Buildbox before) but a deal with a PC or console game publisher would be a coup.  AppOnboard is young and scrappy enough to make deals to help it grow rapidly. Kwalee Challenge Unity On Pricing If Buildbox really wants to make a dent, make users a deal they cannot refuse. Unity's personal plan is extremely tempting for first time game developers as it offers access to a lot for functionality for free. The company has dedicated plans for businesses, something Buildbox does not. AppOnboard could help Buildbox make a splash by offering a competitive plan for first time users (perhaps by introducing a certain amount of free mobile exports for its free plan) and introducing a business plan for teams of developers keen to use the software. Enable Console Exports In Buildbox Why can't we have Buildbox built games on Nintendo's eShop? Or on the PlayStation 4? Xbox One? This would be a great way to showcase some of the amazing games built with software ( by TapMen would be a good fit, for example) With the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X set to launch less than a few months away, this would make an excellent weapon in Seavers' arsenal. Improve Android Performance In Buildbox 3D GamesThis is where Seavers' engineering prowess could shine. 3D Android games built with Buildbox don't have the same level of performance as their iPhone counterparts. Unity, on the other hand, offers great performance for both platforms no matter the device. An improvement to the engine could help even out the playing field and encourage more Android developers to come on board. One Wheel Launch an Asset Store For Buildbox Users One of the biggest attractions of using Unity is the asset store. You can get everything from templates to asset packs at competitive prices. An asset store for Buildbox users would be a great step in attracting more developers to the software. AppOnboard could even offer a subscription service, offering a certain amount of products every month for a fixed fee. Multiplayer Should Be As Easy As The Software Itself Multiplayer will eventually be coming to Buildbox. This should help attract more users by adding a much requested feature. The company should aim to make it easy as possible to implement, which would lure away any potential Unity users. Make Buildbox Work Offline Perhaps one of the biggest disadvantages Buildbox has over Unity is that you can't use it offline. You need a constant internet connection to use the software. AppOnboard need to get this changed soon. Not every user will have a reliable internet connection and this could be a massive selling point once solved. Out-Innovate Unity Augmented reality, virtual reality and machine learning are just three of the technologies that could potentially be huge in the future. AppOnboard could out-innovate Unity Technologies by partnering with exciting new startups developing new applications in these areas and helping to implement them in Buildbox. Shout from the Rooftops! One of the biggest challenges Buildbox faces is that some developers do not view it seriously. This is a problem that can be solved with the right positioning in the market - perhaps to solve this, there could be another version called 'Buildbox Pro' aimed at businesses and teams of developers. Visual scripting: Unity's Ace? One of the often cited alternatives to Buildbox is . Developed by Hutong Games™, this is an affordable visual scripting tool ($65) for Unity. Games like Hearthstone, Hollow Knight and INSIDE were all created with it. AppOnboard needs to emphasize the value offered by Buildbox to create a compelling argument against visual scripting tools. playMaker™ Conclusion Things are going to get very interesting with the new appointment. There must have been something very attractive about Buildbox to get Seavers on board and it will be very exciting to see what changes he makes to help tackle Unity's foothold in the market. Let the battle commence! Previously published at https://staticcatgames.blogspot.com/2020/07/buildbox-versus-unity-let-the-battle-begin.html

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