Most focused top 3 NFT projects - Why - “Utility as an in-game avatar to DeFi”

Since the start of the pandemic, people have embraced virtual lives. Video games have been major beneficiaries of this shift, particularly online games where people visit to spend time and have fun. These games, many of which are free to play, make money by enabling players to purchase extra in-game virtual assets such as “skins” (costumes for their avatar) or upgrade specific powers or experiences.

Challenges faced:

Many in-game purchases are temporary or are attained through winning several challenges to create scarcity and increase their perceived value. For the most part, the players that buy them don’t legally own them.

Another problem with online games is that they remain largely centralized. This centralization is significantly vulnerable to both attacks and outages. DDOS attacks are a common occurrence for the centralized server structure of these games. For example, Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of "World of Warcraft," was the target of such attacks in recent days.

Blockchain and NFTs:

NFTs, therefore, seem to be a natural fit as expressed by CITI ventures in their opinion report. A successful example is a virtual soccer trading-card game that recently raised $50 MM in a Series A round. There are also a few companies focused on developing the gaming NFT space.

Just like in the real world, no two assets can exhibit similar characteristics or value, similarly, each tokenized asset (NFT) on the blockchain has unique characteristics. Since these digital assets are distinguishable from each other, they are not interchangeable and so are referred to as non-fungible tokens. Just like real assets that have a certificate of ownership, NFT tokens maintain ownership records and proof of authenticity on the blockchain.

NFTs collectables to Gaming assets: 

In the past, NFT collectables value was majorly driven by speculation and what someone else is willing to pay for it. Therefore, demand drives the price rather than fundamental, technical or economic indicators, which typically influence stock prices and at least generally form the basis for an investment decision.

Shift to fundamental: Today the new wave of NFT projects are bringing unique utility to their NFT collectables such as use as playable avatars or metaverse experience and DeFi opportunities (play-to-earn, game economy and instant liquidity).

Following are the most notable projects that plan to incorporate NFTs into the game/ metaverse in the future. (Selection based on how advance in game development, community choice, team and concept uniqueness)

#Community choice

Chibi Dinos:

Chibi Dinos are 10,000 cute NFTs of different Chibis wearing Dino Suits that are programmatically generated based on 262 different assets: Head, Dino, Mouth, Eyes, BG, Accessories, Face Tattoos, Hair along with Jerseys of 10 different basketball teams. 

Announced in early Aug 2021, the project quickly gained fame and has grown to be one of the biggest followed NFT projects. The mint was launched on 21st Aug 2021 and was sold out in less than 20 minutes. 

Currently owned by 2200+ unique owners and increasing with each passing hour, each Chibi Dino is completely unique with permanent power levels that award specific experience when the NFT gets incorporated into the game (Basketball Metaverse) in the near future.

#For concept: ‘MMO’

Colony Online:

Colonists (Colony Online) are an NFT collection of 5 different species, with a hard-capped supply of 5,000 per species, programmatically generated that are redeemable for their in-game playable character and cosmetic items in the upcoming Colony Online MMO on the blockchain, supporting thousands of players simultaneously.

The increasing trend for online gaming among millennials and many people adopting online lives since the start of the pandemic where people gather not only to play, but to socialize, and more have put MMO games market size projection at USD 11.75 Billion by 2026, an 8.2% CAGR during 2021-2026.

There have not been many MMO blockchain games, which has put a lot of attention on this project. The game takes place on an alternate-reality Moon Colony, where a society of randomly generated space animals (called Colonists) have colonized the moon and turned it into their very own social playground for chic materialism, party lifestyle, and moon mining.

#Advanced in development

VOX:

VOX are versatile companions who can be animated, 3D printed, used in augmented reality, and more. The first series of 8888 VOX was minted on 10th Aug 2021 and currently has 3000+ unique holders already. Built by Gala Games, every VOX will generate future play-to-earn rewards by interacting in various ways with the Gala Games ecosystem. 

Soon after the mint (within 2 days), the team launched the alpha version of the VOX metaverse where holders in their NFT avatars can roam around, gather and socialize with other VOX owners through voice chat. 

Image Credit: VOX community

Closing thoughts:

The increasing trend for online gaming among millennials has led to the creation of a virtual world for video gamers, where they get a virtual economy, currency, trade environment, and real-time scenarios to deal with.

This shift in consumer profile has not gone unnoticed. Many gaming developers are embracing blockchain technology to protect players in-game assets ownerships (NFTs) and monetizing in-game actions to fuel real-life transactions (in-game economy).