Making Sense of Web3 Gaming
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Web3. This word has recently been making headlines worldwide, with tech leaders and startups increasingly getting on the bandwagon.
Web3 didn’t become so popular among the tech community and investors for no reason; It gives today’s users something that they desire: More freedom and power over their online presence.
While the term Web3 is increasingly widespread, many are still trying to make sense of it and figure out how they can be benefitted from this new technology.
In the first edition of our #SurfingTheWeb3 series, we’ll unravel this new iteration of the internet.
Right off the bat, what exactly is Web3?
The keyword here is decentralisation. While our current internet relies heavily on systems and servers controlled by large corporations to function, we can expect to have more self-governance in the Web3 world, as our online activities and data will be hosted on blockchain-based networks instead of corporate servers.
Without a central authority serving as a gatekeeper, anyone can participate in the Web3 universe using an anonymous single-sign-on. In other words, users will not be required to share their personal data to do certain activities such as making transactions and they can validate their ownership with a transparent, public blockchain.
Why should online users get excited about Web3?
Imagine that you are publishing a post on your social channels, the post becomes popular, and you are fully rewarded for the activity that you have taken part in. This sounds awesome — especially to creators out there.
How such arrangement is made possible is through tokenisation — whether they come in the forms of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or fungible (cryptocurrency). So coming back to our example, you can claim your ownership over this post using an NFT, and then rightfully trade this NFT with others and earn from it without having to share the returns with the platform where the post is hosted on.
Where are we with Web3 gaming?
While Web3 is still in its infancy, we are moving closer to this reality each day, with more and more Web3 decentralised applications (dapps) and games being brought to life.
Specific to the gaming sector, today’s Web3-based games open up new monetisation opportunities for both creators and players. While creators earn by making valuable digital assets and monetise through the transfer of ownerships of these assets, players can be benefitted by investing in and transacting these digital assets. This model sounds like a dream come true, indeed, but there are challenges in today’s Web3 gaming that the industry has to address.
Firstly, the existing Web3-based games rely on simple gameplay mechanics, which limits the entertainment elements for the players and eventually, may result in low retention and short lifetime.
The digital assets (i.e. NFTs) in these games are also typically designed as luxurious collectables with artificial scarcity, which work for niche communities but their high cost becomes a double-edged sword that prevents more individuals from embracing these games. As these games depend on new players coming in to maintain their existence, the high barriers to entry make the sustainability of this economic model rather questionable.
Okay… do we really need Web3-based games?
Truth is, technology will continue to evolve and the same goes to players’ expectations. Remember the retro Snake games that you grew up playing? It was sufficient to entertain yourself for hours in the past, but the experience might no longer be felt the same now. The reason is you have the access to games with better graphics, more exciting storyline, or deeply engaged communities, so you will naturally opt for the ‘better’ option and perceive these features as something that you will be looking for in a game that you play.
In the context of today’s world, players increasingly wish to have more control over their gaming experience and spend their valuable time in something that has the highest perceived benefits. Here, Web3-based games which offer more ownership and economic opportunities to players serve as an attractive solution that both creators and players increasingly embrace.
Sooner or later, the ability to shape the gaming experience and play-to-earn capabilities will be the norms that players expect to see in a game.
Coming back to our question, do we really need Web3-based games? If not now, it will be a preferred option in the future. So the industry has to closely monitor its development and adopt this technology to stay relevant.
So… what exactly is this decentralised ownership?
Imagine that you are playing an action game. You purchased a weapon in this game and decided that you no longer need this weapon, as you have obtained a more powerful one. Most of the time, you could do nothing but keep this old weapon of yours.
It is not the case in Web3-based games. You can sell your old weapon in the form of a digital asset in secondary markets. This makes your in-game weapon more of an investment that can benefit you throughout its entire lifetime instead of a one-off expense.
As more Web3-based games come to life, you might be able to bring your digital assets and use them across different games. You might even trade your digital assets with other players’ assets as you wish in a secure manner, as every transaction is captured and validated in the blockchain. These abilities, of course, will allow you to have a better, more personalised gaming experience.
Navigating the Web3 gaming
There is still a lot to be done to define how Web3-based games will transform the industry. In addressing this, industry players have to come together to develop a universe where players can invest in digital assets at reasonable prices and grow them through their own active participation in the games.
How such a game looks like is a work in progress that we are all looking forward to seeing.
Stay tuned on our Medium for more #SurfingTheWeb3 articles!
