Concerning Web3 games
Inspiration. Zero to One. Observations. Games. Now.
Foreword.
I started my blockchain research path back in 2017.
Initially, I was inspired by the concept of blockchains and the code is law philosophy.
My background made me realize how badly government systems based on
human decisions are corrupted.
I searched for legit use cases for the tech as back in 2017 almost all newly established blockchain startups aimed to disrupt various industries. I got fascinated by the IoT and robotics use cases, and how physical hardware [robots / IoT devices] can be independent economic agents ie open market participants.
Inspiration
Inspired by Ronan.eth and his friend back in Summer 2022. I’ve spent more than a year researching the concept of Autonomous Worlds and Fully onchain games.
Back in the day, I was working on a rogue-like game focused on onboarding gamers in the Web3 space through a Web2.5 experience. During an in-depth discussion with Rohan, I played devil’s advocate in favour of Web2.5 games and considered myself a winner.
In the coming months, their arguments resonated with me. I felt the urge to research.
This is the first article in the bi-weekly digest to shed some light on recent findings, techno-economic solutions, and most importantly why.
Zero to One
There are different ways to build blockchain games. Some focus on onboarding the next million users to the Web3 space. While others innovate leading the 0 to 1 journey.
Web2.5 games use blockchains as transparent databases for in-game characters, items or other entities { usually those items are minted from their cloud server db }. While Web3, or so-called fully onchain games additionally execute the game’s business logic onchain, make whole game / world transparent and persistent.
As with globalization, Web2.5 game builders are working on leveraging existing game mechanics and business models. Which is great, Web3 space needs more users and wider adoption. But. We can’t innovate only by replicating existing products and games.
Web 2.5 games are usually based on so-called Ponzinomics. This fundamental nature of Web 2.5 games created a fast-spread Play-to-Earn narrative. As it happens, Ponzi collapses. A wide range of audiences - gamers, game developers, and average office Joe’s have strengthened their beliefs that cryptocurrency is a scam.
P2E market impacted many people and most of them lost, this will happen over and over again. Perhaps point systems could shape a more resilient world economy. I’d love to explore how fully onchain games and autonomous worlds offer unparalleled opportunities for socio-economical experiments in the upcoming articles.
Observations
William Robbinson at Game Developers Conference, August 15, 2022.
Around 30k attendees, mainly game developers.
William did a great job getting into GDC as a speaker back then! He overviewed new opportunities for designing game economies and core gameplay mechanics.
I highlighted some positive comments -
On UGC rev share - "When you purchase a dance in Fortnite, Epic Games gets the money and the developers each just continue to receive their fixed salaries. Now, imagine that dance animation has all the names of the animator, creative director, motion-capture actor, etc. listed next to it and when you make that purchase, it is publicly known (through smart contract/blockchain) that they are directly paid and credited. Wouldn't you feel better about buying such things? This empowers, inspires and incentivizes makers."
On magic circle - "A game can be a lot of things...but at the end of the day it should be fun to sit there and play it. Playing a game to earn CAN have some entertainment value but its more about the adrenaline rush. the story can be any shlog you want as long as you're still earning."
On game within a game - “CSGo is an example with how skins are sold on steam. I think things like that are okay (though they hold their own issues), since its not necessary to play the game. you can ignore it entirely if you do not care for or do not want to support gambling on skins."
I believe we as game developers and designers are yet to find ways of composability and item scarcity.
There were lots of toxic comments on ponzinomics, NFTs and lack of value add.
How do we fix it?
Building gameplay loops untouchable by NFTs and tokens with the focus on onchain execution, permissionless extendability and persistance.
Preserving the magic circle from pay-to-win influence.
Games
Games are a fundamental part of the world we live in - Taxi drivers, musicians, support in your favourite MOBA game, Psychiatrists professors, Parents, etc, people tend to play different games and carefully use different roles.
It’s been more than two years since William’s talk at GDC. Web3 technologies have made tremendous progress and allow developers to create new experiences.
Skystrife by Lattice.
Permisionless. Persistent. Extandable. Trusted.
I really love it. It’s the first fully onchain that I had an aha moment with. It reminded me a mixture of RTS, MOBA, and Footman. I highly recomend it to everyone familiar with those genres, and I strongly believe in its success.
At this point, I think most successful PFP NFT / NFT collections are working on extending their worlds. Worlds accessible through games.
Is there a reason for owning an NFT certificate for progress in an off-chain game?
I don’t see a tangible difference between online / MMO games and Web 2.5 games that the certain studio behind can turn off, or kill the magic circle.
Now
I highly recommend you explore pet3rpan’s thread that covers the evolution of the autonomous world from May 2023 to April 2024. He also highlighted the results of Worlds_AA, where 132 builders gathered offline to build games on top of games.
I hope you enjoyed my first article and will subscribe to the digest :)