The future of blockchain gaming is in four major developments. Ultimately, these developments will become the crucial pillars of blockchain gaming. Platforms and networks of various types and sizes are already leading the way in making blockchain gaming as great as it can be. One such platform called SwapXI uses a revolutionary model to ensure all members of its community benefit by being in the community.
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Game-Related Asset Ownership
One pillar of blockchain gaming will be the ability of game players to own digital assets which they can exchange easily for other assets. This includes in-game assets and platform assets. On SwapXI, you can exchange assets of any type for other digital and fiat assets such as currencies. The digital assets belong to the player and are stored in a decentralized record system with blockchain usage. They may include gaming accounts, game profiles, and in-game assets among others.
Transparency and Security
Transparency and security of assets is going to be improved over time in blockchain gaming. It will be easy for players to save and trade their assets on various gaming platforms. This has improved trust and confidence in both online and blockchain gaming as seen on SwapXI. It will lead to more participation in gaming characterized by participants being active for more hours and more people taking part in the diverse gaming and related activities as available.
Democratization of Gaming
Decentralization of gaming that is afforded to players and other participants of the gaming industry fosters independence, trust, and strong relationships. Blockchain gaming allows no single entity to force its will on players and game participants. On SwapXI, this is easily and quite visibly seen in the games on the platform.
Strong Gaming Economy
The ability to reward all members of an ecosystem such as in SwapXI will create a very strong and vibrant gaming economy. On the SwapXI platform, all points of the ecosystem benefit from other points in the ecosystem. It is a powerful model that has enables the rewarding of even spectators and stream watchers in online gaming. This is possible only due to the use of blockchain technology in the management of the gaming activities on the platform.
This is the revolutionary part of blockchain, because it enables transferable, real-world value to be derived from gaming activities. Value is no longer isolated to being used in-game.
Blockchain gaming exemplifies the fundamental shift of gaming’s core focus from play-to-win into play-to-earn. With gamers now able to have true ownership of in-game assets, blockchain games incentivize an era of gaming that goes beyond recreational play.
Yet, blockchain-based games still have obstacles to overcome before they go mainstream. Jackson Vaughan, General Partner at Konvoy Ventures, pointed out that when legacy gaming platforms have tried to keep up with the rapidly evolving technology, they’ve faced backlash from their user base of core gamers who are uninterested in blockchain gaming.
Jackson underscored the need for developers to master the balance between leveraging blockchain for new and interesting experiences while masking the user’s interaction with crypto complexities that might deter mass-market gamers.
But even for gamers who are educated about the blockchain, the on-boarding process is still painful. To fully sign-on and engage with blockchain games they must create crypto wallets (e.g., Coinbase wallet, MetaMask) where to store their currencies and assets. While many games are still free to play (F2P), oftentimes they require, or strongly encourage, gamers to purchase basic starter packs, which means gamers must pre-fund their wallets outside of the game if they want to buy and play without interruption.
Blockchain games also require a higher personal financial threshold in order to start earning in-game. For example, to begin playing in Axie Infinity a user must own at least three Axies (the in-game NFT monsters the game is centered around) which on average cost $200 each. This barrier has spurred a new need for a lower threshold for gamers to join play-to-earn model games.
Mainstream push back, customer on-boarding frictions, and expensive transactions all stand in the way of blockchain becoming the core infrastructure for the next generation of gaming – but are there many better competitors?
