By Max Moeller
If you’re a gamer, you know it can be frustrating to spend hundreds, if not thousands of hours in a game, only for that effort to be useless upon moving on. For example, you can’t transition the funds from one game to that of another. Instead, starting a new game is always from scratch.
Plus, as intrinsically rewarding as maxing out a game can be, unless you’re a full-time streamer or pro gamer, you can’t turn that time into real-life profit. Even those committing to streaming have no guarantee of it working out.
Years of trying to make it can lead to burnout, and then what? For a hobby that requires a potential lifetime of dedication to see results, the surrounding industry provides little control in overturning that hobby into a career.
At least, that’s how it used to be.
With the innovations offered by blockchain technology and the emerging “play-to-earn” industry surrounding it, generating an income from gaming is set to become the norm.
Play-to-Earn and You
A typical play-to-earn title functions similarly to a traditional game. You acquire an in-game character (represented by an NFT), level it up through gameplay, and max it out. However, what’s different with play-to-earn is that you can sell that character when you’re done.
Take Axie Infinity as an example. This Pokemon-like title has you collecting creatures (Axies), raising them through battle, and breeding them to create new Axies with unique traits. You can then choose to raise those Axies or sell them for profit. All of that effort actually went toward something of value.
If you choose to move on from Axie Infinity, you can sell all of your Axies for Ether and use those funds in a new game or simply cash it out for fiat. You are quite literally playing to earn. Isn’t that exciting? Converting your in-game hours to actual cash? I know I’m ready for it.
Expanded Horizons
Now, selling an in-game character is just one example of the play-to-earn mechanic in, well, in play. Such a concept expands to all sorts of game functions like items, skins, and even land.
Imagine you’re playing an MMO like Final Fantasy XIV, and that rare sword from the max level raid is something you can sell for fiat. Sure, you can already sell items on an in-game marketplace, but only for in-game cash. In a play-to-earn game, everything has real-world value.
We already strive to deck our characters out in the best, most unique gear possible. But even then, consistent updates add new content and render said equipment a little less useful. The ability to sell said gear to an aspiring player and use that profit to pay your rent? How exciting!
Then there’s the creator side of things.
Traditional games often include items crafted by the game’s developers, though there are some exceptions. Team Fortress 2 includes player-created items in most updates, as does Counter-Strike.
Second Life is a title built entirely on user-created items. But in all cases, these creators are hardly paid for their efforts. Instead, they’re rewarded via exposure, if not a tiny sum of profits made. Even so, a developer takes a cut of those profits, resulting in an even smaller reward.
Play-to-earn games remove the need for a centralized party and enable creators to build their entire lives around virtual goods. For instance, an artist might excel at designing shoes or shirts. If enough players buy their designs, that creator can earn enough to make a living, partly because a developer isn’t there to take a massive cut of their earnings.
Building an Ecosystem
Play-to-earn introduces the concept of a player-driven ecosystem. One where the users create, trade, and facilitate value of all sorts. It represents a world where anyone can start a business designing in-game assets and use those earnings in real life, where one can turn their thousands of hours of dedication into something tangible.
What’s especially crazy is this concept isn’t as out-of-reach as it initially appears. There are already game worlds full of user-created assets and in-game marketplaces. Players spend tons of time learning these in-game economies and maximizing their profits, watching the auction houses, and playing the markets.
What’s missing is a way to convert those in-game assets into reality. And play-to-earn is the first step toward that dream. As blockchain technology continues to improve and more players adopt the play-to-earn mantra, it’s only a matter of time before we can all start living our ideal lives. All it takes is a little dedication.
