NFT games are a new trend in the cryptocurrency industrywhich appeared relatively recently. In the wake of the popularity of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which rose last year, developers began to release interactive projects in which you can earn quite real money.
In this article, we understand what you need to know about cryptocurrency games in 2022, what types they are divided into and how to organize a stable income without looking up from the gameplay?
What are cryptocurrency games
Crypto games are projects where players can own certain digital property, the authenticity and uniqueness of which verified by the blockchain. Also, users have the opportunity to freely exchange or sell this property, both within the game and on third-party marketplaces.
How does all this look in practice? As a conditional example, you can take any part of the Pokemon franchise. Suppose each of the Pokémon presented in the game is a unique NFT with a certain value, and its owner has the full right to exchange the monster for another or even sell it. Moreover, the price of a Pokemon can grow depending on the level of its skills and the stage of evolution, and some of them can be issued absolutely free when completing certain missions and quests.
It is important to understand that in most modern NFT games (but not all), you must purchase your first conditional “Pokemon” (a map in a TCG, a plot in a farming simulator, a car in races, etc.) at your own expense. Therefore, before investing your crypto in a particular project, it would be useful to study reviews about it to make sure that it is reliable.
Advantages and disadvantages of NFT games
The obvious advantages include:
- A significant part of the popular and proven games, which are based on cryptocurrency and operations with it (and their number has already reached a hundred), has high transparency. This minimizes the risk of fraud by both players and developers.
- Received in the gameplay non-fungible tokens can be purchased and sold both in the game itself and on specialized platforms, sharpened for NFT trading. For example, rare weapons from shooters, player cards from soccer games, RPG gear, and other items have intrinsic value even outside of the titles in which they are used.
- Functional feedback to developers. Since the internal economy of NFT games depends directly on the actions of users, the creators of such projects listen to their wishes and promptly make changes to the smart contract protocol. Some crypto games even work according to a decentralized management method, and all changes in them are determined by voting among the owners of non-fungible tokens.
- The most obvious plus time monetization. Almost any action in NFT games has a significant financial incentive, which is what makes them so attractive.
Of course, the system is imperfect and there are some disadvantages:
- The first and most obvious disadvantage of NFT titles is their primitive appearance and gameplay. Most of them look like browser games of the past decade, since their development is often not the responsibility of eminent game designers, but simple NFT enthusiasts. Thus, one should not expect plot or gameplay revelations from such projects (but gradually this problem is being solved and more serious companies have taken up the development of games).
- Most of the current NFT games operate on the Ethereum blockchain, which is famous for its slow and expensive transactions.. This imposes noticeable restrictions on in-game activities, as well as the purchase or sale of unique items outside of games. Of course, there are alternatives, but at the moment there are very few of them.
Varieties of crypto games
Even though the crypto game format is in its early stages of development, it already covers many popular genres. Among them can be found as obvious for such a format:
- collectible card titles;
- pet breeding simulators;
- sports projects;
- shooters;
- platformers;
- as well as entire metaverses built entirely in virtual reality.
The defining feature of these games is low entry thresholdbecause each of them is designed for the widest possible audience. Thus, NFT games are extremely beginner friendly, and their basic mechanics can be easily mastered within the first hour.
Most projects fall into one of the following categories:
- TCG and other collectible games. This includes all crypto-based counterparts of Gwent and Hearthstone, as well as projects where you can collect and exchange unique collectible cards - for example, with images of football players and basketball players or representatives of any other sport.
- Games designed for PvP battles. It can be both classic fighting games in the spirit of Mortal Kombat and futuristic shooters. They are united by the need to upgrade characters and equipment, as well as fights with live players. As a rule, in such projects, not only fighters, but also their weapons, equipment, and even various military equipment act as NFT elements.
- Metaverses in virtual reality. Their defining principle is freedom of action. Here you can purchase plots, build buildings, take care of pets, extract useful resources, engage in farming, etc. At the same time, almost everything that can be seen on the screen is non-fungible tokens in these titles - from a land plot to a plot grown on a virtual garden tomato.
How can you make money in NFT games?
Earning money in the vast majority of NFT projects occurs according to the following algorithm:
- User creates an account and makes the first investment cryptocurrencies to the project in order to purchase a starting non-fungible token (a land plot for building a farm, an initial set of cards, a pet or a character for PvP battles). In some cases, you can do without spending, as some developers provide everything you need to start the game for free;
- User through gameplay elements earns new tokens and increases their value (pumps the skills of heroes, collects new cards in a deck, builds a farm on his site and grows crops on it);
- User exposes its NFTs (characters, equipment, pets, vegetables from the virtual garden, etc.) on the in-game market or on one of the special auction sites. At the same time, the value of each token is determined by its rarity and functionality in the game. Accordingly, the rarer this or that item, the more actively bidding for it will be conducted.
- User transfers ownership token the most interested player, receiving in return a cryptocurrency that can be withdrawn to your own wallet.
FAQ
What is NFT?
This abbreviation refers to non-fungible tokens. In the context of games, tokens are unique items with a certain value that cannot be replaced by others.
What is Play-to-Earn (P2E)?
The name of the P2E format (aka “play for money”) speaks for itself. This is a game model in which users can perform various actions sewn into the gameplay, receiving real financial rewards for this.
Can I lose money in NFT games?
Yes. Since this is a relatively new market, there is a risk of falling for a scam project. In this regard, the example of Squid Game, which turned out to be a scam, is indicative - the creators of the game took advantage of the popularity of the series of the same name, created a one-day project in which the players invested several million dollars, and then closed it. Therefore, it is recommended to carefully study each NFT project before investing real money in it.
What can be cryptocurrency games?
Almost anything: arcades, platformers, farm simulators, strategies, CCGs, RPGs, shooters, racing, etc.
Can I lose my NFTs?
In theory, yes. This can happen due to certain rules of the game, when transferring NFTs to a wallet that does not support the required token standard, or as a result of fraudsters. This can be avoided by familiarizing yourself with the rules of the game and the most common fraudulent schemes.
How to identify NFT games created for the purpose of scamming?
As a rule, such projects have a very short lifespan, and their interface lacks tools for selling tokens and withdrawing funds. It is recommended not to invest in projects created less than a month ago and promising players the opportunity to get rich quick.
The future of NFT and the results
A few years ago, cryptocurrency was perceived as a fashionable, but completely useless technological novelty. Talking about a “soap bubble” that is about to burst has been going on for more than 10 years, but the crypt, nevertheless, continues to develop actively, covering more and more areas.
NFT games are a logical evolution of blockchain systems, and it is likely that 2022 will not be the last for him. Attractive "play to earn" format withexisted before, but it lacked structure and convenience (take, for example, gamers whose unofficial profession was pumping heroes in MMORPGs on other people's accounts). Now this format got a second wind, and given the huge interest in NFT from major game studios, sooner or later it will surely become as mainstream as digital stores like GOG and Steam.
