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9 Ways Play to Earn is Changing Gaming
The Play to Earn movement is witnessing continuous growth, with fresh titles making their way into the market on a weekly basis. Positioned at the intersection of the gaming and blockchain sectors, Play to Earn stands out as one of the most talked-about trends. Its ascendancy is attributed to the advent of groundbreaking technologies, including cryptocurrencies and the metaverse. Below, we outline the top ten ways in which Play to Earn is reshaping the gaming landscape permanently.
What is Play to Earn?
In the play to earn model, gamers secure rewards for their gaming in the form of digital assets. These assets can then be converted via marketplaces into other assets such as Bitcoin or fiat currencies. The main advantage of this structure is that gamers obtain more than just bragging rights. They can earn ownership over digital assets that have real-world value.
Blockchain Technology Enables Play to Earn to Reach its Full Potential
Play to earn games have been around for decades and you may have already played some titles in the past and didn’t even realize it, and a great example of one of the oldest play to earn games is EVE Online. However, the introduction of NFTs and other blockchain assets has thrust this gaming style back into the limelight. People are spreading the word that you can secure rewards for doing what you love, gaming.
The integration of blockchain technologies improved efficiency, transparency, and reward opportunities. Now, users gained real-time insight into vital network data like the scarcity of their digital assets, token economic data, and the ability to verify the authenticity of virtual assets for free.
The play to earn concept has gained so much popularity that it has spawned a new concept with a very similar structure, and it's called move to earn. Step App is a next-generation fitness metaverse that leverages move-to-earn options to provide users with a productive and rewarding experience. Move to earn is a concept that simply builds onto the classic play to earn concept to make it feasible in the digital/virtual fitness space. In the Step App, you get rewarded for exercising, and particularly the amount of steps you take. You can earn rewards in the form of KCAL tokens for jogging, running, and even competing with friends in marathons and more. This structure enables you to keep your body and KCAL token balance healthy.
Play to Earn Games Utilize NFTs to Reward Gamers
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) stand as a cornerstone in the realm of blockchain assets, playing a pivotal role in establishing play-to-earn as the norm for those pushing the boundaries of gaming. These tokens adeptly represent individual digital or real-world assets, rendering them particularly suitable for gaming applications. Currently, two primary types of NFTs dominate the play-to-earn market: user-relevant and game-relevant.
User-relevant NFTs derive their value from scarcity and popularity within a specific community, with their primary worth stemming from their capacity to showcase uniqueness and prestige. On the other hand, game-relevant NFTs derive value from their utility within the gaming ecosystem, impacting the player's in-game avatar and overall experience.
Step App has harnessed the gamified NFT and token reward structure to revolutionize the virtual fitness industry, transforming it from a solitary endeavor into a competitive social event. Participants engage in real-world workouts and are rewarded with KCAL tokens within the Step App. These earned tokens can then be staked to unlock valuable rewards, adding a layer of competitiveness and social interaction to the virtual fitness experience.
The Top 10 Ways Play To Earn is Changing Gaming
There are endless ways in which the play to earn movement continues to alter the trajectory of the gaming market. From developers to players, everyone has some reason to want to integrate this technology further. Here are the top 10 ways play to earn gaming has changed gaming in 2022.
1. Mobile Gaming is Taking the Charge in Play to Earn Sector
The first way that play to earn gaming is changing the market is through the platforms used to access it. In today’s fast-paced society, it’s becoming rarer for someone to have time put aside to sit down at a gaming console or PC and play. The rise in inexpensive and highly capable Smartphones has altered the landscape.
Most play to earn titles will be geared toward mobile users moving forward. This strategy makes sense when you consider that the average person spends far more time on their Smartphone than their PC. Additionally, these devices are integrating more sensors and data collection points. This information directly correlates to more immersive games.
Smartphones play a vital role in many AR (augmented reality) platforms today. Step App, is very reliant on mobile users as well since its entire ecosystem, and move to earn mechanism is designed to keep people connected while they are on the move. The system leverages data from your smartphone to track steps to ensure you get credit for your efforts. In the future, the network will integrate additional AR to help make your jog more entertaining and keep you connected with other people staying healthy in the metaverse, and in the real world.
2. Play to Earn Gaming is Going Social
The evolution of play to earn gaming has taken various forms over the years. In its nascent stage, blockchain-based play to earn games centered around basic collectibles, exemplified by early titles like CryptoKitties. These games were characterized by a simple objective: collecting and breeding new NFTs. Another notable example in the collectible-based play to earn genre is Axie Infinity, which gained widespread popularity.
However, the landscape has significantly transformed, and today's play to earn games go beyond mere collections. The latest generation of play to earn games goes far beyond the static nature of early collectibles. They introduce a social dimension, allowing players to connect with old friends, make new acquaintances, and collaboratively reap rewards. These games are immersive and prioritize creating enjoyable gameplay experiences, ensuring that players are motivated not just by financial incentives but also by the sheer enjoyment of the game. The current wave of play to earn games stands as a testament to the fusion of social interaction, immersive gameplay, and financial rewards, marking a significant advancement in the gaming industry.
3. Prepare for Full-Time Play to Earn Gamers
Remember when your mom used to tell you to turn off the games and go outside and get a job? Well, those days are quickly becoming a thing of the past thanks to play to earn gaming. The number of full-time gamers around the world has skyrocketed. These changes are already being seen in areas like the Philippines where people turned to play to earn during the pandemic to supplement their lives.
The integration of high yield (albeit high risk as well) DeFi options such as staking and farming pools is another reason why so many people have made the switch to full-time gamers. These services enable you to secure passive rewards without needing to swap your assets like trading. The overall ease of use and convenience of these play to earn and staking options has made them attractive to many gamers.
