The concept of "play to earn" and the usage of NFTs in games has become quite popular this past year. Understandably, there's been a lot of questions around the value these additions provide to the games, does everything need to be an NFT, or if some of these are even games at all. In an attempt to answer some of these questions, this article will break down some of the current landscape and give some thoughts on various games.
It's important to note that nothing written here or in future articles should be considered any form of financial/investment advice and you should do your own research.
What is "Play to Earn"?
The general concept of "play to earn" can be summed up as a business model where players gain assets/benefits that are not purely restricted to any one game, usually in the form of tradeable tokens or assets (NFTs). There's a bit of conflation with some players seeing this as primarily a financial engagement/investment opportunity, instead of games with an added bonus/opportunity. A good number of projects will attempt to reiterate that the project is not an investment, but a game first.
Does EVERYTHING Need to be an NFT?
As mentioned above, some blockchain games offer opportunities for players to collect NFTs by playing the game or interacting with the application. Depending on the exact application, there may be items that are tokenized and some that are not. A recent article raised the notion that not everything has to be an NFT or a token - which I agree with. At the core of it, the necessity of a game item being an NFT or only an in-game item depends on the design, mechanics, and economics of the game. From a technology perspective, the blockchain the game interacts with may also determine the viability of items being NFTs (transaction fees, CPU/RAM costs, etc).
Are these games even games?
One common criticism of the blockchain games is their existence and popularity is only due to earning potential. Often, the graphics, mechanics, and medium of the game differ from familiar titles. So are these games even games? In order to answer this question, one must ask "What is a game?". To that, this video from Extra Credits has an excellent answer:
TLDW: Mu. It's a limiting question and blockchain games/apps are still young in the larger timeline - pushing boundaries is not easy and takes time.
A better question perhaps, "is this enjoyable?"
There's a larger sentiment hidden within the "not everything needs to be an NFT" argument - are certain games/experiences only as popular as they are because of the potential to earn? Undoubtedly so - one of the most popular applications could be reproduced by pressing a button every 5 minutes. Abstracting the mechanical interactions and decision process around the interactions is a good way to gauge the experience outside of the earning potential. Quite a few of the games available now follow the dark pattern of "playing by appointment" - effectively requiring interactions dictated by a timer with minimal decisions.
That's not to say all blockchain games are like that - some do have quite a deal of depth and polish, especially at this stage in time.
Blockchain Games Resembling Familiar Games
Lost Relics is one that comes to mind as a full fledged ARPG (perhaps one of the more approachable games from a traditional perspective), handling the separation of NFTs/in game items as well.
Splinterlands is an NFT card based game - most assets are NFTs, but not all - with strategic elements to its play as well as a fairly fleshed out lore for the game world. Other card games utilizing blockchain tech are pushing the boundaries a bit as well - Skyweaver and Gods Unchained are both very well developed experiences that resemble other traditional digital trading card games.
As a whole, there's a lot of potential within the Play to Earn and blockchain gaming space (this article didn't even touch on the possibility of interoperability of assets!). Dismissing experiences as "not a game" due to graphics or mechanics doesn't really do much good for the space, it's more of a question if it's an enjoyable experience or not. That being said, some are arguably more enjoyable than others which get a pass due to their "earning" mechanics.
In the near future, there'll be a few more detailed reviews of various blockchain games posted, along with some tips on how to start. If there's a specific game you'd like to see reviewed, or specific questions you'd be interested in being part of the review, please post it in the comments. Thanks for reading, and if you enjoy discussing blockchain gaming, consider joining the Crypto Gaming Guild on Discord.