🌐Why Decentralization ?

Our thoughts on decentralized gaming. 🪙

In 2019, blockchain gaming was a windswept year for the industry. Even with the hypes of 2018, the blockchain gaming ended with unexciting growth and tepid traction.

But since then, we saw a brighter future though the best blockchain games that game into place.

This only confirmed our stronghold belief that the future of gaming can only be in the form of decentralized ecosystems.

This post will :

• Explore the history of gaming and discuss its transformation

• Define 3 inconvenients of the current games and draw solutions

• Explain why NFT partnerships and new innovation models with holders is a great fit for decentralized gaming.

Journey of gaming 🗺️

Since the invention of the first gaming console in the 1970s, the gaming industry has traveled a long way: Gaming started off as a mere digital version of physical ball games and evolved to a platform where millions of gamers interact in real-time and even going further into an arena/stadium for massively popular e-sports phenomenon. Along with the evolution, the role of game companies changed dramatically. “So what are the main catalyzers of the evolution? “

To solve that, we mainly write down the process of Decentralization: expanding horizons for gamers, empowering many over a few, succeeding the deinstitutionalization that is dominating across many industries.

To put it into perspective, think about how much latitude we have today, compared to the old console games. Back then, a console was a physical object with only a couple of buttons. Today, gamers can enjoy across multiple devices and socialize with thousands of peers on well-established social media like Discord, Twitch, etc.

Centralized Gaming 🕹️

Borrowing words from Tanvir Zafar, Author at Entrepreneur Media. “The game publishers were in command of which games are published and which ones gamers may play, as opposed to today, when they have a significant role. In addition, gamers were at the mercy of game publishers regarding how much they had to pay for games.

Games were previously hosted on centralized servers, which meant that players could only interact with people who lived in the exact geographical location. This restriction was due to data centers renting or buying server space from game developers to host their games.”

“What made this transition so successful and what benefits has the latest wave of innovation had on the gaming experience?”

• Massive Multiplayer gaming has created new social interactions in which many of players interact and trade items at once (fun!).

• Platforms (such as Google Playstore) cut out the middlemen (retail stores) and put players in direct contact with game developers. Gamers now have instant access to a vast collection of content.

• Downloadable content (DLCs) A gaming environment where players can constantly experience interesting new stuff from game creators was developed via downloadable content (DLCs).

• Business Model Variety : Users' options were varied by several business models including subscription and freemium.

We focus on the "multiplayer" aspect of online and mobile games, among other things. The new social elements that enable trading and competitive play have significantly increased income for the gaming business. This social link led to the creation of two new industries: e-sports and virtual asset markets (ItemBay, OpSkins, etc.). As proof of the industries' expansion, e-sports viewership (443M in 2019) surpassed MLB and is now swiftly coming up to the NFL and NBA. Additionally, the industry generated more than $1 billion in revenue in 2018 ($1.1BN in 2019). According to estimates, the $50 billion virtual goods market is growing swiftly and largely unrecognized.

3 parts are missing

Despite all the positive aspects, ownership, transparency, and accountability remain major issues in platform gaming.

1.Ownership 🏠

Virtual products become a popular form of monetization due to the large user base. However, the majority of game assets are kept on the servers of the creators, making asset transfers difficult. Few developers are keen to integrate Transfer due to the expense, which requires particular infrastructures and authority to move the goods. This greatly restricted trading and forced players into unofficial marketplaces operated by third parties (ItemBay, etc.), where they were forced to exchange strangers their shadily written game credentials. To make matters worse, billions of dollars are wasted every year due to transaction fraud on these unsecure external sites.

Because players only make sporadic investments of their time and money, this lack of control prevents the active growth of gaming economies.

2.Transparency ☀️

Data transparency has become a crucial component of games as players invest more and more time and money in the virtual world. However, since the majority of games host their data on their own private servers, data management is opaque and subject to security breaches. Additionally, players will question the validity of the data as long as it is stored on the creators' server. As esports and gaming stakes rise, users will look for more reliable data. Earning the entire trust and triggering the full participation of gamers would be an improbable feat without a robust method to maintain clear provenance.

3.Accountability 💵

As was mentioned, the desire of decentralization was the foundation for game progression. Gaming on platforms today, however, falls short of the value. However, within a gaming firm, silos are where most game innovations are chosen. Gamers who are only consumers of games lack the means to properly convey their opinions. As a result, development frequently favors developers' interests. Under this arrangement, game makers can change the rules to increase their revenue without consulting players or bearing any liability for damage to the game ecology. The developer's 'pay-to-win' elements caused a lot of players to lose trust and leave the game. This lack of accountability will continue to bar sustainable user retention.

Distributed Gaming 🚚

We believe that using Blockchain technology is necessary to address these pain points. Massive prospects are unlocked by blockchain technology included into the game, including full asset ownership, permissionless transfers (Non-Fungible Token), data transparency (Distributed Ledger Technology), and the ability for democratic government. (Smart Contract).

1-Non-fungible tokens (NFT) for complete ownership 🖼️

NFT guarantees that consumers have complete and verifiable ownership of game assets. Without the use of middlemen platforms, gamers may purchase an NFT asset directly from a creator or another player. You no longer need to be concerned about fraud because the blockchain makes the proof of ownership completely verifiable. Players can discover a safe method of permissionless asset buying and selling in cryptocurrency. Game creators may easily take a portion of every transaction by setting up smart contracts (automatic trust).

2. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), which promotes transparency 🚛

All transactions on the blockchain distributed ledger may be seen in full transparency. Gamers can have complete confidence in their gaming statistics since these ledgers are tamper- and immutable-proof. Users can compete and get rewards based on their merits under clear and open rules that can be specified by games. Higher engagement and thrilling competition will result from this openness, hastening the transition to an environment akin to "Ready Player One."

3. Blockchain can significantly increase gamer responsibility. 🎲

Blockchain can alleviate the lack of responsibility among platform players. Blockchain can serve as the foundation for audacious democratic initiatives like universal basic income when combined with tokenization and transparency. Blockchain games may also be created through democratic methods that include all participants. Gamers may play a significant role in helping to co-create and develop the gaming environment, sharing rewards and taking responsibility for advancing the ecosystem in the most advantageous and self-sustaining way possible. Gamers, for instance, may vote on blockchains for fresh update suggestions.

4. Economics: Real estate investing, dividend payments, etc. 🪙

Blockchain technology enables games to accommodate more complex user-to-user commercial interactions. The use of lands, objects, and skins as NFTs allows players to engage in nearly all forms of free trade and rental activity. For instance, players may rent out their in-game items to earn money or dividends.

5. Governance: Decision-making processes, fiscal regulations, etc. 🗳️

The fundamental enablers for the self-sovereign government are the verifiable decentralized identification, data transparency, and trustless voting capabilities of the blockchain. By participating in democratic procedures on the smart contracts (elections, polls, etc.), players may really impact how the game is run. For instance, players can create a poll to select the payout percentage for an online competition.

Decentralized games will be more engaging thanks to the users' wide latitude: The next generation of an ever-evolving, ever-expanding self-sovereign game platform will arrive with this level of freedom to trade, vote, and rule. Additionally, the sense of ownership that this accountability and extensibility would foster in players will increase engagement, stickier retention, and switching costs (hence, a network effect). In conclusion, instead of creating a game, gaming firms will instead create an ecosystem where players and creators share incentives to create it. 'Game-as-an-ecosystem' paradigm shift