As more fun, challenging and immersive play to earn games are created the play to earn gaming ecosystem will grow. The growth of the play to earn ecosystem will naturally attract more full time gamers who believe they can earn a living from gaming. Besides, many gamers already make a living from YouTube, and Twitch so the willingness of people to become full time gamers is definitely there. Granted, the play to earn ecosystem is still very small, thus most full time play to earn gamers can only supplement their income from play to earn games right now.
4. Play to Earn Gaming Will Revolutionise In Game Economies
One of the most interesting ways in which play to earn gaming is changing the sector is that it’s bringing in more financial experts. The advent of GameFi and play to earn has melded the line between finance and gaming. The classic game economies have gone from very basic buying and selling markets to advanced multi-national eCommerce hubs.
The introduction of blockchain assets has improved these markets considerably. People can now trade in-game assets for out-of-game assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum securely and conveniently. Researchers have stated that many aspects of these virtual economies mirror real-life scenarios and problems.
Consequently, in-game markets are going to get much more similar to today’s real world economies.
They will facilitate the exchange of assets in a transparent and streamlined manner with the advantage being that blockchain networks provide play to earn commerce. Who knows, maybe an in-game economy will help the FED figure out how to curb inflation without creating a recession by raising interest rates too fast.
Step App has actually created a pretty unique economy for its fitness community as well. Many play to earn games with GameFi mechanics are inspired by the economic model Step App has created for its move to earn fitness ecosystem. The great advantage of having so many metaverse and in-game economies is that people can keep learning, and advancing economic concepts from each other to continually improve the play to earn as well as move to earn ecosystems.
5. Play to Earn Games Can Drastically Increase Demand for Developers
While the advantages of play to earn may seem obvious for gamers, there are also a ton of reasons why developers are on board with the movement. For one, developers have found that play to earn games has created a new popular niche that has made them even higher in demand than they were before. Gamers aren’t the only people who can make money from play to earn gaming. These play to earn games need to be developed by someone, and developers will gladly make them, for a fee of course.
Play to earn games have also created new funding models that help development studios to create more immersive and helpful games without having to rely on traditional venture capital. For example, some Play to Earn games create communities and then raise funds for their game through in-game tokens and NFTs.
6. Play to Earn Gaming Empowers Users
The play to earn movement is giving gamers a record number of new opportunities. For example, many play to earn titles employ some form of community governance. Community governance systems first appeared on Ethereum and DeFi protocols. They work by enabling users to stake their tokens to secure voting rights.
Anyone can vote on vital issues on the platform. You can even put forth proposals to be voted on. The proposals that pass get instated. This structure is ideal for the user because it puts them in the driver’s seat. This structure also represents how developers have decided to relinquish some power to create a more balanced gaming industry. Essentially, this new governance structure for games allows gamers to play to earn the right to influence in-game decisions, and the direction of the game as a whole.
7. Get Ready for Hybrid Play to Earn
Play to earn hybrid platforms are popping up all over the place. These networks take traditional games and add a play to earn twist to them. For example, you could have a fantasy football league that leverages NFT tokens as players. Each NFT token can be connected to the real-world stats of the player and adjust automatically. In this scenario, you would obtain rewards for their actions.
AR continues to drive innovation in the market. Titles like PokemanGo showcased that gamers are willing to travel to play large immersive AR titles. In that title, people would traverse their local city in search of rare digital animals. The title was a massive success. No one could argue adding a play to earn aspect to the game could have made it a financial success for players as well.
Platforms like Step App are a great example of a hybrid in the sense that it took traditional virtual exercise platforms, and combined it with play to earn to create a new concept called move to earn. Step App has transformed the boring and mundane world of virtual exercising into a rewarding, social activity and competitive activity. This approach takes the valuable lessons learned over the last 5 years from titles like PokemanGo and combines them with the real-world goals of staying fit and healthy. In the end, Step App users can look forward to physical gains and financial rewards.
8. Virtual Landlords are on the rise in the Play to Earn Market
Another transformative aspect of play to earn in the gaming market is the emergence of virtual landlords. The value of virtual land in the metaverse continues to soar, with each metaverse featuring a predetermined number of plots usually represented as NFTs. This structure enables users to trade their virtual real estate NFTs across various NFT marketplaces.
A growing number of game development studios, especially those venturing into the realm of play to earn games, are keen on building their games within the Metaverse. The rationale behind this trend lies in the belief that the Metaverse serves as an ideal virtual real estate location to connect with their niche market. The Metaverse, with its virtual land and NFT infrastructure, has become a sought-after space for game development, contributing to the evolving dynamics of the gaming industry.
9. Play to Earn Will Commodify and Financialise Gaming
Another way in which play to earn gaming is shifting the network is that it’s making gaming a lot more financially oriented. Many of the play to earn titles offered today require users to purchase an item to begin gaming. Of course, these costs can be offset by any rewards you make after you start playing the game. However, many find that such a large emphasis on finance and economics makes play to earn a more niche gaming concept rather than something that will attract the masses.
There is definitely some merit to the concept that making gaming so immersive that it begins to resemble the real world is not appealing to many people. It’s still important to keep in mind that at the end of the day people play games for 2 reasons: some people consider gaming to be a relaxing escape from the real world, but many people play games to simply compete, win and gain bragging rights. Players who are into the competitive aspect of gaming will love the play to earn structure, and the financial rewards it brings. Although, people who play games to relax will most likely not be interested in play to earn gaming.
10. Play to Earn Gaming isn't Just the Future - It's Now
It can be easy to dismiss play to earn gaming as another fad but the facts are out. This style of gaming has a growing user base, and the full support of a large and growing community of gamers. As such, you can expect to see many more play to earn titles that leverage the metaverse and AR to improve the gaming experience.
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