Category: Play to Earn Games

Several game lovers have discovered a strange way of earning real money from just playing games. It is equally important to define the benefits of the games industry, which can be ready and produce great results. Gone are the days when playing games was simply a passive hobby without any tangible reward. Now, the gaming industry commands billions of dollars in worth.

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the business are not simply the investors or the designers. We now have the game players with a financial stake in the best play to earn games. Also, they expend their time and investment in the game and earn monetary rewards. New gamers also have access to a new community of game lovers with healthy social interaction. 

The blockchain industry has also brought a paradigm shift to the gaming industry. And the reward of the game is not restricted to the distributors, game developers, and investors. But now, game players can also generate income from playing these games with non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These NFT games are based on a unique technology and gaming model known as the play-to-earn or P2E model. Also, they are suitable for play both on the gaming console, the computer, or a smartphone on the go. 

However, before we even begin to explore these play-to-earn games, let us learn in detail about them.

What are Play-to-Earn games?

Play-to-earn (P2E) games allow players to earn digital assets or items as they advance in their gaming experience. For instance, in Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, players can continue to gather in-game assets such as weapons and wearables or acquire properties. At other times these rewards are earned when the player completes a challenge or wins a quest. The offer may also be the content of a loot box that the player can buy with real currency. 

The items are limitless and vary depending on the gaming environment and type. P2E games also allow players to customize their characters with different attires or outfits and fortify them with equipment and weapons. However, the items may not be sellable to other players in cash but only using in-game currency. This function is what the play-to-earn games introduced to the gaming world. 

The reliability of the blockchain technology means there is now a secure platform that allows things that were not conceivable to be possible. Now, game developers can create rewards and in-game systems so that they are unique and priceless. Also, they are transferrable from one player to another. At the same time, the rewards can range from native digital currencies that are only peculiar to the game at hand or NFTs that can be earned by staking. 

On the other hand, the gained NFT currency can be exported into a crypto wallet and exchanged for fiat currencies. Or the player may choose to sell these items to other players within the game community, trading platforms, or even to secondary marketplaces. One of such popular play-to-earn games is the Axe Infinity, in which players can buy axies, breed them and battle them against other axies for NFT rewards. The game is also based on the Ethereum blockchain.

An NFT represents each Axies that the players can buy or sell using cryptocurrency technology. Let us now move to the core of the essence of this article.

How to pick the best play-to-earn (P2E) game

Now that you have learned what play-to-earn games are about, the next thing is to choose the right one for you. There are many P2E game options today apart from Axie Infinity we mentioned earlier. In addition, there are several hundreds of play-to-earn games that are in development. 

However, how do you know which one is worth your time and effort as the right one? Before you begin the search, you should consider what you stand to gain as the payout. In other words, what exactly do you stand to gain from playing these games? In addition, how can you convert these coins from the P2E games into cryptocurrencies that you can, in turn, sell for real money? 

What steps should you then take?

Define your goals: NFT rewards, Coins, or the two?

In-game rewards from play-to-earn games come in different types and forms. And many times, the game developers understand the reward system so that they allow both rewards to be possible. Therefore, it is easy for you to pursue NFT rewards, coin rewards, or combining the two types. When you now earn these rewards, you can trade them or sell them to other players or buyers in the external trading marketplaces. 

On the other hand, the game player can earn a popular cryptocurrency from playing these games. For example, the NFT in Axie Infinity is valued as ETH since it is based on Ethereum technology. Therefore, players can earn ETH directly from their time and win like they can earn other popular currencies from playing the game. Another case is the Coin Hunt World, where players can explore the neighborhoods for the keys to unlock the available quizzes. 

So, when you complete a task or win a conquest, you can earn a bitcoin or ether, a native cryptocurrency of Ethereum. After deciding on your goals, you should understand how to achieve their goals. Or put, what do you have to do to earn these cryptocurrency rewards? In addition, you should understand the time it will take to earn these rewards. While some rewards come after simple daily tasks, others require a considerable investment before reward.

Method of cashing out your coins

After you get your rewards from these play-to-earn games, you can then proceed to convert them to sellable coins. Another peculiar property of these play-to-earn games is that they are built on Polygon and Ethereum technology systems. However, based on the popularity and value of each coin, not all coins sell at the same rate and time. For instance, the NFTs can take some time before one can sell them. However, other in-game assets are more accessible.

So, before you even begin to invest in the game, you should do thorough research. Besides, you can also learn how to utilize these coins for other purposes in the real world. For instance, you can use the coins for trading and buying other assets in the marketplace. As a result, it is an invaluable decision to choose the correct item to go for and what to do with them.

