the inevitable rise of the player owned game economy

Playing games is hard-coded into our DNA. We play, we enjoy, we learn, we survive. But people are also collectors of things, and it’s these ancient human traits that have driven the stratospheric growth of the global gaming industry – with a little help from the mind-warping work from game creators, of course. We have, however, been in gaming limbo, using the same technologies that were introduced decades ago. The great gaming leap is yet to happen, that next frontier where virtual worlds and blockchain technologies merge to create a match made in synaptic heaven.

Imagine one of today’s most active virtual game environments, but published on a blockchain. This move would shift ownership of in-game ecosystems into the soft waiting palms of millions of gamers. A blockchain ecosystem means no player bans and no arbitrary rules to play by. For gamers, it means control. For publishers and developers, it means an ocean of new users on their platform.

Relinquishing control of in-game economies to the gamers who interact with your virtual world makes sense, given some perspective. It may seem counterintuitive, but the carrot here for publishers and developers is a legion of gamers seeking independence from centralised virtual worlds. They want to outrightly own their in-game assets, which aren't rendered worthless every time they log out of play, as is the case in centralised systems.

Consider that in-game consumer spending accounts for the biggest share of the video gaming market globally. Gamers forked out $54 billion on in-game content last year, and this figure is expected to reach $74.4 billion by 2025, according to a report by Statista. These people have money to burn. It’s a self-sustaining virtual economy, but only within the parameters of the game, which continues to be dictated by the gaming company.

Blockchains serve as the stage that gives us an entirely new perspective on how we approach gaming. The aim, however, is not to create an entirely new category of games but rather integrate blockchain to showcase the true potential of the technology and change the way gamers interact within these worlds.

If done correctly, gamers shouldn’t have to worry about the blockchain driving this in-game ecosystem or be faced with additional barriers to entry. Ideally, they must be overwhelmed by the absolute control they have over their experience: the ability to buy and sell in-game assets instantly and securely using cryptocurrency, and at a fraction of the cost of fiat money transactions. Games built on the blockchain can easily facilitate in-game economies with cryptocurrency as the main means of transaction, and these transactions are governed by smart contracts that indefinitely hold safe and transparent transaction histories.

The idea of giving up power sits awkwardly with most human beings, let alone those managing a business, but the next generation of gamers want the freedom that comes with decentralised games built on the blockchain, and they will follow the developers and companies who give it to them into the depths of whichever decentralised world their game masters take them. The first adopters of this technology will be at the forefront of the industry when this inevitable move to blockchain gaming happens.

Give them proof-of-gaming, play-to-mine, and tokenised in-game currencies, and they will come. It’s human nature.\

This article is part of The Gaming Metaverse Writing Contest hosted by HackerNoon in partnership with The Sandbox.

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