We all know that online gaming is more than a play. E-sports and online gaming attracts more visitors than many sports events. Lets-plays, streamer and YouTube gamer are everywhere. Pewdiepie has reached over 103 million subscriber (early 2020) only on YouTube. On the decentralized streaming platforms like DLive he has over 100k fans.
Not only do we see decentralized social media gaining in popularity but also decentralized gaming. What is the point of decentralizing a online game you could ask…
Why putting online-games on the blockchain?
Well, the main reason why Vitalik Buterin (the inventor of Ethereum) came up with his idea of a smartcontract based multipurpose platform was GAMING! The developer was annoyed of centralized gaming companies changing their policies. When you own a character in online games like World-of-Worcraft or Leagu-of-Legends you put many many hour of work into these characters. You buy items to equip your avatar. Suddenly the policies change and your work is worthless.
This is the reason
With decentralized blockchains you can provide ownership of digital items, even if the central gaming-company changes their policies.
Own you avatar – platform grade censorship resistance
You can take your Avatar, your skins, your in-game items with you. This is called platform grade censorship resistance. The game provider cant censor you.
Heartstone a prominent case
On October 8th 2019 the American company Blizzard which is the developer behind the trading card game Hearthstone (with over 100 million users) came up with a ban on the Chinese gamer Blitzchung for supporting Hong Kong liberation in an interview. The was followed by a loss of $10,000 price money.
Censorship is everywhere
Godsunchained (an Ethereum based Tradingcard Startup) tweeted that they pay Chung his price money and pay for flight to upcoming tournaments. This was a good promotion stunt and shows the importance of decentralisation in the gaming industry.
Right now the most popular use-cases for blockchain gaming are browser-games and trading card games.
Check out which decentralized Apps and Games have the most users:
With the website “State of the Dapps” you can check the popularity of the decentralized applications running on different blockchains like Ethereum, Eos, Steem and Tron
Two very popular trading card games are Splinterlands (Steem) and Gods-unchained (Ethereum)
Splinterlands on Steem
Splinterlands aka Steemmonsters is a trading card game based on the Steem blockchain. In tournaments you fight against other players. Not only that you can win cards, you can also trade your cards on the open marked.
Gods unchained on Ethereum
Conclusion, is decentralized gaming worth it?
both Games Splinterlands and Gods unchained are similar. It is a matter of taste. However, on the Steem blockchain you also have a blogging community on sites like Steemit.com. This helps engaging with people and share your games.
Both games show that crypto-assets are associated with value very similar to their real world counterparts like Pokemon-Cards or Magic the Gathering. However, I would not recommend to see it as investment unless you know what you are doing.
Disclaimer: Nothing on this website is financial advice!
No question that decentralized Gaming will grow in the next years. Recently Ubisoft has announced to start a blockchain node. Even companies like AMD are taking their bet on crypto.
Also check out:
- ✅ Steemit blogging on the Steem Blockchain – is it still profitable in 2020?
- ✅ Check out these other 3 powerful Tools to earn crypto instead of betting your money
- ✅ Also cross-share on Publish0x, there are no limits