It is only fair not to be concerned about the goodies of play to earn games while we ignore the common issues that players complain of having. There are some glaring issues that people have raised on the gaming model over the past few months. And denying them will not suit the overall game economy while we maintain a continuous improvement culture for the game. The issues with play to earn games may also impede mainstream adoption or negatively affect the gaming sector.

Since there is a continuous increase in the number of new play to earn NFT games releases and tokens within the space, it is becoming harder to keep up with every release to identify their shortcomings. Meanwhile, the purpose of the x-ray is to help the developer improve on the next edition. Otherwise, the problems may be overblown into a scam of the game model while ignoring the unique features that the game must have brought to the industry. 

Below are some of the problems that are common with play to earn NFT games and potential solutions. 

Most play-to-earn games are not deep enough for long-term engagement.

When you first think of the opportunity that NFT games bring, you may assume that it continues forever. When a game player has gone into enough online video tournaments all their life, they can tell you for free that NFT games are shallow. They may not give you the intended long-term engagement you may crave for. And the reason is simple: they were designed to satisfy the gameplayer’s financial needs rather than entertainment. 

So, while there is a lot of positivity and massive hopium, there is a contrastingly little substance to back them up. Instead, gamers and investors would prefer to give the benefit of the doubt while investing in the potential that the game promises. Meanwhile, the added tons of garbage with microtransactions with questionable gameplay can be worked upon. A way to compound the issues is by focusing on consistent building for economic significance. 

You may also discover a short time of actual gameplay while the bulk of the time goes into a repetitive cycle. It is hard to keep up engagement with players if your actual game time is less than 30 minutes, coupled with a string of repetitions. Therefore, the solution is to build a sustainable solution with long-term insight. The teams need to work hard and co-factor the entertainment and income generation that the gamer needs for a long time. 

Many items in the game economics are not sustainable.

There is much financial magic when promoting new economic ideas and others whose mechanisms remain hidden. Experts have identified that the grand majority of the play-to-earn games are not sustainable at the start. For example, the game of economics may be left for the two sides to balance each other. The two sides are the already complex economics and the developer teams for regular game changes. 

Furthermore, the current trend includes the release of the token, a large pump, and another large pump. When the minting of token ratios continues to increase beyond control, the excessive supply of these tokens can be a big problem. After a while, the game may develop some liquidity issues or lose the ability to cope with the price action or trading. So, the players should primarily see the in-game tokens as investments that are not permanently lost. 

The solution to the poor game economics is to create game depth, which can burn mechanisms and prop up players’ investment. This method can be the real key to the sustainability feature of the games by creating a new path in exile and new ways to craft the currencies. Similarly, fewer players will depend on the breeding process while other little things don’t have to consume the mechanisms. The multiple layers of in-game currency will balance the economy with rare currency.

There is a super-importance in being early.

In developing the key NFT games with the proper structure, the player may not have the assurance of economic health. In other words, the game has to be as early as possible for the minting and private sale process to be eventually valuable. If anything goes wrong with the initial process, you may need to dump the tokens and continue playing the same game. Or, if you like, you may remove your initial deposit and the little profits, only that not everyone could be that lucky.

Many investors may be caught inside the hype cycles to buy a new token out of the bag holders. The solution to being early is to be sensitive to the hype cycles and seek sustainability of the game. You may also want to consider the time it takes to get the game into the market and pull through a “crypto winter.” Also, be careful of the amount or rate of investment when the token mining or creation comes late. 

Retail investors have too high expectations.

The game developers need a unique ability to balance the long-term with the short-term goals. Meanwhile, the retail investors reveal such a high expectation that it puts pressure on the return on investment for regular gamers. Whereas in traditional games, you can buy a game and sit down to enjoy it, it is not the same with play-to-earn games. Why? As soon as you invest money in the game, the pressure to succeed and start making profits haunts you.

As a result, it is hardly possible to enjoy the game until you have recorded some success. More so, the NFT gaming space could be an outright failure. Therefore, the development teams must focus on building for the long-term instead of targeting short-term goals and rewards. This strategy is more critical where the short-term wins could impede the long-term growth that the business could have. In effect, retail investors can provide the best form of support in that case. 

Conclusion

On a final note, not only are the reasons above stated for the suggested solution, you can use other means of solving the problem. Also, you can get more optimistic about the future of play-to-earn NFT games with optimum benefits. Meanwhile, it takes some time for a specific investment to mature, and if a good foundation is in place, it could lead to more lasting growth.