I haven't posted any update in quite some time. Since my last post I've changed jobs and had a baby, so I've been a bit busy! Something that has piqued my interest as of late is Web3 and Play-To-Earn games. Web3 is a loose idea for a "new" way for the internet to function. It is based on decentralization as opposed to the current, more centralized (Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.) way we currently consume and interact with the internet. The mass decentralization is made viable by blockchain technology, but it is still in the early stages in my opinion. Instead of relying on large companies to manage the infrastructure of the internet, it will be managed by individuals who run "nodes" (or similar) which will process the traffic and data of individual users. The nodes are interconnected and verifiable through public ledger/blockchain standards.
What originally got me interested in Web3, outside the technology aspect, was the game industry's slow shift into Blockchain games. Where players can actually own the content they spend so much time to acquire in virtual worlds through NFTs and/or crypto for the game. Typically, players can earn in-game rewards in the form of crypto by winning competitions, achieving high scores and sometimes just for spending time in the game. These rewards are actual cryptocurrencies that the player owns and is stored in their wallet, along with NFTs. They can then take these rewards and do what you can do with all cryptocurrencies (swap, sell, buy, etc.) or cash out to fiat to pay bills or go on vacation. The shift is currently in the early stages as most mainstream gamers aren't involved in blockchain gaming yet but the reach of blockchain gaming is growing quickly. There are a lot of up and coming titles (and a lot already released) that I believe will usher in more people from mainstream gaming.
I originally started out playing Splinterlands but couldn't keep interest in it. Then I moved over to playing Town Star by Gala Games. I actually enjoyed the simulation town building and weekly competitive aspect of it. I ended up joining a "guild" and have been playing off and on where I have time. I've been able to place in the top 20 on the weekly server a few times which rewards GALA. I was able to purchase a few of their NFTs early on as well (which have in-game utility) that earn daily TOWN. I believe Gala Games will be a front-runner in the space as they see themselves akin to a platform like Steam exists currently and already have quite a few titles committed to their ecosystem. They sell Founder nodes and individual game nodes (well, license for the node software) to support the decentralized ecosystem of the platform, which I think is a good way to go. Since then, I've been putting my "feelers" out in other communities for interesting and solid looking play to earn games.
Here's my short list of games I'm keeping an eye on or have already invested in a little bit:
A DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization. You can think of it like a publicly traded company in a sense where your shares and voting power typically come from the DAOs governance token. Many DAOs are being formed for a various purposes but the DAOs that I researched were mainly focused around blockchain gaming. A lot of games are expensive to invest in, especially the land sales that games have, and it is difficult to be involved from an individual standpoint unless you have deep pockets. Joining a DAO and investing in them allows individuals to be a part of something they may not have been able to without it. Consider an NFT land sale that sells for the equivalent of $500K USD. As an individual it would be difficult to come up with that kind of capital to purchase the land. However, if you pool $1K USD amongst 500 people in a controlled, organized and secure way (e.g. DAO), then you can participate in ownership of that NFT. Then, as a player of the game, you can reap the benefits of being a part of the organization that owns the land NFT. Now this is just a basic simple example, but it shows how joining a DAO can let even the small fish play with the whales.
A lot of popular games, like World of Warcraft, have heavily engaged guilds but all they really have to show for their vast amounts of time playing the game together are rare in-game items that only exist in that virtual world. I think it is a matter of time (and some are already doing it) that these guilds move over to blockchain games and form DAOs with their existing member base. It's a complicated process currently to set everything up correctly for a DAO so many are just joining existing DAOs and receiving benefits for bringing over their members.
The Crown Capital DAO is one that I have become a member of. The DAO has very similar interests in the games I do and its members are respectable. They haven't launched their public token yet but should be launching fairly shortly. I'm excited to see where this will all go!
This post was meant to just scratch the surface of Web3, play to earn blockchain games and DAOs. I know I oversimplified a lot of the information and left a lot of the complexities out. If your interested in dicussing this more in depth feel free to reach out!