People have spoken in bright tones about the transformative properties of blockchain since Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009.– Books have been written, thousands of panels and presentations have complemented their perspectives, Bitcoin maximalists in disguise have flaunted their newfound wealth. Despite these accolades, the transformation has been slow.
However, whether the delay is due to the global COVID-19 pandemic or simply the time it takes to create innovation, we are now on the cusp of change that is creating new economies and forms of human interaction. The Metaverse, with the powerful combination of game theory and blockchain, is creating tokenized incentives in virtual worlds. Decentraland has already started to revolutionize people’s lives and interactions, and many similar platforms are being built. The Metaverse will grow to include multiple cross-chain possibilities as the virtual economy grows in importance.
NFT and the gaming industry
GameFi, a term used to describe the burgeoning intersection between decentralized technology and the video game industry, is where real value is created. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) allow players to own assets with tangible real-world value and incentivize players to participate for longer periods of time, as well as allowing developers to create in-game economies that are based on creativity. and the interactions of players as creators and owners.
Blockchain offers numerous advantages to GameFi:
- Transparency: By making the gamification mechanisms clear, transparent, and perhaps coded through a smart contract, users tend to trust more and therefore invest more resources in terms of money and time.
- Interoperability: The blockchain allows the possibility of creating portability of virtual resources outside the limits imposed until now.
- Liquidity: It is now possible to buy, sell and trade assets outside of individual games.
- Autonomous automation with smart contracts, which can allow multiple parties to interact with each other, even without human intervention.
NFTs can increase player engagement and create better gaming experiences that ultimately increase the value of NFTs and in-game tokens. Players can now have agency within the games they want to play and as to how these games evolve.
Axie Infinity rose to fame, in part, because of its social impact in keeping families out of poverty during the pandemic, and its player-created “academic” program, which encourages community development, is growing rapidly. It is now a gaming ecosystem controlled by multi-billion dollar players.
BlackPool is another example of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) developed for NFT gaming and trading. This platform is very community driven; cHe combines a passion for games and art with data analytics and machine learning to deliver benefits to users. BlackPool has also implemented scholarship programs similar to Axie, opening up new sources of income for the excluded. Blockchain enables participation, voting rights, and monetization within an economy. It is also possible through interoperability to provide for the creation of online community networks, with exchanges and interactions between them.
Community first
The big story here is that we are seeing a shift from “corporation first” to “community first.” Community is formed around an idea or interest through engagement and collaboration with the community, and concepts emerge from the community.
These communities are decentralized and governed by the community: designs can be put to a vote and the artwork with the highest number of votes from the community can finally be accepted for the final design. Every time someone mints an NFT, the artists who worked on the asset earn royalties for each transaction. This will open up uncharted grounds for monetizing creative skills and knowledge.
Create-to-earn model makers take complete control of game studios and are directly involved in game development. This gives the community the opportunity to create in-game assets, create NFTs, and sell them in secondary markets. This is a powerful new creator economy that is emerging, in which gamers and coders can unleash their ideas, enhance the in-game experience, and monetize their intellectual capital. This makes the gaming ecosystem more community-driven, with incentives for content creators to improve the overall gaming experience. Anyone with basic coding skills can contribute to the game.
This will also drive the emergence of new social networks among creators and fans. The attention economy will be replaced via social tokens in the Metaverse to bring in a new immersive fan-led economy. Social tokens based on a brand, community or influencer will allow communities or celebrities to be further monetized. They will create two-way relationships between creators and consumers, with benefits for both sides. These Web 3.0 communities are collaborating, evangelizing, and creating tribal networking effects, all helping each other drive the value of their platform.
Digital communities are forming networks through tokenized economies. The more players use or promote the community, the stronger the game and the underlying blockchain will become. The players are the stakeholders.
This creates the data infrastructure to enable a harmonized and interconnected Metaverse that further enables tokenized NFTs to include digital data rights and store, track and enforce those data rights. We are still in the early days of this transformation, and the future rests in the hands of innovators and creators, and the community that supports them. These communities are the new tribes of the Metaverse, and the only limit to what is possible is your imagination!
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every trade and investment move involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making a decision.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Jane thomason is a blockchain thought leader for social impact. He has a PhD from the University of Queensland. He has held multiple roles at the British Association for Blockchain and Frontier Technologies, the Kerala Blockchain Academy, the Africa Blockchain Center, the UCL Center for Blockchain Technologies, Frontiers in Blockchain, and Fintech Diversity Radar. He has written several books and articles on blockchain. She has been featured in Crypto Curry Club’s 101 Women on Blockchain, Decade of Women Collaboratory’s Top 10 Digital Frontier Women, Lattice80’s Top 100 Fintech for SDG Influencers, and Thinkers360’s Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Blockchain.
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