Blockchain Gaming

Blockchain Gaming - Its increasing popularity. And why it should be on the radar of traditional gamers, coders and artist.

Blockchain technology and blockchain gaming are relative new terms appearing in traditional gaming circles. Not too long ago any reference to blockchain was automatically and solely aligned with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. There was barely a thought that Blockchain technology would have any association with gaming. That time is changing. Blockchain gaming although still in its infancy has been around for about 4-5 years.

So what is blockchain? In the most simplest form it is an immutable record of every digital transaction, recorded on a chain in a form of blocks. Each new block stores historical information from the previous block as it records new transactions. These blocks(data) are stored on a large network of various computers (nodes) around the world for integrity/consensus and decentralization (in most cases).
Therefore a transaction is tamper proof because all the nodes on the network must agree the transaction is ‘true/valid’. If someone attempts a false transaction it will be rejected by the network.

Blockchain also provides transparency allowing anyone to see the transactions through a web browser on what is called a block explorer. You can look at data in realtime or look for historical information.

Here are two in-depth links to blockchain and blockchain explorer.

Now that you have a vary basic understanding of blockchain, I’ll attempt to explain how the two gaming styles differ. I am not a heavy gamer, and definitely not an expert, however I am familiar with the two worlds. Growing up and participating in the ‘High Score’ era (a Netflix movie) and witnessing the growth of blockchain I see the benefits as well as the challenges of blockchain gaming. This comparison is not to pit one against the other but to illustrate some differences so that new players/developers/coders/artist from the traditional gaming wanting to explore blockchain gaming have a more realistic expectations.

Traditional Games.
Generally all games are predetermined. The assets: your avatar/character, elements in environment, the mission or objective are already defined. This makes entry or onboarding very simple and easy. In some games, a game could introduce secondary games to assist with player engagement. Game signup is often just a payment or subscription an email and a password.
And depending on the game they could offer ways to advance or enhance your player. Such as a purchase for X item with in-game currency or credit card. Where X items could be skins, tools, furniture, seeds, armour. You get the idea.

The one thing that is most constant is that game play whatever it is, is immediate. Sign in and off you go. The computers storing all the game and player data are on a centralized network.

However, what has slowly emerged is the realization that none of the assets purchased belong to a player, but remain the property of the game developer. The other factor is lack of community involvement with game direction and development and lack of transparency on how monetary funds are deployed. 

Blockchain Games:
Here is where it gets tricky. The approach to a blockchain game is different and thus requires a different way of thinking, while still retaining conventional gaming mechanics. Blockchain Gaming carries over all the same constructs to its counterpart and more. The major difference is how the game is developed. Generally at a slower rate one segment at time vs full game release.

Let us take away most of the presets and start completely blank or on a simple grid. Every new feature must first be coded AND be viable across a vast decentralized network. Most items first require to be ‘owned’ before they can be utilized as an asset, modified or played.

In essence because the game is on a blockchain there needs to be a transaction of some kind. A purchase, a trade, a sale, or other (to be determined) that work harmoniously. All these transactions are recorded on the network for your reference as an owner or any other player/owner since all transactions are transparent.

What does it mean to be an owner?
​Just that, the assets you acquire are yours forever. The purchases you make, in most if not all instances, can trade, upgrade or sell your assets also known as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) for money or other cryptocurrencies and have a say or input on game direction. The computers storing game and player info are accessible via the block explorer. You can see your game transactions whenever you want.

But there are a few challenges with Blockchain gaming.
-Because the game is set on blockchain, most games require a crypto wallet and if you are not familiar with cryptocurrencies this could be overwhelming for most traditional gamers and the mass population. The game Upland scores major points here since no wallet is required to play simple signup (email and password).

-Robust gameplay remains a bit of a challenge in comparison to traditional gaming. As you may already assume gameplay must integrate with the blockchain showing every record. Not an easy feat to accomplish - yet.

-Design and aesthetics, there is room for improvement and a few have, such as Upland and Chibis Global compared to earlier games and there are other blockchain games on the horizon that have scaled up their visuals as well.

So let’s be fair, traditional gaming had 35 + years to evolve. Take a look at Donkey Kong back in 1981, Mario today is no where near the gameplay or graphics back then. It is now far more complex and detailed. We can’t expect blockchain gaming to be at the same level just yet. However I doubt it will take 35+ years to get there. 

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 Internet image from YouTube.

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Now you may think this comparison favours traditional gaming over blockchain gaming. Not at all, I pretty much enjoy both with a heavy lean towards blockchain. This article is to bring early awareness about blockchain gaming adoption to the traditional gaming sector and its supporting communities.
Take a look at articles from CoinDesk and Hedgetrade discussing the popular Minecraft utilizing blockchain to tokenize elements in the game. 

If you read any of my early articles/blogs you will know I favour blockchain as a new tool for society in general. Blockchain gaming in my opinion offers one of the best onboarding methods for mass adoption into this new technology.
Blockchain Gaming like early Minecraft is for anyone with an interest to build (or maybe more accurately re-build), create and share environments within a strong supportive communities. To develop a platform for future gameplay features while learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Patience is key, it takes time to build a different type of game, a city, much less a universe. However the earlier you are involved the better and more opportunities you have help shape the game and to me that that kind of ownership is the most impressive.

​I hope this article provided some highlights about blockchain gaming. What blockchain games have you discovered and enjoyed?

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